By Ruth Brown, Idaho Reports
The Idahoans for Open Primaries Coalition and Reclaim Idaho filed a lawsuit Monday against Attorney General Raúl Labrador, asking the Idaho Supreme Court to repeal and replace his assigned ballot titles to its proposed initiative.
Under Idaho law, the attorney general is required to assign ballot titles to citizens’ initiatives. Idahoans for Open Primaries argues Labrador’s titles for their initiative are not in conformity with the law.
“He has instead drafted titles that express his strong bias against the Initiative and his intention to use his power to defeat it,” according to a news release from the organization.
The ballot initiative the coalition is proposing would end closed primary elections. Currently, only registered Republicans may vote in a Republican primary. The initiative would also alter Idaho general elections by creating a new instant runoff voting system, commonly called ranked choice voting.
The short ballot titles from Labrador’s office would read as follows: “Measure to (1) replace voter selection of party nominees with nonparty blanket primary; (2) require ranked-choice voting for general elections.”
The lawsuit outlines several points at which claim bias by the AG’s Office after they first sent their petition to the Secretary of State on May 2.
“That same day after receiving the Idaho Open Primaries Initiative, the Attorney General publicly released disparaging remarks about the Initiative on his Twitter social media platform,” the lawsuit claims. “He voiced his strong opposition and desire to defeat the Initiative, stating: ‘Let’s defeat these bad ideas coming from liberal outside groups.”
“Likewise, the Attorney General’s Solicitor General Theo Wold then quickly tweeted his view that the Attorney General’s office should actively oppose the Initiative expressing the belief that: ‘State AGs are the strongest line of defense against the Left’s national campaign to force ranked choice voting on our elections. Leave this failed idea in NYC and Oakland,’” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also takes issue with Labrador’s long ballot title for the initiative, as well as the description of the initiative within the title.
“The Attorney General’s long title is not a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure. Nowhere does it inform voters that the purpose of the law is to create an open primary and establish an instant runoff general election. The Initiative would open Idaho’s primaries to all voters, increasing voter choice, not replace or limit voter selection,” the lawsuit says.
“The Attorney General’s long title repeats the misconception that multiple rankings in instant runoff elections equate to multiple votes by a single voter and makes the false claim that the Idaho Open Primaries Initiative requires voters to cast multiple votes in a single election,” the lawsuit states. “This claim is explicitly contradicted in Section 4 of the Initiative which states: ‘each ballot counts as a single vote for its highest-ranked active candidate.’ The text of the Initiative makes clear that each person casts only one vote. Voters may rank multiple candidates, but multiple rankings do not equate to multiple votes.”
The petition asks the court to either approve titles suggested they’ve submitted, or a similar version. Alternatively, the petition asks the court to order Labrador’s office to immediately prepare ballot titles consistent with the proposed titles and retain jurisdiction to review new the titles from the attorney general.
The lawsuit also asks the court to extend the time in which petitions may be submitted to the Secretary of State, beyond April 30, 2024, for a time matching the length of delay caused by the legal challenge.
Attorneys representing the petitioners, Deborah A. Ferguson and Craig H. Durham, also filed a motion to expedite, asking the court to take up arguments and decision as soon as possible.
The Idaho Attorney General’s Office has not yet filed a response with the court.
After a request for comment from Idaho Reports, the Attorney General’s Office issued the following statement: “As a rule we don’t comment on pending litigation,” said Beth Cahill, Labrador’s communications director, in written statement. “Any statement we have to make was provided in our cover letter provided to the Secretary of State’s Office with our letter of transmittal: AG Labrador has furnished a ballot measure title with a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure and without prejudice or partisanship, consistent with his requirements under Idaho law. If it is required, we will be happy to defend the AG’s fulfillment of his statutory duties in litigation.”
Ruth Brown | Producer
Ruth Brown grew up in South Dakota and her first job out of college was covering the South Dakota Legislature. She’s since moved on to Idaho lawmakers. Brown spent 10 years working in print journalism, including newspapers such as the Idaho Statesman and Idaho Press, where she’s covered everything from the correctional system to health care issues. She joined Idaho Reports in 2021 and looks forward to telling stories about how state policy can impact the lives of regular Idahoans.
