Letters to the Editor: 10/23/24

Follow the Money then Vote NO on Proposition 1.

Following the money is one of the best ways to identify government corruption or who is behind a scam. The proponents of Prop 1 are trying to sell it as an Idaho grassroots cause. The money tells a different story. The truth is, the majority of the money being used to support Prop 1 is being funneled into Idaho by out of state leftist/socialist groups and organizations.

The proponents of Prop 1 have lied to Idaho citizens by selling Prop 1 as “Open Primaries”. The truth is, if passed, Prop 1 would create Jungle Primaries and change Idaho’s voting system from one person one vote to Ranked Choice Voting.

While conning people into believing hoaxes, P.T. Barnum is often quoted as saying ”there’s a sucker born every minute.”

DON’T BE A SUCKER, Vote NO on Proposition 1 on November 5, 2024!

Vote Yes on HJR5, to allow only US citizens the right to vote in Idaho!

Vote Republican to Keep Idaho Free!
Nolan J. Neal
Lewiston

Liberals can’t win Idaho elections, so they are trying to rig the game through Proposition 1. I want Idaho to remain a conservative stronghold, so I am voting against Prop 1. I hope others will join me.

Conservative have made serious gains in the Idaho Legislature lately. Principled Republicans who believe in education choice, lower spending, and combating the woke, trans agenda now make up a majority of legislators in the Statehouse. And that drives liberals and some left-of-center Republicans crazy.

That’s why they put Prop 1 on the ballot. They know their bad ideas – like allowing men in women’s sports, DEI in higher education, and maintaining the status quo on property taxes – don’t work with Idaho voters anymore. Prop 1 would manufacture results so liberal candidates could win.

Look at Alaska! Voters there adopted ranked choice voting, a key piece of Idaho’s Prop 1, in 2020. The very next election, the state’s congressional seat flipped from red to blue. Republicans held the seat for decades, and ranked choice voting flipped it in one election, despite 61% of voters supporting a GOP candidate in the first round of voting.
Misha Georgevitch
Nampa

Trust in elections is at all-time lows. Members of both parties claim elections are regularly stolen. Outside audits confirm irregularities in elections, and dirty tricks often persuade votes to skip the polls.

That’s why I am voting against Proposition 1. Proposition 1, which would implement ranked choice voting, would make it harder for Idahoans to vote. Plus, RCV, which requires complex calculations and multiple rounds of voting, makes it almost impossible to trust election results.

That’s the wrong direction. Take a recent election in Oakland. Voters hit the polls and ranked candidates for school boards. Officials tallied the votes and declared a winner. Simple, right?

Nope. They did their math wrong, and officials declared the wrong candidate the winner. A lengthy court battle ensued and months later, officials eventually corrected the results.

I want none of that here in Idaho. Our election system is tried and true. Let’s not fix what isn’t broken. We shouldn’t replace our system with some trendy liberal idea to rig elections for Democrats.

I am voting against Prop 1 to maintain trust in Idaho elections. I hope you will, too.
Sincerely Yours,
Andrea Sakmar

Liberals can’t win Idaho elections, so they are trying to rig the game through Proposition 1. I want Idaho to remain a conservative stronghold, so I am voting against Prop 1. I hope others will join me.

Conservative have made serious gains in the Idaho Legislature lately. Principled Republicans who believe in education choice, lower spending, and combating the woke, trans agenda now make up a majority of legislators in the Statehouse. And that drives liberals and some left-of-center Republicans crazy.

That’s why they put Prop 1 on the ballot. They know their bad ideas – like allowing men in women’s sports, DEI in higher education, and maintaining the status quo on property taxes – don’t work with Idaho voters anymore. Prop 1 would manufacture results so liberal candidates could win.

Look at Alaska! Voters there adopted ranked choice voting, a key piece of Idaho’s Prop 1, in 2020. The very next election, the state’s congressional seat flipped from red to blue. Republicans held the seat for decades, and ranked choice voting flipped it in one election, despite 61% of voters supporting a GOP candidate in the first round of voting.

Vote no on Prop 1.
Patricia Ann Foy

Vote “No” on Prop 1: Ranked-Choice Voting Is Complex, Costly, and Error-Prone

As an Idaho voter, don’t you want the candidates for whom you vote to win in a fair and trusted process? Proposition 1 will take away a simple and transparent voting process that has worked for Idahoans for decades.

If you haven’t yet voted, here are several things to consider about Prop 1:

Prop 1 would implement ranked-choice voting in Idaho, an election system that is confusing and nearly impossible to audit. It requires complex calculations and multiple rounds of voting, making it almost impossible to trust election results.

Ranked-choice voting is error-prone. For example, an Oakland school election used ranked choice voting a few years ago. Officials tabulated the vote incorrectly and declared the wrong candidate the winner. Only after a lengthy and costly court battle did the actual winner end up in office.

Speaking of costly, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane says Prop 1 implementation would cost Idahoans up to $40 million. When Alaska implemented ranked-choice voting, the state had to spend millions of dollars educating voters on the new voting process.

Finally, Prop 1 encourages candidates to lie to voters. Prop 1 would allow candidates to list any party affiliation on the ballot, regardless of their actual affiliation.

I think Idaho Senator Russ Fulcher said it best: “Voting should be simple, transparent, and trustworthy. Ranked-choice voting is none of these.”

I’m voting against Prop 1 to maintain trust in Idaho elections. I hope you will vote “No” on Prop 1, too.
Brenda Caine
Coeur d’Alene

Democrats / Liberals can’t win Idaho elections, so they are trying to circumvent the system through Proposition 1. I want Idaho to remain a conservative stronghold, so I am voting against Prop 1. I hope others will join me.

Conservative have made serious gains in the Idaho Legislature lately. Principled Republicans who believe in education choice, lower spending and combating the woke, trans agenda now make up a majority of legislators in the Statehouse. And that drives liberals and some left-of-center Republicans crazy.

That’s why they put Prop 1 on the ballot. They know their bad ideas – like allowing men in women’s sports, DEI in higher education, and maintaining the status quo on property taxes – don’t work with Idaho voters anymore. Prop 1 would manufacture results so liberal candidates could win.

Look at Alaska! Voters there adopted ranked choice voting, a key piece of Idaho’s Prop 1, in 2020. The very next election, the state’s congressional seat flipped from red to blue. Republicans held the seat for decades, and ranked choice voting flipped it in one election, despite 61% of voters supporting a GOP candidate in the first round of voting.

Vote no on Prop 1.
Roy Breshears

I am voting NO on Prop 1, and I urge all of my fellow Idahoans to do the same. Why fix something that isn’t broken? When implementing a ranked-choice voting system, we will create a host of new problems, not to mention the cost it would take to set it all up. One of the big problems of ranked-choice voting is that it is confusing and nearly impossible to audit. They used this system in Oakland a few years ago unsuccessfully. Officials tabulated the vote incorrectly, and declared the wrong candidate the winner. Only after a long court battle did the actual winner end up in office.

Phil McCrane, Idaho Secretary of State, says implementing Prop 1 would cost Idahoans up to $40 million. This is more money that we don’t have/need to spend. Our present election is tried and true. Why fix something that’s not broken?

For these reasons I am voting against Prop 1. I hope you will too.
Linda Kazarinoff
Meridian

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