Opening primary election hot topic for state GOP

Reopening the Idaho Republican Party’s closed primary and dismantling some federal agencies are among 16 proposed resolutions up for consideration at the state GOP convention in Twin Falls this weekend.

According to a list obtained by The Associated Press, the proposals have been submitted ahead of the Thursday through Saturday confab.

Since they’re nonbinding, these resolutions represent a kind of wish list for GOP delegates.

But those that get adopted help direct Idaho GOP priorities.

One recommends reopening Idaho’s closed Republican primary, a hot topic, given the party’s recent federal court fight to close it.

Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg and a convention delegate, said the closed primary, with its requirement that voters register with the party before getting a GOP ballot, possibly contributed to the record-low turnout statewide.

“If people would have been allowed to vote as unaffiliated or independent, as some people think of it, they would have gladly participated in the Republican primary and have done so in a very responsible way, I think,” Hill told Local News 8 and KIDK.

Hill is not alone. The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports the Idaho Association of Commissioners and Clerks is sending a statement urging Republican party leaders to go back to an open primary.

Other proposed resolutions include abolishing the federal Department of Energy, Department of Education and EPA

According to Twin Falls delegate Don Zuck, the EPA has remedied 1970s-era pollution, but is now killing the economy with regulations.