OPINION: Taking a closer look at Idaho’s elections, by the numbers

Two numbers to reflect on with the just-concluded and lopsided election just past:

The number of Idahoans who voted (as of the count Wednesday afternoon) to reject Proposition 1, which sought to open primary elections in Idaho to all voters, but was turned down by a decisive majority of the state’s voters: 611,854.

The number of people who voted in this year’s Republican primary election: 205,902. More precisely, this was the number voting in the primaries for Idaho’s U.S. House seats.

About three times the number of people chose to limit participation in Idaho primary elections as compared to the number of those who actually participated. That’s a whole lot of people who didn’t care or bother with participating in the Republican primaries, but wanted to make sure participation was limited. They got the message in a highly organized way: To a degree highly unusual, the Idaho Republican Party leadership organized hard in an (ultimately successful) effort to kill the ballot issue.

The immediate argument is, of course, that Idaho voters could choose to participate in another party’s (that is, the Democratic) primary election if they want to, which is the case. But the reality demonstrated in this election is that the bulk of Idaho voters have become conditioned to vote only for Republicans in general elections. Until that changes, effective participation in Idaho self-government means participating in Republican primary elections.

The immediate effect is to give a handful of Republican Party insiders, not the public at large, unchecked control over the government of Idaho.

There are many ways to illustrate how flat out this point is.

One of the best data points comes from the just-finished general election: the two — count ’em, two — incoming Democratic legislators from outside the city of Boise (none from north of Boise and these two from east of it).

One is Sen. James Ruchti, of Pocatello, who was unopposed for reelection in this election, a situation Republicans likely will correct next time.

The other is Sen. Ron Taylor in the central state district anchored by Blaine and Jerome counties. He narrowly won and would have lost but for the entry of a conservative independent candidate who ran opposition to the somewhat more moderate Republican nominee. In case irony is alive in Idaho, here’s some: The Republican in that race almost surely would have won if ranked choice voting had been in force this year.

By the way, the Idaho secretary of state’s web site includes a page on close federal and legislative races in this election, defined as “where the margin of difference is within 8 percentage points.” Just eight were listed; Democrats won two of them.

That subservient adherence to the Republican Party leadership has become so absolute (outside of Boise proper) that there’s no meaningful way to argue that voters are selecting their officials based on personal qualities, stands on issues or much of anything else other than party label. How do I know it relates to the label and not to principles? Because over the last two to three decades, the party’s principles — if you can still call them that — have changed dramatically. Their loyal audience has not.

There are rare occasional breaks in the pattern. One was in a (theoretically) nonpartisan contest in Kootenai County, for the North Idaho College board. Board majorities elected in recent years backed by the county’s Republican Central Committee created waste and chaos and pushed the college to the brink of losting its accreditation and possible closure. On Election Day last Tuesday, though, the county’s voters broke the pattern and elected three members to the board who were in opposition to the party’s slate. The college abruptly has improved its chances of survival, at the last moment.

But that’s what it took for an act of defiance.

Have Idaho voters surrendered their right to self-government to a small group? Check back again in two years.

Stapilus is a former Idaho newspaper reporter and editor who blogs at ridenbaugh.com. He may be contacted at stapilus@ridenbaugh.com.