Party affiliation bill moves to Senate

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) - If you aren’t sure whether you will be voting Republican or Democrat in the upcoming Primary Election, you may have to make your decision sooner than in past primaries.

House Bill 439 is currently moving through the State Legislature.

It limits the amount of time you have to declare your party affiliation and could become law before the May Primary Election. 

If it does become law, unaffiliated or non partisan voters would no longer be able to declare their affiliation on Election Day to vote in a closed primary.

Instead, they would have to do so by the last day that candidates can file which this year, would be March 11.

"Republicans run a closed ballot system," Bannock County Clerk Jason Dixon said. "So you have to be a registered Republican to request a Republican ballot to vote there. Democrats have an open ballot system, and so anyone can request a Democratic ballot. The nonpartisan ballot that you can request, which lots of people do, they feel that they're going to get a ballot that has everyone on it because it's non partisan, and it only that ballot will only have judges and ballot measures on it. It will have no candidates. You'd have to request a Republican or a Democratic ballot to vote for the person of your choice."

The bill passed the full House earlier this week.

It is now in the hands of the Senate.