Judge tosses closed-primary case

Seventy-one dissident Republicans who sued to try to keep anyone but registered Republicans from voting in Idaho’s GOP primary have lost their case. A federal judge today tossed out the lawsuit, ruling that the dissidents lacked standing to sue. “It is for the Idaho Republican Party, and not the Court, to decide how best to govern the associational rights of its members, and Plaintiffs lack the ability to substitute their judgment for that of the Party,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Mikel Williams wrote in his decision. The party itself hadn’t joined the suit and favored legislative changes rather than a lawsuit. You can read the decision here . Idaho currently has no party registration, and lets primary election voters choose which party’s ballot they’d like to vote when they arrive at the polls. A third of Idahoans say they’re independents, and not members of any party. Read my full story here in the Spokesman-Review.