Free Republic

The Idaho Supreme Court has issued an opinion that dismisses Attorney General Raul Labrador’s lawsuit against the Prop 1 ballot initiative. If enacted this November, the Prop 1 initiative would implement a “Top Four” primary process and change the general election process to Ranked-Choice Voting. Labrador, in his lawsuit, said the initiative’s organizers gathered signatures fraudulently and that the initiative violated Idaho’s “one subject” rule for initiatives. A summary of the opinion states that the lawsuit was dismissed on procedural grounds. Here is the summary, which is from court staff and not direct quotes from the opinion itself: “Today the...

In 2023, a coalition called Idahoans for Open Primaries, made up of mostly leftist groups led by Reclaim Idaho, submitted a proposed ballot initiative to impose ranked choice voting and a top four blanket primary on the state of Idaho. They decided to call it “Open Primaries” despite that moniker having nothing to do with the content of the initiative itself, likely because open primaries polls well with voters while ranked choice voting does not. The Attorney General’s office issued an opinion on the content of the proposed initiative that called out several problems: It violates the single-subject rule, presenting...

America’s founders believed direct democracy was a slower, more indirect path to tyranny. To prevent this, they avoided establishing an “elective despotism” and designed a system that filtered democracy through representative legislatures. Popular ballot initiatives didn’t exist until the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. Now, progressives use ballot initiatives to turn red states blue, including a proposal to abolish primaries altogether. What is the Republican Party’s response? As Democrats work toward creating a permanent political majority at the national level, their extremism has intensified popular backlash in nearly half the states, making them even redder. Currently, Republicans hold...

“Prop 1, the Ranked Choice Voting and Open Primaries ballot initiative, qualified to be on the general election ballot this November. If Prop 1 passes, this will be the end of the Idaho Democratic Party. The promise of Prop 1 is to allow Democrats and Independents to have a voice by choosing Republican candidates, but it also means the Republicans will be voting for Democrat candidates. This includes precinct committeemen (PCs) who elect the leadership of the Democratic Party. Imagine a concerted effort by Republicans to run for Democrat party Pc races (or maybe this is already underway). Same play...

A group of top business leaders sent a letter to President Biden Friday urging him to end his reelection campaign in the wake of his poor debate performance last week. As of Friday morning, the letter was signed by 186 people who said they were fearful about the future of the country. **SNIP** In the letter, the group said it admires the president’s decades of service and noted his legacy will be known as one that rescued democracy from a large threat. “To ensure that legacy is cemented, we ask that you pass the torch of leadership to the next...

In a recent episode of The Purple Principle, a podcast that examines democracy and polarization from a nonpartisan lens, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said that while he was skeptical of ranked choice voting at first, he now sees it as a meaningful solution to elect candidates with the broadest appeal. "I resisted ranked choice and different initiatives that would weaken the two political parties," he said. "Now I don't see it as weakening the parties as much as forcing the candidates to say, 'We've got to appeal to a broad swath of the American electorate." Many voters may not...

Imagine a Super Bowl referee bending the rules to give his favorite team the win. Few would call that fair. Yet that is precisely what the Left wants to do to America’s elections. From noncitizen voting to lawsuits inviting activist judges to rewrite our election laws, left-wing activists are taking every opportunity to change elections permanently for partisan gain. Their latest tactic is to undermine the basic principle of “one person, one vote” with a new scheme called ranked choice voting. As we speak, liberal special interests are leading a sophisticated national campaign to push ranked choice voting in nearly...

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has threatened to leave the Republican Party over the nomination of Donald Trump. Murkowski, who has long sought to undermine Trump and the wider conservative agenda, bemoaned the fact that he was once again the party’s nominee. “I wish that as Republicans, we had … a nominee that I could get behind,” Murkowski said in an interview with CNN. “I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump.”

As Evanston prepares to become the first city in Illinois to implement ranked-choice voting in its 2025 municipal elections, the city is also set to revisit a proposed ordinance that would allow documented residents without U.S. citizenship to vote in local elections. Ald. Devon Reid (8th) introduced the ordinance at the Dec. 4 Rules Committee meeting. He said the change would increase voter turnout by allowing residents who are civically active to more fully participate in their community. “I believe it has been the march of our nation to allow more and more folks the right to vote in our...

Administrative agencies are having a direct effect on whether Alaskans who don’t want RCV can organize and get their message out to voters... Efforts to repeal ranked-choice voting (RCV) in Alaska are proving confusing, and chaotic — just like RCV itself. But a disturbing question lies just beyond the pro-RCV and anti-election lobby smoke bombs: Does the Alaskan government have a tacit hand in silencing concerned citizens? Ranked-choice voting is profoundly complicated to explain, which in itself should be a giant red flag. It is a proposed change to our voting system pushed nationwide by some Republican operatives as well...

North Dakota took a major step towards securing its elections on Wednesday after the state’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill banning ranked-choice voting (RCV). The move aligns with the Republican National Committee, which disavowed RCV in its January meeting.In a 74-19 vote, North Dakota’s lower chamber approved HB 1273, which specifies that RCV “may not be used in determining the election or nomination of any candidate to any local, state, or federal elective office.” No North Dakota jurisdiction currently employs ranked-choice voting for elections, according to a local state news outlet.Under RCV, which critics call ” rigged-choice voting,”...

Since Election Day, Sarah has tweeted her displeasure with ranked-choice voting, which Alaska used both this summer in the special election and on Election Day. Last week, she signed a petition by an anti-ranked choice voting political action committee called Alaskans for Honest Government.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) requested at least 19 earmarks totaling over $60 million in the $1.7 trillion, 4,155-page omnibus bill. If the bill passes both chambers of Congress, Murkowski’s state of Alaska will be granted by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), on behalf of American taxpayers, $60,852,000 worth of pork for housing and urban development, along with infrastructure. The specifics of the many line items include: Providence Alaska-Permanent Supportive Housing for Providence Alaska Foundation ($7,500,000) Cabin Community Projects for Sitka Homeless Coalition ($1,000,000) Rehabilitation of Bering Sea Women’s Shelter for Bering Sea Women’s Group ($2,000,000) Norton Sound Health Corporation Housing for...

Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola won reelection to a full term in the House after she defeated Sarah Palin in a special election to replace Rep. Don Young in August. Peltola was the FIRST DEMOCRAT to win the House seat in solid red Alaska in 50 Years! Ranked-choice voting and mail-in ballots were implemented by referendum in 2020. The results of the November 8 election were announced Wednesday night.

Democrat Mary Peltola has won the race for Alaska’s at-large congressional seat, NBC News projected Wednesday, defeating former governor and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. While the election was held earlier this month, the race was not called for weeks because of Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system where voters rank the candidates in order of preference. After the first round of voting, Peltola led Palin by more than 20 percentage points, with Republican Nick Begich, a scion of one of Alaska’s most well-known political families, in third. But because Peltola failed to win more than 50 percent, the voting...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski has won re-election in Alaska, dealing former President Donald Trump another loss in what has largely been a miserable midterm cycle for his hand-picked candidates in competitive Senate races. Murkowski, one of only seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial, survived a challenge from Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka, a former Alaska Department of Administration commissioner, in the state’s first Senate election to be decided by ranked-choice voting. Rather than limiting voters to one choice, the format allows for candidates to be ranked in order of preference. Neither Murkowski nor Tshibaka, the top two-vote...

ANCHORAGE — Speaking to a large conference room of Alaska Natives on Friday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) had only words of praise for Rep. Mary Peltola (D), the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, who is also up for reelection. “Mary is a woman whose heart is as grounded in Alaska as anybody you’re going to find,” Murkowski told reporters after the event, wearing a gold-colored, paisley-patterned kuspuk, common Alaska Indigenous clothing Peltola gave her last year. Asked if she would rank Peltola first on her ballot next month in Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system, Murkowski paused. After a full...

Twenty-one-year incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has said she will vote for Democrat House candidate Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) over Republican challenger former Gov. Sarah Palin. “Yeah, I am,” Murkowski responded Friday when asked by the Anchorage Daily News if she would vote for the Democrat. Alaska uses the ranked choice voting system, which ultimately affords Democrat voters the opportunity to vote for Murkowski on the second and third ballots. Murkowski’s decision to vote for a Democrat is likely intended to attract more votes down-ballot to ultimately defeat Trump-endorsed Senate Republican candidate Kelly Tshibaka, who is leading in the polls...

A Delaware judge ruled Wednesday that a new vote-by-mail law enacted earlier this year is unconstitutional and that voting by mail cannot be used in the November election. Vice Chancellor Nathan Cook ruled that the law, the result of legislation that Democrats rammed through the General Assembly in less than three weeks this past June, violates a provision in Delaware’s constitution that spells out the circumstances under which a person is allowed to cast an absentee ballot. “Our Supreme Court and this court have consistently stated that those circumstances are exhaustive,” Cook wrote. “Therefore, as a trial judge, I am...

Mary Peltola’s win in the Alaska special election this week became the latest surprise to spark concern for Republicans as it appears that a once presumptive red wave in November is neither definite nor guaranteed. Peltola, the first Alaska Native and first Democrat in decades to be elected to fill the state’s lone House seat, edged out two formidable Republican challengers on Wednesday, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), to serve the remainder of the late Rep. Don Young’s (R) term.