Rules To Run For State Elections May Be Eased Another Bill Would Boost Work Needed To Put Initiatives On Idaho Ballot

If the Idaho Legislature goes along with proposed election law changes prefiled in the House, it will be easier for a candidate to get on the ballot - and tougher for sponsors of initiatives to win ballot status.

One bill eliminates the requirement that candidates gather a certain number of registered voter signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Instead, candidates could simply pay the filing fee and sign a declaration although if approved as introduced, the tab for running would double - to $300 for the U.S. Senate down to $30 for the Legislature.

A candidate could still opt to do it the old way, collecting up to 1,000 signatures for U.S. Senate, governor or other statewide office, 500 for Congress, 50 for the Legislature and 5 for county offices. The filing fee would be waved.

But if enacted - and the changes have to be approved early in the session that starts Jan. 8 to effect next year’s election - don’t look for many prospective candidates to use it.

Collecting signatures on nominating petitions shows at least a minimum degree of support.

There’s also the image problem. What looks better, a hopeful that simply plunks down cash for the right to run or someone who can produce a list of supporters?

That can be carried to extremes. In the 1970s, it was common for major candidates such as Democratic Sen. Frank Church and Gov. Cecil Andrus to produce up to 15,000 signatures on nominating petitions.

That buried election workers and led to a law declaring that if candidates turned in 20 percent more than the minimum number of signatures required, they don’t have to be checked by county clerks to make sure the people are registered voters.

But last year, the courts essentially struck down that work-saving provision so the Legislature has to come up with some alternative after it convenes on Jan. 8.

Less likely is that the Legislature will accept a proposal that could make it much tougher to get initiatives on the ballot.

One bill calls for limiting the number of signatures that can be collected from any one county to 15 percent of the vote cast for governor in the last election. That could curtail the growing practice of paying signature-gathers to attend functions like the Boise River Festival or major regional fairs, concentrating on the population centers to get most of their names.

But more importantly, the legislation would require that at least 2 percent of the people who voted for governor in the last election sign petitions in each of Idaho’s 44 counties.

While that isn’t many signatures - just 34 in Teton County for example - the sheer logistics of that would make it unlikely that any future initiative could qualify for the ballot.

Historically, the Legislature has been very reluctant to tamper with people’s rights to put initiatives on the ballot. Look for that bill to die a quiet death in the House State Affairs Committee.