🚫 DEFEAT IDAHO PROPOSITION 1 👎 VOTE NO!
Proposition 1: Top-Four/Jungle Primaries + Ranked Choice Voting = Idaho Elections Disaster (posted 09/27/24)
We’re getting down to the wire, folks, and everyone who cares about…
One-person-one-vote;
Home-team-gets-to-choose-the-team;
Election integrity in Idaho
is pulling out all the stops to STOP this bad ballot measure, blandly known as Proposition 1 and misleadingly known as “Open Primaries” (which it is NOT).
Prop1 proponents can’t even explain how the most insidious part of this measure — Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) — works, so they simply don’t bother. Rather, they claim it will make elections more fair, more equitable, more “democratic.” NONE of this is true.
We’ve written many Substack Notes about Prop1 and have collected all the goods into a single article (see link below).
Proposition 1 Full text: sos.idaho.gov/elections…
Here is some more fodder for your anti-Prop1 cannon…
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Vote No on Prop 1. By Scott Herndon (09/24/24)
Proposition 1 would do two things to Idaho:
Replaces the party primary elections in May with a Top 4 (Jungle) primary system.
Installs RCV at every November's general election. RCV is the main problem with Prop 1. Election integrity will be at real risk.
Alaskan voters installed RCV a few years ago, and this year they are voting to remove it.
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Vote No on Prop 1. Ranked choice voting is costly, confusing, and unfair. By Brian Almon (09/24/24)
Almon does a deep dive — with detailed examples, videos, analyses and thought experiments — into the dishonesty of Proposition 1. Boiling the article into its key points:
🤥 PROP1 LIE: Blanket or jungle top-four primaries (misleadingly called Open primaries) are necessary to open Idaho elections to all voters.
TRUTH: Blanket primaries in WA and CA have prevented most Republicans from advancing to general elections since their inception. How does that result open elections to ALL voters?
TRUTH: In Idaho, the only hurdle is that you must be a registered Republican to request a Republican ballot. Registering online is simple (just do it by the deadline). You can even register at the polling place if you were not recently a member of another party.
ED NOTE: Why, pray tell, should the OTHER team choose MY TEAM'S starting lineup? That’s what would happen with Proposition 1. Let each team pick its own players. Then play the game and let the best team win.🤥 PROP1 LIE: RCV leads to more fair and equitable outcomes, since the winner will command a majority of votes.
TRUTH: Candidates simply avoid taking strong stands on any issue, and instead make shallow appeals to all voters hoping to be their second choice.
TRUTH: Voters who fail to rank all four candidates (often because they strongly dislike the other choices) risk having their ballots thrown out (called “ballot exhaustion”). These ballots would not count toward the final total, making possible (even likely) a winner that does not reflect a majority of total ballots.
🤥 PROP1 LIE: Prop1 will improve voter turnout.
TRUTH: The complexity of RCV, its lengthy ballots, its requirement that you vote for everyone — even someone you believe will be destructive — or your ballot could be discarded will discourage voters from showing up. They won’t show up; they will give up. Which is what Prop1 supporters really want.
ED NOTE: According to "Prop 1 Preview" by Secure Idaho Elections (09/27/24), ONE RACE in Alaska in 2022 had 48 candidates vying for the top 4 spots, including Santa Claus. Other recent elections in Alaska had 19 and 22 candidates respectively. Again, one race! No wonder Alaska wants to give this stinky voting scheme the boot.
For photos of the extraordinary 48 candidate ballot and more info, see secureidahoelections.su….🤥 PROP1 LIE: People love the outcomes of primary and ranked choice general voting schemes like Prop1.
TRUTH: Alaska instituted a similar system of a top four blanket primary and RCV; now they’re trying to repeal it because it did not result in wins for independent candidates or people taking back power from the political establishment. In short, Alaskans HATE this scheme.
TRUTH: Idaho experimented with RCV in 1909 and gave it the boot during the next year’s session.
TRUTH: Oakland’s experiment with RCV was marred by a bad computer algorithm that led to erroneous results, lawsuits, and claims of vote rigging.
🤥 PROP1 LIE: RCV won’t cost that much to implement. Only a pittance!
TRUTH: Not so fast! Contrary to the pittance claims by Prop1 supporters when filing the ballot measure, Idaho’s Secretary of State warned that RCV could cost as much as $40 million to overhaul our elections systems.
TRUTH: Expensive voting machines like the unapproved-in-Idaho Dominion Systems rigs are necessary to tabulate the complex RCV algorithm; mere humans cannot do this! RCV is difficult to audit by hand, again requiring machines. After recent events, do you really want to put more trust in machines?
TRUTH: Each of Idaho’s 44 counties manages and tabulates its own elections. Because our smallest counties likely lack resources to adopt this expensive and complex scheme, a state takeover of elections could occur in Idaho.
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Nowhere To Hyde — The Big Lie of Prop 1. By Bryan Hyde (09/24/24, video 14:19 includes transcript)
Proposition 1 is being sold to Idahoans as a means to make voters' voices stronger by doing away with partisan primaries. That's a lie wrapped in several other untruths.
Hyde brilliantly dispels the myths put forth by Prop1 supporters, citing recent articles, videos, and even a judge who ruled that “open primaries” were unconstitutional. This video is great if you have only a few minutes to understand why Prop1 will harm Idaho.
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Ranked Choice Voting — Notes from former Idaho Solicitor General Theo Wold (posted 09/27/24)
Related: AWARE MINISTRY: RALLY THE VALLEY. In partnership with Calvary Chapel Star. August 23, 2024
A friend attended a talk about RCV by former Idaho Solicitor General Theo Wold. Our friend learned many facts, many of which hadn’t been brought up by others. Here are some of the notes, mostly unedited:
RCV produces very bland candidates; issue groups do all the hard slugging, spending big $.
Changing the manner of voting will not reduce "extremism" because extremism is a moral issue.
Sarah Palin lost in Alaska partly because one Democrat dropped out at last minute, leaving the Republican vote split. 60% of registered voters were Republican, voted for Palin, but she still lost.
Often the most "centrist" candidate gets tossed out first, disproving the claim that RCV avoids "extremism."
The military CAN express party preference and so are NOT "locked out" of elections.
Proposition 1 amends or repeals >= 36 parts of Idaho law and adds 6 NEW ones!
ANY existing law that is contrary to Proposition 1 is GONE. Especially, see Section 40 in the proposition:
SECTION 40. All statutes enacted before the effective date of this act that are inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed and the Idaho Code Commission shall include such repealers in the annual codifiers’ corrections bill as necessary.
Naturally, that atom bomb (Section 40) is near the very END of this tedious mess!
All this cesspool will be fully effective on Jan 1st of 2025....even without the inevitable torrent of necessary lawsuits. It’s all IMPOSSIBLE since the Legislature is out of session and there is no time to implement the huge number of rule changes (except by decree 👑).
Four states have this Ranked Choice Voting petition on their ballot this year — with the SAME wording. "Grass Roots," my foot! John Arnold is the main funder. A few articles…
Laura and John Arnold Foundation (Ballotpedia): ballotpedia.org/Laura_a…
Laura and John Arnold: “Dark Money” Entrepreneurs: capitalresearch.org/art…
Maine — Billionaires bankroll bid on vote choice: edition.pagesuite.com/p…
Famous case of Abraham Lincoln: He only won with 38.7% of the vote and would have LOST with ranked choice voting.
RCV changes our politics from Checkers to Chess (and we are playing against The Computer).
Wold thinks up to 22% of those registered as Republicans in Idaho are really Democrats.
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For a compendium of counterpunches, please see our full article “Jungle Primaries & Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Ballot Initiative: A Race to the Bottom” (short link): tinyurl.com/4m8rbbun
Also, check out our November 2024 Voting Guide for Idaho (and beyond):
🔖Substack Note (short summary, great for sharing): substack.com/profile/68…
🔖FULL Voting Guide (short link): substack.com/profile/68…
