By Logan Finney, Idaho Reports
Gov. Brad Little has signed into law a bill to consolidate Idaho’s spring primary elections, but unaddressed details in the legislation mean no one can officially file to run for president in the state until legislators come back and fix it.
Secretary of State Phil McGrane says it comes down to the question of how and when Idaho’s political parties want to run their presidential nominating contests, and how responsive lawmakers are to those concerns.
Presidential preference
Primary elections are held “to allow members of a recognized political party to select that party’s nominees to go on the general election ballot,” according to the Secretary of State’s office. House Bill 138 eliminates Idaho’s standalone presidential primary, which has been held on the second Tuesday in March since 2016, and merges it with the primary for all other offices held on the third Tuesday in May.
Idaho’s 44 county clerks run a consolidated election system with dates in March, May, August, and November. Under existing state law, aside from a few unique cases, all ballot questions in the state are run on one of those four dates – until now. HB 138 consolidated the primary election, and House Bill 292 removed school districts’ ability to run bond and levy questions in March, leaving just three election dates.
| Idaho Election Calendar | |
| Spring | Fall |
| Before HB 138 & HB 292 | |
| March Presidential Primary (every 4 years) School Bonds and Levies (any year) May State and Local Primary (every 2 years) School Bonds and Levies (any year) | August School Bonds and Levies (any year) November General Election (every 2 years) School Bonds and Levies (any year) |
| After HB 138 & HB 292 | |
| March May Primary Election (every 2 years) School Bonds and Levies (any year) | August School Bonds and Levies (any year) November General Election (every 2 years) School Bonds and Levies (any year) |
Party politics
In a call-to-action email to party members last month, Idaho GOP Chairman Dorothy Moon rallied against the bill to move the presidential primary, saying “it will favor the established network of politicians who want to avoid the kind of scrutiny that comes from a primary election where voters are enthusiastic and excited about shaping the future of our state and, potentially, our larger republic.”
“The powerbrokers who still run Idaho think they can interfere in the inner workings of the Republican Party without consulting party leaders or members,” Moon wrote. “This legislation not only makes our political party an organ of the State of Idaho — no different than a government agency or commission — but it potentially violates our Constitutional right of free association.”
Idaho Reports asked bill sponsor House Majority Caucus Chairman Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, whether he had received many negative messages from constituents about the bill after Moon’s comments.
“A few – not very many,” Manwaring said. “I saw a few that came in to me.”
Political parties are not required to use Idaho’s county-run election system to choose their presidential convention delegates. The Idaho Republican Party and the Idaho Democratic Party both ran caucuses in 2012. The GOP switched to the primary system in 2016, and the Democrats did so in 2020.
The legislation also repealed several associated code sections which were enacted in the 2015 law that moved the presidential primary date away from the primary for statewide and local offices. Those details included things like filing for candidacy, removing candidates from the ballot if they die or withdraw before the election, and reporting the presidential results to each state party’s chairman.
Campaign calendar
The House State Affairs Committee considered a trailer bill on Thursday, March 30, that would have reincorporated the presidential candidate filings and reporting the presidential results back to the party into code for the regular (and moving forward, only) primary election in May.
At the hearing, Moon and fellow party officials Maria Nate and Rod Beck testified against the changes, reiterating concerns that their party membership didn’t have an opportunity to consider the bill. Moon and other active party members have even proposed moving the Idaho GOP presidential primary up to February, and Moon as state party chair has been negotiating about doing so with the RNC.
“It’s a great reward to Idaho to have them hear our voices in February or in March, instead of in May when it’s less than a token vote,” Ron Nate told the State Affairs panel.
The Iowa Republican caucus is likely taking place in January 2024, and states with contests likely in February 2024 include include South Carolina, Nevada, Georgia, and New York.
“I was wanting to move the primary up into February so we could be the Iowa of the West, so that we could garner a lot of interest and a lot of support,” Moon told Idaho lawmakers last week. “Because we are supposed to be the most conservative state in the West, and I would like to hold that mantle high.”
Committee chairman Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, declared the trailer bill dead for lack of a motion.
Little signed the bill eliminating the standalone primary on March 30. It goes into effect on July 1, 2023.
Election expectations
McGrane told Idaho Reports that without the trailer bill or similar legislation, there will be no legal mechanism for political parties to request a presidential primary or for candidates to file for president in Idaho.
McGrane said his office is not pressuring lawmakers toward any particular path forward. He said the most likely scenario is that the state parties will discuss how to handle the presidential campaign and their national party delegates. He did say the 2024 legislative session would be far too late logistically for Idaho elections administrators to bring back a standalone presidential primary in February or March.
Rep. Brooke Green, D-Boise, who sits on the State Affairs committee, expressed concern to Idaho Reports on Wednesday that the changes will force both the Republican and Democratic parties back into using the caucus system next year.
Idaho’s next regular legislative session is scheduled for January 2024. The governor has the power to call lawmakers back for an extraordinary session, or 60% of lawmakers can call the branch into a special session.
Logan Finney | Associate Producer
Logan Finney is a North Idaho native with a passion for media production and boring government meetings. He grew up skiing, hunting and hiking in the mountains of Bonner County and has maintained a lifelong interest in the state’s geography, history and politics. Logan joined the Idaho Reports team in 2020 as a legislative session intern and stayed to cover the COVID-19 pandemic. He was hired as an associate producer in 2021 and they haven’t been able to get rid of him since.
