The Long Game
Proposition 1 went down in defeat by a resounding 70-30 margin. Across the country, open primary and/or ranked choice voting (RCV) initiatives were also defeated:
Arizona - two propositions lost with 58% and 59%
Colorado - a very similar proposition lost with 55%
Montana - two initiatives were defeated, the RCV initiative lost with 61% opposed
Nevada - a top 5 and RCV amendment lost with 54%
Oregon - a measure with RCV was defeated with 60%
South Dakota - a top 2 primary amendment lost with 66%
Alaska, which adopted a top 4 primary and RCV and upon which the Idaho proposition was modeled, is in a very tight race to repeal it. It is leading at this point with 51% of the vote and just a few areas left to report.
Not Going Away
The only win by the backers of RCV was in the District of Columbia. Despite the poor showing, Unite America, one of a few key funders of these initiatives, vowed to continue the fight. As noted in this press release by their Executive Director Nick Troiano, they are ‘committed to the long game’. Will their big donors agree?
SIE Next Steps
As for Secure Idaho Elections, our job continues and our focus turns to the upcoming legislative session. We too are in it for the long game.
We will be writing further about our legislative plans but expect some involvement with:
Absentee Voting
Initiatives
Campaign Finance
Let us hear your election concerns!
My suggestions about elections, absentee voting, etc. are as they've always been:
* Paper ballots.
* Hand counting and auditing.
* Limited early voting.
* Mostly in-person voting. It's not that hard!
* Absentee voting ONLY with good excuse.
* NO mass mail-in ballots.
* Monitored drop boxes, if any, and only inside official buildings where they cannot be tampered with.
* Scrupulous chain of custody.
* Smaller voting precincts where people know their neighbors. Boise County is a model for how this can work.
* Retain all current voting integrity laws, or strengthen them.
* See this page for more ideas: https://eolson47.substack.com/p/america-on-life-support-every-state
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Initiatives: STOP THEM ENTIRELY. Citizens should work with their legislators to craft bills and champion them in the legislature. As we've seen with Proposition 1 and the Medicare Expansion initiatives, results can be disastrous when misleading petitions and complex and deceptive laws are proposed via initiative.
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Campaign finance. Keep it transparent so we know who is contributing and who is backing a candidate or initiative (but see above request to abolish). Other than that, putting restrictions (except perhaps foreign enemy influence) can have unforeseen side effects.
Yes, yes, and yes.