KOOTENAI – Supporters say Prop 1 is necessary to give all Idahoans the opportunity to vote, while critics claim Tuesday's general election initiative is nothing more than an attempt to overturn the existing one-person-one-vote system restrict.

Both sides had a chance to share their perspectives Friday evening in a two-and-a-half-hour forum on Proposition 1, which if passed would end the current closed primary system in favor of an open primary and ranked choice system.

Issues raised in the debate included the potential impact on the state's political parties. Some questioned whether the measure was aimed at hurting the state's dominant Republican Party. Others questioned the impact on voter turnout, the potential complexity of ranked-choice voting and how a large number of candidates would affect turnout and voter fatigue as residents faced a potentially daunting list of candidates.

Attendees also wanted to know how the measure will be funded and the potential financial burden on the counties tasked with running state elections.

Luke Mayville of Reclaim Idaho and Christie Wood of Veterans of Idaho for Voters spoke in favor of the measure, saying Prop 1 would increase government accountability by requiring officials to be more responsive to, rather than, the majority of voters a limited number of marginal voters form a party. Voting would be more inclusive as independent and unaffiliated voters would be able to express their voice freely rather than aligning themselves with a party they do not support or believe in just to be able to vote.

Wood noted that ranked-choice voting would allow a broader range of voices to be heard, giving all parties – and all voices within a party – a chance to be heard by voters. It would also allow veterans like her, known as independent voters, to actually vote in elections for the country they swore to protect.

However, incumbent Sen. Scott Herndon, who lost his bid for re-election in the May primary, and Michael Angiletta, co-founder of Secure Idaho Elections, said that instead of helping, the initiative could undermine trust in the current system and manipulate that One-person-one-vote system is no longer possible due to the possible complexity of ranking candidates and leads to an outsized influence of external companies on the politics of the state.

Herndon, who is also chairman of the Bonner County Republican Central Committee, emphasized the importance of political parties in organizing and representing common principles and suggested that Prop 1 would weaken that structure.

In laying out the case for Prop 1, Mayville said government should always be accountable to the people, an idea enshrined in founding father Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. However, Idaho's closed primary system means officials can be elected by only a fraction of voters and are often far from a majority.

“Because we live in a state dominated by one party, we end up with elected officials who are unaccountable to the people of the state,” Mayville said in his opening statement. “They are accountable to about 9% of the state population. This is not a government based on the consent of the governed; that does not mean living up to any of the fundamental truths of our founding fathers.”

Prop 1 aims to change the problems caused by a closed system in two ways, Mayville said. First, by opening up the state's primary system and second, by introducing ranked-choice voting, which would ensure that anyone elected would have to receive 50% of the vote, ensuring broad support.

However, Angiletta said Prop 1's complexity and the potential for invalid ballots – caused by voters selecting only one candidate – would undermine confidence in the state's election system and system.

“We have a pretty high level of confidence in the election system, with about two-thirds of Idahoans believing in the integrity of the election process here in Idaho,” Angiletta said. “It's a gem, and I think we can all agree that that's something, that trust is something that we all want to protect.”

A veteran, Wood said statistics show about half of those in office are independents and do not favor either political party. Under Idaho's current closed party system, they are forced to either not vote or register for a party they do not support or believe in.

“My friend Gray Henderson served in Vietnam,” Wood added. “These are the veterans you're going to see, the everyday heroes, the patriots out there who fought for this country, and their expectation is that they can vote in any election they want.”

Like Angiletta, Herndon said he opposed the initiative, claiming it was not home-grown, as supporters claim, but was part of a coordinated push aimed at weakening the role of political parties in organizing along common principles.

The initiative, he said, was an outside attempt to change the state's political system and make parties less relevant to the electoral process, undermining 250 years of history and relevance. Contrary to claims that closed primaries hurt voter turnout, Herndon said Bonner County's turnout increased, with turnout nearing 50%. He added that it is quite easy to vote under the current system.

“If you register to vote, which could be on Election Day, and if you are not affiliated with a party, those 275,000 unaffiliated votes – 6,000 in Bonner County – will actually allow you to vote in the Republican primary by showing up on Election Day and State your membership as Republican; That’s how difficult it is to vote in the Republican primaries.”

While Mayville agrees with Herndon that voters have that option, he says for many it's not an option that fits their ideals. “They do not believe that they should be forced to join a party, even for a day, not even for an hour, just to exercise their right to vote,” he added. “They should be able to remain independent and still vote.”

Advocates said ranked-choice voting could be more accurately described as an instant runoff election in which if a candidate does not receive 50% of the vote, the last-place candidate is eliminated. Supporters who indicated a second choice would see their votes go to that candidate.

“Once someone gets over 50%, they are declared the winner,” Mayville said. “The winner is the candidate with the most votes and the most support. … We want elected leaders who represent the broader community, not just a small group of voters participating in a closed primary. We want candidates to represent all of us.”

But critics said ranked-choice voting isn't that simple and results have been mixed in communities and states that have tried the concept. Ballots are effectively thrown out when voters fail to list additional options due to lack of information or voter exhaustion due to the large number of candidates on the ballot, Angiletta said.

“So an exhausted vote is someone who basically votes for a candidate, for example, and that candidate doesn't win in that first round, and there's no second, third or fourth candidate listed in that ballot.” “In that vote end up being exhausted,” Angiletta said, pointing to the recent election of Santa Fe mayor as an example.

“So when we talk about disenfranchising and silencing voters, we should really also consider the voices that are being silenced by this increasing exponential complexity of ranked-choice voting,” he added.

Herndon disputed the assertion that the initiative would ensure that successful candidates had widespread support, saying there was no guarantee that would be the case. He also said that this would deprive voters of options because they would no longer be able to vote after a candidate was eliminated and would not be able to vote among the remaining candidates. The proposal would also open the door to large corporations and outside interests that could have an outsized influence on Idaho's elections, filling the void left by the forced absence of the parties.

“If Proposition 1 passes, there will be a lot of money behind candidates from Alexandria, Virginia-based companies who are pushing your favorite candidate like McDonald's is pushing the Big Mac, and that is likely to win elections in the future,” Herndon said . “And I don’t think Idaho wants that.”