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Pam Burgess's avatar

I’ve always believed in voting for the candidate not the party. Before the change to closed primaries I often voted for both democrats and republicans in various races. I look forward to not having to change my affiliation in order to vote for the more moderate republicans, an action which seemed to really piss off a whole bunch of republicans.

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Michael Storm's avatar

It is interesting to consider the conflicting messages about this from the Idaho Republican Party: For years now there have been complaints about people changing their political affiliation to vote in primaries, but one of the main arguments against Prop 1 is that anyone can change their political affiliation to vote if they want to. I get the distinction, but there must be some cognitive dissonance there.

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Sandra McClure's avatar

I didn't read the whole post, but I was around when open primaries was how it was in Idaho, didn't give a dang about politics at that time. One thing that sticks in my mind, is Frank Church won the open primary even though we were at that time, as now, mainly a republican state. Look what good he did! Also, it wasn't so partisan then, and I think that was good. The parties worked for us, not for the party they represented. Just my views on it

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Michael Storm's avatar

Frank Church was a bit before my time, but he certainly left a legacy! I really wish Idaho would elect more leaders who care deeply about our environment.

The only real gripe I have with Idaho’s initiative is that it’s not really a return to open primaries in the way it used to be; they only seem to have framed it that way because it would be better received. The way they’re sharing it is a little misleading until you get into the details, though the new system is even better in my opinion.

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