Idaho

Currently in Idaho a group calling itself Idahoans for Open Primaries circulated petitions in a signature gathering drive. They qualified a ballot initiative for the November 2024 general election. The ballot initiative is to end Idaho's closed primary elections if the voters approve it. As reported in the Saturday August 19, 2023 edition of the Idaho State Journal.

The ballot initiative is designed to end Idaho's closed primary election law, which stipulates political parties don't have to let voters who are not affiliated with their party vote in their primary elections.

Instead, the ballot initiative would replace the closed primary elections with a single primary that all voters and all candidates would participate in, regardless of party affiliation. The top four vote-getters from the primary election would advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.

The ballot initiative would also change Idaho's general election by implementing a ranked-choice or instant run-off system of voting. Under that system, voters would vote for their favorite candidate and would have the option to rank the remaining candidates in order of preference on their same ballot. If one candidate does not win a majority of votes , then the candidate with the fewest votes would be eliminated and their votes would be transferred to the second choice of candidate marked on those voters ballots. That process would continue until one candidate has a majority of votes and is elected the winner.

The proposal is very much like the voting system used in Alaska where Sarah Palin, who has fallen out of favor with Alaskan voters, was defeated in her bid to become Alaska's one statewide representative, unlike other Republican statewide officer candidates, who easily won. See Alaska Alaska's 2022 Election . In Idaho enough signatures were obtained and have been turned into the Secretary of State's office so that the initiative will be on the November ballot barring any challenges that may change things.