Bill would require party registration

BOISE – Lawmakers unveiled another measure Monday designed to curb manipulative voting across party lines in Idaho’s primary elections.

Senate Bill 1244 would require Idaho voters to publicly register with a party or as independents, and it would limit party members to voting on that party’s ballot. But unlike similar failed proposals this session, the bill would allow independents to choose their ballots on Election Day.

While sponsors say the legislation could prevent a potential legal battle between the state and one of its political parties, Idaho’s county clerks asked lawmakers to delay the proposal to consider its feasibility and cost.

The measure aims to prevent “tomfoolery” that occurs when members of one party strategically vote for a weak candidate on the other party’s primary ballot. Idaho voters currently don’t register with a party, and they may privately choose either party’s ballot.

Members of the Idaho Republican Party last summer voted to support closing the party’s primary after concerns that Democrats meddled in a six-way primary race for the 1st Congressional District.

Citing U.S. Supreme Court and federal cases, a recent Idaho attorney general’s office opinion stated that Idaho might lose if the Idaho GOP decides this summer to issue rules closing its primary.

Bill co-sponsor Keith Allred, president of the nonpartisan group The Common Interest, said the state GOP might not want the “black eye” of a legal clash. Regardless, local Republican groups might change their primary rules and sue if the Legislature doesn’t act, he said.

Idaho Republican Party Chairman J. Kirk Sullivan also co-sponsored the bill.

Two similar proposals died in a House committee after spirited debates. Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa criticized the last one for not spelling out how officials would register the party affiliations of Idaho’s more than 700,000 voters.

SB 1244 requires voters to select a party when registering. Existing voters would check a box in a poll book at the polling place, and people who refuse to select a party would become independents by default.

But Sharon Widner, president of the Idaho Association of County Recorders and Clerks, said 2008 is too soon to implement such a new primary system. The change would create more work for already underpaid poll workers, she said.

“We need to have more time for consideration,” she said, asking senators to form a committee to study primary election issues.

Kootenai County Clerk Dan English said in an interview that he worries about poll workers who would inform voters that their ballot choice is public.

“They are going to be the ones bearing the brunt of the angry voters,” English said. “That’s my concern is their safety and well-being. We have people who get extremely upset just because sometimes they’re told they have to go to a different polling place.”

Fremont County Clerk Abbie Mace of the Idaho Association of Counties said the proposal would increase ballot printing costs, decrease voter privacy and create longer lines at polling places, among other problems.

Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Eagle, an attorney and bill co-sponsor, said the bill both protects the state from a lawsuit and guards the rights of independent voters. Political parties have a First Amendment right to set their own rules, he said.

“There is no right to vote in a primary” based on Supreme Court decisions, he said.

Senate Minority Leader Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum, opposed the bill.

“It’s like, help me so the Republican Party doesn’t sue me,” Stennett said. “Why is the Republican Party, with their internal battle here, why are they trying to drag every other Idahoan, all Democrats, Greens, Libertarians and independents, into the fight?”

Stennett questioned whether small-town voters would be intimidated by making their ballot choice public.

“This is a pig, and you can’t put enough lipstick on it to not make it look like a pig,” he said.

Research shows partially closed elections like that proposed in the bill produce candidates who best represent voters, whereas entirely closed primaries can lead to increased partisanship, Allred said.

Independents are less likely than party hardliners to engage in manipulative voting, he said, and making ballot choices public would encourage partisans to stick to voting their parties’ tickets.

The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 6-2 to introduce the bill, which may next have a full hearing before the committee.