On March 17, two bills were introduced in the Idaho Senate to revise the primary system. Idaho now uses an Open Primary, in which each voter on primary day decides in the secrecy of the voting booth which party primary to vote in.

S. 1506 would provide for registration by party, and also would legalize nominating conventions for parties that would rather use conventions than primaries (Idaho already has conventions for new parties).

S. 1507 would authorize closed primaries. Neither bill has made any headway as of March 25.

Last week, filing closed for Idaho primaries. One of the candidates who filed in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate is Marvin Richardson, who legally changed his name last year to “Pro-Life.” The Secretary of State accepted his filing, saying since “Pro-Life” is the new legal name of the candidate, he has no choice but to list him.

However, on March 24, S. 1514 was introduced in the Idaho Senate, saying if a candidate changes his name so that the new name seems intended to convey a political message, then the candidate must have in parentheses after his name, “A person formerly known as (blank)”. The bill passed the Senate unanimously on the same day it was introduced, and if it is signed into law, takes effect immediately. The Idaho primary is in May.

On March 25, the Constitution Party turned in 1,252 signatures for its Hawaii party petition. The requirement is 663 signatures.
The deadline is April 3.

Other parties that are circulating the party petition in Hawaii are the Green Party, and Ralph Nader’s Independent Party. The Libertarian Party does not need to petition this year in Hawaii. After a party has been on the ballot three elections in a row, it is automatically on for the next ten years. The Libertarian Party is enjoying its ten free years.