Senate passes primary election bill on party-line vote

SB 1198, the primary election bill, has passed the Senate on a 28-7, party-line vote. “This hasn’t been an easy year,” Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, told the Senate. There have been “Republican against Republican” disputes, he said. “Some feelings have been hurt. Some have felt abandoned. … Where we’ve been torn apart, we must come together. Where we’ve been injured, we must bind up our wounds. Where we’ve been offended let us be forgiven.” The bill, which now moves to the House, gives Idaho its first-ever registration by party, and permits political parties to bar anyone other than their own members from voting in their primary elections, if they so choose.

Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, said that was the last legislation the Senate will take up today. The House, however, is still going.