At a meeting last month with Canyon County Democrats regarding the Open Primaries initiative, a former Idaho Supreme Court chief justice and attorney general made a bold claim.
Jim Jones, state attorney general from 1983-1991, said the estimated price tag of $25 million to $40 million to implement ranked choice voting floated by Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane was a gross overestimation.
In promotions for Open Primaries, groups have maintained that the cost would be closer to $425,000, as stated by the Idahoans for Open Primaries.
Furthermore, Jones speculated McGrane came up with that number in part because of political pressure by Idaho House Speaker Mike Moyle, as well as other legislators. The Idaho GOP has taken a stance against ranked-choice voting.
Jones said that McGrane may have been threatened with funding cuts by Moyle — whom he referred to as a “troublemaker.”
Posing as Moyle, Jones said, “‘Phil (McGrane), would you recalculate the cost of that thing? It would be a big favor to us, and remember, I’m the guy that writes your budget.’”
Jones acknowledged that McGrane is likely in a difficult position.
“I don’t know if that happened, but I know how politics works in this state, and I know how Mike Moyle works,” Jones said.
Moyle did not respond to multiple phone calls and texts requesting a comment for this story.
In an interview with the Idaho Press, McGrane denied allegations of outside influence affecting his estimation. Instead, he said the calculations were based on facts.
“The equipment Idaho currently has isn’t capable of ranked choice voting,” McGrane said.
If voters approve the initiative, the state will have to replace voting equipment across the board. According to McGrane, Idaho’s county-level governing bodies complicates implementation.
While some other states have the same election equipment for all locations, Idaho’s methods vary from county to county.
Maine and Alaska have implemented ranked-choice voting statewide in recent years.
When Maine implemented ranked voting in 2018 for its population of 1.3 million, it cost $441,804, according to documents from Maine’s Office of the Secretary of State.
Similarly, Alaska, with a population of 733,583, spent a total of $3.5 million since 2021 on its ranked-choice voting system, according to Poynter. Alaska spent about $3 million of this on its advertising and education campaign, according to Carol Beecher, director of the Alaska Division of Elections.
McGrane said that both Alaska and Maine already had systems capable of supporting ranked-choice voting, consistent across all voting precincts.
In his research, McGrane has looked into Georgia’s replacement of election equipment. The state spent $100 million with a population of approximately 11 million.
“There is real potential that the costs could be more,” McGrane said.
The large range of $25 to $40 million was determined as an educated guess based on other states and conversations with election officials, McGrane said.
“Without a competitive request for proposal process, it is not easy to estimate the cost of replacing our tabulation equipment,” McGrane wrote in a July 3 letter to the Legislative Council. “Our office has contacted other states to try. Still, there are too many differences between states to reliably predict what this might cost in Idaho.”
McGrane said he felt the estimation was necessary to make now, rather than to inform legislators and the public after the initiative was voted on.
While costs may seem high, McGrane said whichever decision voters come to will be feasible and that his office’s priority is to carry out fair and effective elections.
The Open Primaries initiative, which will appear on this year’s November election ballot, has been a hot-button issue in the state.
Proponents of the potential new voting process, which would create a primary election open to all voters regardless of political affiliation and implement ranked-choice voting for the general election, say it would bring more balance to local politics and eliminate the far-right extremism that has emerged in Idaho politics in recent years.
Those who are not in favor of the initiative question the accuracy of ranked-choice voting, say that it’s difficult to understand, point to the high price tag that McGrane cited, and believe the current voting process is fine as is.
Many former officials and establishment Republicans, such as Jones and former Gov. Butch Otter, have endorsed the initiative. Current Idaho GOP leaders and ultra-conservatives, especially Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon, have strongly opposed it.
Jones is a longtime Idaho Republican. He is a regular contributor to the Idaho Press opinion page, where he is often a critic of Republican Attorney General Raúl Labrador and others he deems as extremists.
McGrane was elected Idaho Secretary of State in 2022 by defeating opponents who ran to the right of him, Moon and then-Sen. Mary Souza, who both questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
win and have pushed for election law changes such as stricter voter ID requirements, proof of citizenship, limitations on absentee voting and more. McGrane accepted the 2020 presidential election results and campaigned a platform of making elections convenient and secure, as well as his record of successfully running elections in the state’s largest county. He has also pushed for a statewide voter guide that would include candidate information.
In a follow-up interview with the Idaho Press, Jones said that his $1.5 million estimate comes from the original revenue impact statement from when the initiative was presented by Idahoans for Open Primaries. Jones reasserted that it is possible that Moyle or others had a part to play in a new, larger number.
“The subsequent figure that he came up with that range, between $25 and $40 million, is something that they developed later on,” Jones said. “And I don’t know how they developed it, but I think it was based on the contention they can’t qualify for the off-the-shelf software, so they have to develop their own.”
He also thinks there are more affordable options, such as off-the-shelf software, that would be practical but isn’t being considered.
This is based on information from a former Utah County employee cited by Idahoans for Open Primaries spokesperson Luke Mayville. Mayville said in a previous interview with the Idaho Press that, under the law, Idaho could use the lower-cost nonprofit software. Mayville said a former Utah county clerk found that the software they used could be eligible for certification in Idaho.
“This is a guy who has had experience with the ranked-choice voting system, and he says it should be compatible with the Idaho statute,” Jones said. “I’ve looked at the Idaho statute, and I don’t see that there’s any great impediment to getting that done.”
In the July 3 letter, McGrane said that the off-the-shelf RCTab software is not certified under the U.S. Election Assistance Commission as required by Idaho code.
“Idaho would either need to change our certifications standards and statutes, which I do not recommend, or transition to a different vote tabulation system that is certified,” McGrane wrote.
According to Idaho code, vote tabulation equipment does not necessarily need to be certified by the EAC and only needs to be tested and meet the EAC guidelines.
At the end of the day, Jones believes a high price tag would still be worth the benefits of Open Primaries and allow for more moderate Republicans to get a foot in the door.
“The traditional, reasonable Republicans don’t stand a chance,” Jones said. “... Reasonable Republicans would have a chance to get better candidates.”
Haadiya Tariq is a reporter for the Idaho Press. She focuses on Nampa, Caldwell and Canyon County. You can follow her on Twitter @HaadiyaTariq or email her at htariq@idahopress.com.
