On February 13, the Idaho House State Affairs Committee voted to introduce a committee bill that would permit parties to close their primaries. Currently, Idaho has no registration by party. On primary election day, under current law, Idaho voters decide in secret which party’s primary to vote in.

The proposed bill will set up registration into political parties. However, parties would be free to either require that only registered members vote in their primaries, or to ignore the registration records and continue to let all voters vote in their primaries. If the bill passes, it is likely that the Republican Party will close its primary, but the other qualified parties in the state are likely to leave their primaries open.