Shame on you
It’s stunning to me that a faction of Americans just handed over our country to a mentally ill madman.
Democracy didn’t die in darkness Nov. 5. It died in the bright light of day, in our voting booths and at the hands of newly minted fascists.
Shame on you.
Patrice Yeatter
Kooskia
Ranked choice return?
So, Idaho voters rejected Proposition 1 by a margin of more than 2 to 1.
The majority has not just spoken, it’s shouted. Since — as Reclaim Idaho, Idahoans For Open Primaries (IFOP), and the Tribune have all told us — Prop 1 proponents were in it to restore majority rule, those proponents will respect that majority decision.
Which means we’ve now seen their last attempt at instituting ranked choice voting in Idaho. Sorry, I had to break off writing; that last line made me laugh so hard I horked milk through my nose.
Ranked choice voting will be back. Why? Well, millions of reasons — 4,884,294.78, to be precise.
That’s how much money Luke Mayville’s political action committee has left in its coffers after spending just $359,000 of more than $5 million in donations (Sunshine.voteidaho.gov). In-state contributions were about 20% of that total. Put another way, Prop 1 was 80% Astroturf.
I don’t know the ins and outs of Astroturf networking. Perhaps some clause requires returning the money or donating it to another state where ranked choice voting is on a future ballot.
Barring such requirements, Reclaim Idaho and IFOP will be back. So will pushing ranked choice voting — instead of simply reopening primaries in Idaho — because, again, that’s what those Astroturf dollars want.
When it returns, so will the Tribune’s crapola-laden campaigning for it — a detailed review of which will have to wait for another letter.
Thomas A. Hennigan
Asotin
