S1371: April Primary Elections

Monday, 3/25/24:

S1371 passed the Senate and awaits a hearing in House State Affairs.

Monday, 2/26/24:

Sen. Jim Guthrie presented Senate Bill 1371 in Senate State Affairs this morning. This bill seeks to compromise between the needs of a late legislative primary and an early presidential primary by consolidating both elections into April. As you might recall, the Legislature attempted to consolidate the presidential primary with the existing May primary but the original bill was flawed, only removing the March date. A trailer bill to add it to May failed to pass committee.

Fred Birnbaum of the Idaho Freedom Foundation testified against the bill, saying his organization wasn’t necessarily opposed to a May presidential primary but the April date brought up new problems, especially with legislators wanting to go home and campaign after the session. Maria Nate, secretary of the Idaho GOP, testified against it as well, explaining that the party has not been consulted about the change, nor were they consulted last year when the original bills were being drafted.

Only Sen. Ben Toews seemed concerned about the bill. Sen. Melissa Wintrow indicated that the Idaho Democratic Party supports a primary, even if it’s as late as May, while Sen. Kelly Anthon said he supported a March primary but that’s done with and we need to compromise now. Sens. Abby Lee and Chuck Winder were very pointed in their questions to Maria Nate, continuing a feud that has been brewing for a while.

In the end the committee voted to send S1371 to the floor with a do pass recommendation.