District 14 Republicans Condemn Proposition 1

Say no to ranked choice voting

At the regular meeting of the Idaho District 14 Republican Central Committee on Thursday, October 17, 2024, the committee voted to approve a resolution condemning Proposition 1 and rejecting ranked choice voting. The full text of the resolution is below.

The resolution passed by the committee instructs the chairman of the District 14 GOP to request that “sitting Precinct Committeemen… affirm their support for traditional primary election systems or identify areas of disagreement within 7 days of receipt” and to “publicize the responses or non-responses from the Precinct Committeemen to… the District 14 Republican Central Committee newsletter.”

Therefore, I, Brian Almon, chairman of the District 14 Central Committee, report that a majority of PCs have affirmed their support for this resolution and for traditional voting systems. Please note that a non-response does not necessarily mean a PC supports Prop 1 and ranked choice voting; we all lead busy lives and emails can easily be missed. I encourage you to reach out to your local PCs with any questions or concerns about candidates or issues here in Idaho.

• 1401 Bruce Gestrin Affirmed

• 1402 Miguel DeLuna Affirmed

• 1403 Colette Costello Affirmed

• 1404 Dan McKnight Affirmed

• 1405 Sue Hoffer Affirmed

• 1406 Craig Aaland Affirmed

• 1407 Lisa Higgins Affirmed

• 1408 Steve Bender Affirmed

• 1409 Dwight McCarty Affirmed

• 1410 Ron DeRoest Affirmed

• 1411 Ted Hill Affirmed

• 1412 Currently vacant

• 1413 Tony Prudente Affirmed

• 1414 Jeff Russell Affirmed

• 1415 Eric Petersen Affirmed

• 1416 Joan Cloonan

• 1417 Michael Chew Affirmed

• Central Edith Jones

• North Emmett Leah Vickery

• Butteview Palla Garringer

• South Emmett Brent Leatherman

• West Emmett Julie Gibson Affirmed

• Emerson Daniel Garringer

• Lincoln David Little

• Letha Hank Olson

• Hannah Cathie Johnson Affirmed

• Brick Muggy Hafen

• Bench Chuck Shambaugh Affirmed

• Sweet Montour CeCe Andrews Affirmed

• Ola Weston Andelin Affirmed

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Resolution to Condemn Proposition 1 concerning Ranked Choice Voting

Whereas the mission of the Republican Party is to act as the party of liberty, the party of equality, the party of opportunity for all, the party of favoritism for none and to ensure that the Republican Party is open and accessible to all Americans who hold Republican values;

Whereas America has operated on a well-understood and relatively uniform election system that has been implemented for over two hundred years to support our constitutional republic;

Whereas the political parties in Idaho and America have created the world’s largest representative forums for debate amongst thousands of factions of American citizens all across the state and nation;

Whereas traditional American primary and general elections ensure that voters who support one candidate, not a plurality of candidates, are heard clearly while ranked choice voting schemes open elections to ‘ballot exhaustion’ or the disenfranchisement of voters who choose not to support multiple candidates that do not represent their values;

Whereas the grassroots activists of the Republican Party have made it abundantly clear that they do not trust new election procedures, or outcomes, and further complications of modern systems that sow additional distrust in elections, and desiring to keep voting simple and secure;

Whereas, ranked choice voting (RCV) has been placed on the Idaho ballot in November as Proposition 1;

Whereas, RCV claims to allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference, professing to achieve more representative outcomes;

Whereas, concerns have been raised regarding the complexity of RCV, its potential to confuse voters, the increased time required to count votes, the cost to implement such a practice^[1], the discarding of ballots (effectively eliminating a person’s vote), the compelling of voters to vote for candidates they do not support, the requirement of electronic voting machines since it removes the ability of a hand recount or audit, and eliminates the future possibility of same-day voting with hand-counted paper ballots;

Whereas ranked-choice voting changes and delays the election-counting process by requiring ballots to be transported to a centralized location for counting due to multiple rounds of tabulations in the event of an instant runoff, causing delays of days or weeks in the delivery of election results;

Whereas states and communities where ranked-choice voting has been tested have consistently decreased voter participation in those communities and, in many cases, the elections have resulted in more discarded votes than counted votes;

Whereas supporters of ranked-choice voting seek to eliminate or disempower party primaries;

Whereas, RCV may not always lead to the intended outcomes of increased voter satisfaction or more representative results, it violates the rights of voters to freely assemble with like-minded people in political parties and nominate candidates that support their shared values;

Now, Therefore, Be it resolved, that the District 14 Republican Central Committee hereby condemns and rejects the implementation of ranked-choice voting, and similar schemes including but not limited to “open primaries” and or “jungle primaries” as a method for electing candidates in the great state of Idaho, urges voters to vote against this proposition and support our standard voting method to maintain simplicity, efficiency, and clarity for voters.

Be it further resolved, the District 14 Republican Central Committee calls on Congress, the Idaho legislature, and voters to oppose ranked-choice voting in every locality and level of government and to maintain election systems that have worked for centuries for fair and transparent elections.

Be it further resolved, that the Chairman of the District 14 Republican Central Committee is hereby directed to instruct sitting Precinct Committeemen to affirm their support for traditional primary election systems or identify areas of disagreement within 7 days of receipt.

Be it further resolved, that the Chairman of the District 14 Republican Central Committee is hereby directed to publicize the responses or non-responses from the Precinct Committeemen to the members of the District 14 Republican Central Committee on the District 14 Republican Central Committee newsletter, send the responses or non-responses to the Idaho Republican Party, and write an op-ed for distribution to media outlets throughout Western Idaho and Ada County as may be appropriate with the same information.

Be it further resolved, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Ada County Republican Central Committee, the Gem County Republican Central Committee, the Idaho State Republican Party, the Idaho Secretary of State, and the Idaho Attorney General.

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[1] The 2024 report by Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrain shows implementing ranked-choice voting could cost Idahoans $25-40 million dollars and make our elections less reliable.