OPINION: The Soul of the Party

December of 2023 saw Idaho set a new record: For the first time in history the number of Idahoans affiliating as “Republicans” reached a new high of 58%, more than double the voters recorded as either Democrat or unaffiliated.

According to the Idaho Secretary of State’s website, which now gathers data from all 44 Idaho county clerks on a monthly basis, 579,391 Idaho voters check their voter registration to affiliate as “Republican.”

Only 126,235 checked the box as Democrats, making up 13% of the voting base. And 275,697 Idahoans chose to remain unaffiliated according to the December numbers. In 2011 when “affiliation by Party” started in Idaho, “unaffiliated” was the largest voting bloc. They now comprise only 28% of the electorate.

Some credit for this December bump in GOP affiliation goes to current State GOP Chairwoman Dorothy Moon. Last fall she asked the Secretary of State to limit who can vote in Republican primaries, excluding thousands of voters who didn’t choose a party preference a year earlier. Secretary of State McGrane researched his constitutional duties and reported back that only the Idaho Legislature can make such a change for official balloting done by the State of Idaho.

But his reply held open the possibility that Moon could limit voter participation for any election not run by the State, such as an internal vote conducted exclusively by the Party.

And, luckily for Chairwoman Moon, a “party-run” contest is scheduled for March 2, the Idaho “Presidential Caucus.” For this caucus, the Party can set its own cutoff and choose December 31, 2023. Voters not affiliated as Republicans by that date cannot participate on March 2nd in “preferring” a candidate to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States.

So it is not surprising to see several thousand voters affiliate as Republicans in December. Republican grassroots workers were encouraged to reach out to unaffiliated (but conservative-leaning) voters, asking them to affiliate before the December 31st cutoff. That appears to have happened.

Affiliating just to vote in one particular election defeats the purpose. County Clerks around Idaho say party switching back to “unaffiliated” will occur after a partisan election. Voter files (including party affiliation) are public records, and political campaigns, fundraisers and vendors of political merchandise will market to every voter listed on the clerk’s records as “in their target demographic.”

The number one reason given for dropping a party “affiliation” is “getting off the @&# mailing list.”

But that drop-off is historically only a percent or two. Most of these record Republican affiliations will remain in place for the next election: the May 21st Republican Primary.

Those who don’t understand the process and purpose of “voting” under our Constitution suggest that “in Idaho, the Primary is the election.” That is untrue. No winner of a Primary is handed the power to raise taxes, impose regulations, or spend money from the state treasury. Those powers are only granted to the winners of the General Election.

It is in November that Idaho voters decide who and how Idaho will be governed. The general election is where “the soul of Idaho” is determined.

The May 21st Primary has a different purpose. When Washington State’s “blanket primary” was challenged in the Supreme Court in 2008, the majority allowed a ballot that “indicates party preference as long as clearly not a party endorsement.” Justices Scalia and Kennedy dissented, noting that “a party’s defining act is the selection of a candidate.”

Scalia and Kennedy were unchallenged on that point. More than in platforms or resolutions, more than in press releases or radio appearances by Party officials, what defines a party is who wins that party’s nomination to appear on the general election ballot.

The May 21st Primary election will not decide who governs Idaho. But it will be the election where Idaho Republicans decide which ideas, principles, and philosophies define the soul of the state’s majority party.

Trent Clark of Soda Springs is President and CEO of Customalting Inc. and has served in the leadership of Idaho business, politics, workforce, and humanities education.