BOISE, ID – The Idaho Senate on Wednesday cleared a hurdle toward reinstating a presidential primary election in May after it was unintentionally eliminated in 2023.
However, there’s a competing bill to reinstate a March presidential primary instead, with a much steeper candidate filing fee, that passed the House earlier this month, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
McCammon Republican Sen. Jim Guthrie sponsored Senate Bill 1398, which would consolidate primary elections for the presidential nomination and down-ticket local and state races to the Tuesday following the first Monday in May. Under Guthrie’s bill, political parties would have the option to opt out of the presidential primary election, and use the caucus process instead.
Guthrie said the timing was selected to support higher voter turnout while selecting Idaho’s presidential nominees ahead of summer party national conventions.
He noted the challenges of the 2024 presidential caucus, in which the GOP caucus had around 7% turnout of registered Republicans in Idaho.
Presidential primary candidates would need to pay a $1,000 candidate filing fee.
Twin Falls Republican Sen. Josh Kohl said he opposed the bill because he was concerned it was “unnecessarily shortening campaign season” for the non-presidential races.
“I don’t think that helps our constituents get the best conversations out of the campaign,” Kohl said.
Primary elections for races other than presidential nomination, such as legislative races, are currently held on the third Tuesday in May. Presidential primaries, before they were eliminated, were held in March.
Senators voted 23-10, with two absent, to approve the bill. It will be sent to the House for further consideration.
House has competing presidential primary bill
House Bill 638 passed the Idaho House on March 9 in a 45-23 vote.
The bill would restore the March presidential primary election. Presidential candidates would need to pay a $50,000 candidate filing fee, which is meant to offset the estimated $2.5 million cost to run a separate primary election that’s not consolidated with the other primary election races.
The House bill was referred to Senate State Affairs, which Guthrie serves as chairman of. As chairman, he has the discretion to decide whether the bill will be brought forward for a hearing or not.
Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.
