On January 12, the Idaho Republican State Central Committee passed a resolution 89-39, in support of a new lawsuit against the state’s open primary. The party’s previous lawsuit failed on procedural grounds, since the party itself was not a plaintiff. The new resolution speaks on behalf of the state party. If the legislature doesn’t pass a bill letting the Republican Party close its primary, this resolution should empower a new lawsuit.
The resolution specifically advocates that, in future primaries, voters who ask for the Republican primary ballot should sign in as Republicans. Then, in future primaries, those who hadn’t signed in as Republicans at the last primary would not be permitted to choose a Republican ballot, unless they had registered since the last primary or unless they had filed an affiliation form in the interval between the past and the future primary. This idea does not require the state to try to re-register all the state’s voters. Thanks to Steve Rankin for this news.
So let me get this straight. The Idaho Republican Party thinks that millions in tax money should be taken from the people to run a candidate selection process excluding the majority of people who are paying for it?
It would be great if this law suit moves forward so the Idaho Republican Party gets schooled on this, sets precedence and then the Florida Republican Party can be required to either open its primary or be forced to switch to a caucus.
In 1995, a federal appeals court said that, when the state requires parties to hold primaries, the state must pay the costs of those primaries.
Last June, a federal judge in Mississippi declared the state-mandated open primary unconstitutional, and that case is now in the 5th Circuit in New Orleans. Last year the 4th Circuit in Virginia also said that there is a circumstance in which the state may NOT force a party to open its primaries to all voters.
I’m convinced that the days of the state-mandated open primary are numbered.
Florida– or any other state– could indeed force the parties to hold caucuses instead of primaries, but then the voters would raise hell.
If a primary is closed, a voter need only affiliate with that party in order to vote in its primary.