Now that the primary elections are over, it’s time to look forward to November elections. And there may be something on the ballot we haven’t seen for a long time: a voter initiative.
A voter initiative happens when there’s a law a group of Idaho citizens wants, but for whatever reason the Legislature doesn’t act on it. But if they get enough other Idaho citizens to sign a petition saying they want to see it on a ballot, too, everyone gets the right to vote on it. People signing the petition don’t have to promise to vote for it, or even that they support it — simply that they believe it should be voted on by the people.
This year, two voter initiatives have enough signatures, supporters believe, to be on the ballot in the fall.
The first is for “Medicaid expansion,” or making it easier for people to get insurance under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) if they make too much money for Medicaid but not enough to get Obamacare under the current system. As many as 62,000 Idahoans are currently thought to fall into the “Medigap.” Supporters are doing this because the Legislature hasn’t voted to expand Medicaid to this group of Idahoans.
The second one would allow horse racing tracks like Les Bois to install so-called “historic horse racing” betting terminals. Supporters are doing this because the Legislature first allowed racetracks to put these machines in, to help raise revenue, and then decided they were too much like slot machines and disallowed them again. Because the racetracks could no longer count on the revenue from these machines, Les Bois shut down, saying it couldn’t make enough money to support itself.
Right now, county clerks offices are examining all the petitions to make sure there are enough valid signatures. Problems with signatures range from people signing with names like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, to signing a petition more than once, to signing with something other than the name under which they’re registered to vote. Any of these things could make a signature invalid. That’s why both campaigns submitted many more signatures than they actually needed.
The last time a voter initiative was on the ballot was in 2012, with the “Luna Laws.” Then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna had put forth a series of bills, which the Legislature passed, about education in Idaho. Citizens who didn’t like these bills had a voter initiative, and the laws were repealed.
After that, the Legislature made it much harder to have a successful voter initiative. While the number of valid signatures required didn’t change from 6 percent, signatures were required from a larger area of the state — 18 of the state’s 35 legislative districts, so petitions couldn’t just get enough signatures in Ada County. A number of voter initiatives have been tried since then, and this year is the first any have succeeded.
That said, even if the signatures are ruled valid, and the initiatives are on the ballot, and a majority of the people vote for them, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be enacted. In 2002, a voter initiative on term limits passed the voters, and the Legislature wouldn’t enact it, saying it was from out-of-state interests rather than Idahoans. And while the Luna Laws were repealed by a voter initiative, over the next couple of years most of their provisions were passed again by the Legislature, in bits and pieces.
On the other hand, at least this year people proved that it was possible to meet the new stringent petition limits. Unless the Legislature decides to raise them again.