Bill Description: House Joint Resolution 4 would amend the Idaho Constitution to protect Idaho's election system and prevent future laws mandating run-off elections or ranked choice voting. The protections would not apply to city and local elections.
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Does it in any way restrict public access to information related to government activity or otherwise compromise government transparency, accountability, or election integrity? Conversely, does it increase public access to information related to government activity or increase government transparency, accountability, or election integrity?
House Joint Resolution 4 would amend Section 8, Article VI of the Idaho Constitution by adding a new section that says, "In all partisan primary elections and general elections, and for the election of judges, there shall be one round of voting, and the person having the highest number of votes for an office shall be deemed to have won such election."
This language would effectively prevent the passage or implementation of future laws mandating run-off elections or ranked choice voting in Idaho. These types of elections significantly compromise election integrity, and preventing them in Idaho would help keep our elections more secure.
One thing to note is that these protections would not apply to city and local elections.
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Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?
House Joint Resolution 4 would help to protect some of the constitutional principles that are under attack through the ranked choice voting initiative in Idaho. The U.S. Constitution guarantees "to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government," but political and legal trends have pushed the country toward direct democracy for more than a century. The initiative process itself and the ranked choice voting scheme this process is being used to advance are both elements of this destructive shift away from our constitutionally guaranteed "Republican Form of Government."
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