Vote no on Proposition 1

Backed with lots of outside money, a small group of people want to change Idaho’s voting system. There are currently only two states, Maine and Alaska, that have rank choice voting (open primaries) for all elections. Let us not be the third. Alaska in 2020 (historically a red state) voted in a proposition (much like what Idaho has on the Nov. 5 ballot with Prop 1).

Alaska had to spend millions on computer systems to accommodate rank choice voting. They also spent millions on educating the population on how to fill out a complicated new ballot. Idaho election officials are estimating anywhere from $25 to $40 million to make this change and are leaning more toward the $40 million estimate. Add a few million more every year to educate our continually growing population on how to make this system work.

Alaska is so unhappy with rank choice voting enacted in 2020 that there is a new resolution to change elections back to the traditional electoral process this year. What happened? They had big problems: too expensive, too many days to tabulate results, and nearly 15,000 ballots were trashed because they were not properly completed. Their one seat for the House of Representatives in 2022 went to a Democrat even though the two Republican candidates together earned 60% of the votes after the initial tabulation. 

Vote no on Prop 1.

SUSAN BURROW

Bonners Ferry