Op-Ed: Idahoans: Just Say No to Reclaim Idaho
By Dorothy Moon • August 18, 2023Late last week, Idaho’s leftist press gloated about the State Supreme Court’s decision that the Attorney General’s office must rewrite the blanket primary / ranked choice voting ballot initiative. What they’re not telling you is that this actually marks a triumph for the AG and for all Idahoans who value the truth.
The ballot initiative that Reclaim Idaho is collecting signatures for are complex strategies that essentially sideline political parties from the primary process, enabling Democrats, Independents, and even Socialists to determine your nominee for the general election. Rather than ensuring the security of our elections, Reclaim Idaho aims to complicate our electoral system with California-style voting mechanisms.
Reclaim and its allies sued our Attorney General for accurately describing this scheme in the ballot titles. Rather than decisively ruling against the AG’s office, the Idaho Supreme Court refused to let Reclaim Idaho advance several misleading and inaccurate claims contained in their latest initiative proposal.
The Court told Reclaim that it couldn’t call this scheme an “open primary,” it couldn’t circumvent the AG’s office and write its own titles, and they could not collect signatures beyond the legal deadline. In short, Reclaim’s plan to fool Idaho voters failed before it even began. No matter how much the legacy media polishes this outcome, they cannot change the fundamental reality that this decision was a victory for the truth.
Make no mistake, this initiative is a pernicious plot to take away your ability to vote for conservative lawmakers. The blanket primary takes away your right to nominate your own candidates — just as BYU doesn’t get to decide who starts at quarterback for BSU, neither should Democrats get to vote on who represents the Republican Party in the general election.
Ranked choice voting is another underhanded scheme that’s designed to silence the voices of conservative voters. The Idaho Republican Party passed a strong resolution in Boise last January against ranked choice voting, and our Legislature followed that up by prohibiting RCV by law last session. Republican State Central Committee members and lawmakers alike recognized the insidious nature of this complicated system and acted decisively to prevent it from being used to take over our elections.
The American Republic has long been guided by the principle of one person, one vote. Ranked choice voting twists this system into something unrecognizable. The foundational premise of American elections is that both the winner and the loser must have confidence that the contest was completely above board. Ranked choice voting sows doubt and confusion, opens our elections up for fraud, and decreases trust in our electoral system.
Idaho leftists, supported by uncounted out-of-state dollars, are following a familiar pattern: if they can’t win the game, then they will change the rules. Republicans stand united against this undemocratic and un-American strategy.
This Op-Ed was submitted by Dorothy Moon. Op-Eds do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of those at the Idaho Dispatch.
Tags: Democrats, Dorothy Moon, Idaho Attorney General, Idaho Republican Party, Idaho Supreme Court, Independents, ISC, open primary, Raul Labrador, Reclaim Idaho, Republican State Central Committee, Republicans, Socialists
Is the legislature working on a bill to remove the initiative process in Idaho? That would be a good way to further protect our state.
Ranked choice voting kept Rino Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski in office when the majority of Alaskans voted AGAINST HER. Don’t bring this vote count nightmare to Idaho.
The worse thing about Reclaim Idaho etc., is their aggressive and deliberate deception. They can call themselves anything they like, but that fact remains they’re simply leftists trying to fool citizens by claiming to be conservative republicans. Like Liz Cheney, Mike Pence, Chris Christie and half of the Idaho senate. Idaho is doing great, and the global left loathes it. Those “public servants” of ours that have taken $ and are owned by outside interest must be dealt with. Thank God for Moon/Labrador. See those who fight them….., those are the ones…..
Reclaim Idaho never wins. And just keeps waisting money. We start suing them for defamation and it should slow them down. There’s about what 17 of them ? 15 of which are Transgenders, 1 Antifa, and the other probably sleeps on a Portland sidewalk HaH
Thank you Dorothy Moon for your strong voice and getting things done for Idaho. Your kind of effective leadership is just what the Republican Party needs more of.
Reclaim Idaho is nothing more than a subsidiary of Reclaim California. There’s absolutely nothing honest or trustworthy about the organization… right down to it’s name.
“Reclaim”? Name a time when the state of Idaho was in fact a socialist haven that voted Democrat. Right… NEVER.
And when Reclaim California reared it’s ugly head in that state, the state was RED AND CONSERVATIVE. I was a CA resident for most of my life. It was the state that delivered Reagan… Prop 187 to block all services to illegal aliens… Prop 8 as the first state constitutional amendment in the country to define marriage between a man and a woman before CA’s liberal courts struck it down and it’s liberal governor refused to defend it in court. Reagan, Dukemajian, Wilson, etc. The state bled red. Then came “Reclaim”. Then it was open primaries. Then it was mass mail-in ballots (long before COVID). Then it was ballot harvesting legalized with drop boxes. Then it was “oops we accidentally registered illegals to vote under the BS motor voter laws. And on and on and on.
In short, if you you want Idaho to look like CA, then by all means keep voting the way Reclaim is driving you. But be aware… there’s no place left to move to. I know countless Californians who’ve moved here (sorry), but EVERY single one I know who’s come and every one I know is looking, is hard-core red conservative. If this happens, it won’t be because of us. Boise has a different breed of Idahoan, and the Californians who are invading Idaho to the south are at least in some cases a different breed of Californian than those moving into the north.
Do not let it happen.
Couldn’t agree more. And that’s from a 62 year ex-Cali resident.
SHOULD A CANDIDATE HAVE TO GET MOST OF THE VOTES TO WIN AN ELECTION? If you answered “Yes”, then you should be for Ranked Choice Voting.
I noticed that the ones who are against Rank Choice Voting, NEVER EXPLAIN HOW IT WORKS. It is not as complicated as they want the voters to believe. If there are five candidates on a ballot, there will be a way for the voter to choose which candidate they want, and if that candidate would not win, which candidate they want as their 2nd choice, then 3rd, 4th, and 5th. They do not need to rate all five. They can choose just one if they want, or skip the vote for that position. Voters do not have to go back and vote again, like some people are saying.
When the voting is tallied, and nobody has MOST OF THE VOTES, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, the voting machines are recalculated, and the ballots are put through again. This is done until one candidate GETS AT LEAST 50% plus one of the votes.
Most of the presidents were elected WITH LESS THAN HALF OF THE VOTES. This means that MOST OF THE VOTERS DID NOT WANT THEM. Who knows how many members of the U.S. congress did not get MOST OF THE VOTES, because there are so many candidates, and some of the candidates are there JUST TO DRAW VOTES AWAY FROM CERTAIN CANDIDATES? Ranked Choice Voting will end this practice, and it will reduce the number of candidates who run.
SHOULD A CANDIDATE HAVE TO GET MOST OF THE VOTES TO WIN AN ELECTION?
Your definition of “one person, one vote” is different than mine.