The Idaho Supreme Court today ruled in favor of a group that wishes to replace Idaho’s closed party primary system with a “top four primary election.”
The court agreed with Idahoans for Open Primaries and Reclaim Idaho, who said Attorney General Raul Labrador failed to comply with Idaho code when writing the general ballot titles for their initiative.
The court ordered the attorney general to provide revised short and general ballot titles by no later than 4 p.m. tomorrow.
The top four primary would be used in Idaho’s primary elections for the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, the state legislature, elective state offices, and county elective offices.
Candidates could choose to list their party affiliation on both the primary and general election ballots, but would not be required to do so.
If approved, voters would be able to list up to four candidates in order of preference - also known as ranked choice voting.
The plaintiffs also requested additional time to gather signatures for the proposed iniative, a request the court denied.
