Letter to the Editor

Proposition 1 nothing more than a ‘Trojan horse’

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Dear editor --

Proposition 1 is a Trojan horse! “They” want you to think that it is all about open primaries, which is just a distraction to institute Ranked Choice Voting.

Ranked Choice Voting can be used by a weaker party to put in weaker candidates. While each party will put their number one candidate as their top selection, the other party will put the weakest player representing the opposing party as their second selection, so that if their number one does not win, the other party’s number one also does not have a chance.

It worked in Alaska where the Democrats were successful in getting the least-favored Republican elected over the Republican’s preferred choice.

Do we really want that here?

The reason Republicans wanted to go to a closed primary was because so many Democrats were overcrossing party lines to push the least favored Republican candidate. While I have a lot of respect for our former State Attorney General Jim Jones, it is a bit naive of him to tell you that Idaho used Ranked Choice Voting in 1911.

He fails to acknowledge that the political playfield has changed considerably since 1911, and do not forget Idaho abandoned Ranked Choice Voting.

Also, it may cost upwards of $40,000 to just put this confusing system into play, and then it will most likely just cause a lot more confusion in the voting process. It will also promote additional distrust in our voting process.