The campaign to bring a top-four primary to Idaho won a largely favorable verdict on Thursday when the state Supreme Court unanimously rejected the ballot summary crafted by far-right Attorney General Raúl Labrador and ordered him to issue a new one. However, the deadline for Idahoans for Open Primaries to turn in signatures to get its initiative on the November 2024 ballot will remain May 1 after the court declined the group's request to extend it.
The plan under consideration would replace Idaho's partisan primaries with the same type of system that was pioneered in Alaska in 2022. All candidates, regardless of party, would compete in one primary, and the four contenders with the most votes would advance to an instant-runoff general election. The measure would apply to races for Congress, the governorship and other statewide offices, the legislature, and county posts, though it would not impact presidential elections or contests for judicial office.
Labrador, though, wants to preserve the status quo that has benefited Republican hardliners like himself. "Let's defeat these bad ideas coming from liberal outside groups," he tweeted in May. The attorney general, who spent his four terms in the U.S. House as one of the most prominent tea party shit-talkers, was tasked with writing the summary that voters will see on their ballots, and he produced language that so displeased organizers they immediately filed a suit to challenge it.
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