Two bills look to restore Idaho primary

BOISE — Two bills looking to re-establish a way for Idahoans to participate in a presidential primary advanced Friday.

Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Winder introduced a bill to create an optional presidential preference primary vote, and the Senate passed another bill to consolidate elections, including a presidential primary, in April.

Under Winder’s bill, presidential primary candidates would be printed on the May primary ballot, which currently just includes legislative candidates. This would be an advisory vote, and the parties would still control their own process for selecting presidential nominees.

“We know the parties can use caucuses or other methods,” Winder said. “But I think it’s a way for people who want to express their opinion for president.”

He said it would work the same way if the bill moving elections to April passes.

The Senate voted 23-12 to pass SB 1371, which consolidates primary elections for races such as bonds and levies, legislative races, and the presidential primary. Parties would still have an option to hold a caucus, but if it chose a primary, it would take place in April.

Bill sponsor Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, said the legislation was brought up amid disagreement about whether the presidential primary should be in March or consolidated with other primaries in May to save money.

“This legislation seeks to offer a compromise in combining all elections to the third Tuesday in April,” Guthrie said on the floor Friday. “It provides for consistency, fiscal responsibility, and relevance in our primary election process.”

Guthrie said the consolidation is meant to improve voter turnout, as more people tend to participate in presidential contests than local ones.

Last year, an effort to move the state’s presidential primary to May had inadvertently deleted language establishing a primary without replacing it. Efforts to fix the issue did not go through.

The Idaho GOP held a presidential caucus on March 2; the day resulted in mixed responses, with some participants reporting easy, streamlined processes, but others said they were turned away early or had problems with accessibility.

Those who opposed Guthrie’s bill said they were concerned that legislators running for election would either not have enough time to campaign or would have divided attention as the session neared the end, which usually happens in March.

Sen. Ben Toews, R-Coeur d’Alene, said he preferred a primary to a caucus but wasn’t happy with this proposed compromise. He said the April date would still put Idaho behind many other states’ presidential nomination contests and it would offer less time for incumbent lawmakers to campaign.

“March gives us relevance in the presidential primary process,” Toews said. “May gives us time to campaign and knock on doors ... so I see this as kind of the worst of both.”

Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, said the April date would relegate Idaho’s primary to “a national afterthought.”

The senators who spoke in support of the bill Friday said the primary option needed to be reestablished to avoid the issues with the caucus.

Senate Majority Leader Kelly Anthon, R-Burley, said that he was opposed to moving the presidential primary from March to May, but after the caucus that happened last Saturday, he thought it was most important that a primary be reinstated.

He said his district had about 5.9% turnout in the Saturday caucus.

“I don’t believe that’s good for Idaho,” he said.

Sen. Abby Lee, R-Fruitland, said she was also in favor of consolidating races in order to increase voter turnout, and she didn’t see moving it to April as a disadvantage.

“You are running every single day,” Lee said. “Every vote you take on this floor, every debate you have on this floor, is not electioneering, but it is your record.”

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on X, formerly Twitter, @EyeOnBoiseGuido.