Redistricting decision throws primary election timing into doubt

Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how the Idaho Supreme Court overturned the state’s new legislative redistricting plan today, ordering a citizen commission back to work and throwing into doubt the state’s schedule for its May primary election. Thursday morning, a House committee will consider legislation to push the May primary back to August; the bill is sponsored by Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, chairman of the House State Affairs Committee.

Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, the state’s chief election officer, said, “We’re not jumping up and down opposing a move to August.” But, he said, “I happen to believe May’s a better time for an election than August, in the middle of the summer, just with people on vacation.” Idaho’s primary elections already see notoriously low turnout. The filing period for the May primary is coming right up, though - it starts Feb. 27. Without a valid redistricting plan, candidates don’t know in which districts they’d file or against whom they’d be running.