Have you ever missed the start of a much-anticipated sporting event and tuned in late, only to find, that by the time you tuned in, the game was a blowout win for one side or the other?\u00a0 Even if it\u2019s your team that is winning, it can be disappointing to miss out on all the spectacular plays and the drama that led to your team putting the game out of reach.<\/p>\n
Today in Idaho politics, voters who only vote in general elections in November are experiencing much the same phenomenon. They are essentially showing up in the fourth quarter of a blowout game.\u00a0 The contest is over.\u00a0 In fact, the real game happened months ago, in what has become known as Idaho\u2019s closed Republican primary.<\/p>\n
This wasn\u2019t always so, but Idahoans need to adapt to this shifting landscape if they want to have a say in who is elected to represent us at all levels of government.<\/p>\n
In 2011, Idaho law was changed to require party registration in order to vote in the Republican primary.\u00a0 This never used to be the case.\u00a0 Before this, anyone could walk into the polling place for the primary election and request a Republican ballot.\u00a0 There was no requirement to file any paperwork to declare one\u2019s party in order to request a Republican ballot.<\/p>\n
We won\u2019t rehash the arguments that led to this change in the law.\u00a0 However, there have been some effects that are undeniable.\u00a0 Ever since the change took effect, voter participation in the Republican primary has steadily decreased.\u00a0 In the 2010 primary, 13,857 Republicans voted in Kootenai County.\u00a0 In 2012, the first year of the closed\u00a0primary, 13,042 Republicans voted.\u00a0 In the 2014 primary, that number slipped even further, as only 12,534 Republicans registered and voted.<\/p>\n
Even though Kootenai County\u2019s population has undoubtedly grown since 2010, fewer and fewer people are going through the step of registering and participating in the Republican primary every two years.\u00a0 We encourage you to help turn this around.\u00a0 We understand that many Idahoans are reluctant to publicly declare a party affiliation (also known as \u201cparty registration\u201d), and some simply refuse, even though they may have supported Republican candidates all their lives.<\/p>\n
We understand this philosophical unwillingness to be forced to register with a party.\u00a0 It is a tough pill to swallow, and we opposed putting this requirement into law in the first place.\u00a0 But the reality is that it\u2019s here for now, and if you refuse to register as a Republican, you are consigning yourself to sit out the game until it is decided.\u00a0 The truly competitive races usually take place during the Republican primary, and if you want your voice to be heard through your vote, you need to look in the mirror and decide whether it is more important to you to remain independent, voiceless, and frustrated, or affiliated and empowered.\u00a0 The future of our county and our state depends on your decision.<\/p>\n
As you consider our argument, we have one more thought we hope you will consider.\u00a0 For 2016, Idaho Republicans have changed the format of their presidential balloting process.\u00a0 Instead of the\u00a0widely-criticized presidential caucus system that was tried in 2012, Idaho will have a presidential primary.\u00a0 That\u2019s right \u2013 on March 8, Idaho Republicans can come to the polls to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice.\u00a0 However, you cannot do so unless you are a registered Republican!<\/p>\n
Voters currently unaffiliated with a party may change their party affiliation until February 12 in order to participate in the Republican presidential primary.\u00a0 After that date, you can either affiliate by requesting an absentee ballot from your county clerk and declaring your affiliation on that form, or you can affiliate at the poll when you go to vote.\u00a0 You can register to vote, declare your affiliation, or request an absentee ballot by visiting this website: http:\/\/www.idahovotes.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n Then, on May 17, we will do it all over again, electing county, state and congressional candidates in the traditional primary most Idahoans are familiar with.<\/p>\n As Idaho moves steadily to the right, most races are decided in the spring, in the primary election.\u00a0 If you choose not to register as a Republican and participate in that primary, you are making the choice to sit out the game until it is over.\u00a0 Idaho\u2019s future is too important for you to take a pass.\u00a0 Get in the game!<\/p>\n By: Sandy Patano,\u00a0My Turn, cdapress.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever missed the start of a much-anticipated sporting event and tuned in late, only to find, that by the time you tuned in, the game was a blowout win for one side or the other?\u00a0 Even if it\u2019s your team that is winning, it can be disappointing to miss out on all the Read more about Don\u2019t just stand on the election sidelines<\/span>[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/northidahopac.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/northidahopac.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/northidahopac.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northidahopac.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northidahopac.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/northidahopac.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"https:\/\/northidahopac.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northidahopac.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/northidahopac.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northidahopac.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northidahopac.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}