Idaho Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit challenging a ballot initiative for ranked-choice voting

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the state’s attorney general over a ballot initiative that aims to open Idaho’s closed primary elections and create a ranked-choice voting system.

The high court did not rule on the merits of Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s arguments against the Idahoans for Open Primaries Initiative, but said Labrador should have first filed his case in a lower court instead of going directly to the state’s highest judicial panel.

Labrador filed the challenge last month, contending that organizers misled voters by using the term “open primaries” rather than “top-four primary” when collecting signatures. He also said the initiative violated the Idaho Constitution’s prohibition against having more than one issue on a single ballot initiative.

Idaho currently has a partisan primary system, with each political party setting its own rules for who may participate. Only registered Republicans are allowed to vote in the Republican primary, and voters who are unaffiliated or registered with the Democratic Party can vote in the Democratic primary.

The initiative would replace that system with a primary where all candidates seeking election would appear on one ballot. The top four vote-earners would advance to the general election. In the general election, voters would rank candidates by preference, and then voting would be tallied in rounds with the candidate receiving the least number of votes eliminated. If a voter’s top choice is eliminated, their second choice would get the vote in the next round. The process would repeat until someone wins a majority of votes.

Allegations of fraud in the initiative process are serious, Justice Robyn Brody wrote for the unanimous court in the Tuesday ruling, but she said those allegations first must be brought to a district court.

“The Attorney General’s Petition fundamentally misapprehends the role of this Court under the Idaho Constitution and the role of the Secretary of State under the initiative laws enacted by the Idaho Legislature,” Brody wrote.

That’s because Idaho law doesn’t authorize the Secretary of State to make a factual determination on whether signatures are fraudulently obtained. Only someone with that kind of authority — a “clear legal duty to act” — can bring that type of lawsuit directly to the Idaho Supreme Court, Brody wrote.

It’s also too premature for the court to consider whether the initiative violates the state constitution’s one-subject rule, Brody wrote. That issue can be brought before the court only if Idaho voters approve the initiative in the November general election.

The Idaho Attorney General’s Office released a statement Tuesday afternoon saying it was considering next steps, and that it would, “continue to defend the people’s right to an initiative process free of deception.”

“We are disappointed that the court did not take up the single subject issue at this time but are confident that the people of Idaho and the courts will eventually reject this clearly unconstitutional petition,” the attorney general’s office wrote.

Luke Mayville, a spokesperson for Idahoans for Open Primaries, said the lawsuit is now “dead in the water,” because there’s not enough time before the general election to relitigate the case at the lower court level.

“The ruling is a major victory for the voters of Idaho,” said Mayville. “The court has slammed the door on the AG’s attempt to keep the open primaries initiative off the ballot, and the people of Idaho will now have a chance to vote ‘yes’ on Prop 1.”