BOISE, Idaho — Attorney General Raul Labrador has refiled a lawsuit in the Fourth Judicial District, challenging a ballot initiative aimed at implementing ranked-choice voting in Idaho's general elections.
- Labrador argues the group behind the initiative, Idahoans for Open Primaries, misled voters by branding it as an "open primaries" measure, despite a previous Idaho Supreme Court ruling clarifying the distinction.
- The case now awaits a decision from Judge Patrick Miller, who will determine whether the initiative will appear on the November ballot.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
“The attorney general is really doing everything in his power to prevent this initiative from appearing on the ballot," says Luke Mayville, spokesperson for Idahoans for Open Primaries.
The lawsuit, aimed at stopping a ballot measure from reaching voters in November, is back in court. Attorney General Raúl Labrador refiled a lawsuit in the Fourth Judicial District against the group "Idahoans for Open Primaries" after the Idaho Supreme Court dismissed his first attempt to sue.
Now, after a summary judgment hearing, Fourth Judicial District Judge Patrick Miller will decide whether the initiative appears on the November ballot without a trial.
Labrador’s legal team argued the coalition deceived voters by focusing their verbiage on "open primaries" instead of "rank-choice voting."
"The Supreme Court was clear that it is not an open primary. It’s not like they were, like, ‘Eh, we don’t like it.’ They actually said clearly that it is not an open primary," said Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador.
"He's claiming that we somehow deceived people when we talk about the initiative," says Mayville.
Labrador's lawyers argued that, even after the State Supreme Court decided the phrase "open primaries" did not accurately describe the topic at hand, the group continued to brand its efforts as the "Open Primary Initiative" with signage, clipboards, and overt use of the phrase.
"They continue to refer to this as the Open Primaries Initiative. In fact, it is a different kind of initiative; it is a Top 4 initiative," says Attorney General Labrador.
Labrador's legal team argued that the more than 70,000 signatures were gathered under false branding, and allowing the initiative to move forward would mislead voters.
However, coalition leaders say no one was misled, insisting voters were informed about the initiative when asked for their signatures.
"It's very clear that when volunteers went out all across the state and talked with voters about this initiative, the voters knew what they were endorsing. The voters believe in open primaries. The Top 4 primary is very clearly a form of open primaries," says Mayville.
The coalition's legal team presented the signature pages that displayed official ballot language, "there for their viewing," which stated verbatim language from the court, outlining the initiative as a measure to "replace voter selection of party nominees with a top-four primary" and "require a ranked-choice voting system for general elections."
