On February 27, the Idaho House State Affairs Committee held a hearing on H185, the bill to switch Idaho from an open primary state, to a closed primary state. The bill would institute registration by party. Parties would be free to choose for themselves whether to invite independents to vote in their primaries.
The committee hasn’t made a decison about the bill. Although the Republican Party legislative leadership supports the bill, the Secretary of State, Ben Ysursa, fiercely attacked it. The bill is sparse and omits many details, and would result in additional costs for election administration. The bill will probably be amended to counter some of the criticisms.
Last year’s Idaho Republican convention voted overwhelmingly in favor of eliminating their open primary.
Democrat (and other) opposition is few and far between in this state. Most races are decided in the Republican primary. The Republicans would like to close the primary, but still have all taxpayers finance it. Nice.