Posts published in March 2011

As Idaho legislators push through (it's already cleared one committee) legislation to deal with the new closed-primary regime after the Republican court case, they deal necessarily with some airy concepts. Some of them need grounding.

Part of the idea behind the lawsuit, initiated by state Republican Party leaders (not elected officials, many of whom were opposed to it), was that by allowing only registered Republicans to vote in that party's primary, the legal change would result in an election reflecting the views of loyal Republicans only.

Senator Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, was quoted this way in committee discussion on a section of the bill requiring that people declare a party preference well before the primary: “If you are previously affiliated with a party, hopefully by mid-March you know whether you want to continue to be affiliated with that party. … By doing it this way, you keep individuals who are known political operatives from participating in the primary of another party if that party chooses to exclude them."

Well, no: You don't necessarily keep them out at all.

Under the terms of the legislature's bill - in fact, under party registration rules in any state that has registration (Oregon, for one) - anyone can register as a Republican. How about Larry Grant, the new chair of the Idaho Democratic Party? Would anything in the bill stop him from registering to vote as a Republican? Or Democratic former Governor Cecil Andrus, or current House Democratic leader John Rusche? Not a thing, so far as we can tell: The bill says that voters must either choose an affiliation or be described (by default) as non-affiliated, but it says nothing about qualifications, about who is allowed to register as a Republican (or a Democrat). Nor does it say that you can't switch your registration back and forth, up to the cutoff date.

In fact, this sort of thing occasionally happens in Oregon, people who switch their party registration just before a primary, then switch it back again. It's legal, as it would be in Idaho. Happens most often, so far as we can tell, among some of the people who are the most politically active - the "known political operatives" Davis was talking about.

The only way you could stop it would be to ... well, are we really going down the road of legally binding political party/ideology oaths? Challenges of the right to vote from ... whoever? Someone in particular? These would be about the only thing that would really stop the kind of crossover Davis is talking about.

In Oregon, as in most party-registration states, when you register to vote you also - at the same time - select which party you declare to be a member of, or say you're a member of none. Under the introduced-today Idaho Senate Bill 1198, a response to the closed-primary lawsuit by the Idaho Republican Party, the same idea would apply in Idaho.

Parties would then have the choice of allowing only declared party members, everyone, into their primaries.

The Ballot Access News site has a little more on what's likely ahead: "Voters who choose a Republican ballot in the May 2012 primary would be automatically listed as Republicans, and the same is true for the Democratic, Constitution, and Libertarian Parties. The bill does not provide for a blank line on the voter registration form for anyone to write-in the name of an unqualified party. That aspect of the bill may be unconstitutional; courts in five states have said that voters must be allowed to register into active unqualified parties. Also, the failure of the bill to provide for a blank line for a voter to write-in the name of a newly-qualifying party would mean that if a new party qualifies in Idaho, all the voter registration forms would need to be immediately reprinted."

Something like this is one of the few remaining non-budget, non-fiscal measures awaiting resolution before the Idaho legislature adjourns, which may be in another couple of weeks or so. One way or another, they really do need to respond to the ramifications of the lawsuit.

There is a slim chance otherwise; some reports have surfaced that associated parties in the case (not the Republican Party, which was the successful plaintiff, and not the state, which was the defendant) evidently are seeking an appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

When I came to the University of Idaho at Moscow in the fall of 1974, one of my first walks to downtown was in search of a good bookstore. Right on Main Street, then a year or so old, was a very good one, one I visited regularly while a student and more often than not whenever I've visited town.

That is Bookpeople, in recent years on the other side of Main Street (it moved in the interest of expanded space), still in operation today. For decades now it has been one of the best independent book stores in the Northwest, owing in large part to the dedication of its veteran owner, Bob Greene.

How much longer it stays with us is in some doubt. The Lewiston Tribune reports that Greene is planning to retire, sell the store, and move to Oregon.

Times are rough for book stores these days. Best wishes for the store and the book clientele of the area, and hopes that the store will find a new owner who'll keep a fine business going.