There were three attempts by Idaho legislators to weaken or dismantle the citizen initiative system in 2025.

There have been more than 150 attempts to do the same in other states around the country.

That’s according to Luke Mayville, co-founder of Reclaim Idaho, who urged Moscow residents on Wednesday to continue supporting the right for citizens to put their own initiatives on the election ballot.

He was invited to speak during a League of Women Voters of Idaho event at the 1912 Center.

In Idaho, the voters themselves can put an issue on the ballot if they get 100,000 signatures in 18 voting districts on a petition.

Mayville said this process has led to expanded health care for Idahoans, more money for public schools and transparency in campaign financing through the Sunshine law. Reclaim Idaho is a nonprofit that advocates for these types of initiatives.

Mayville said the citizen initiative process was created in 1912 to give citizens a voice “when the system of representative government is out of touch with the ordinary people.”

Since Idaho expanded Medicaid through this process in 2018, some legislators have tried to weaken or dismantle the citizen initiative process, Mayville said.

For example, legislators tried to pass a bill that required citizen initiatives to get the support of all 35 voting districts in Idaho. That bill was ruled unconstitutional by the Idaho Supreme Court, who deemed it a form of tyranny, Mayville said.

In the last legislative session, Idaho representatives tried to write the 35-district rule into the Idaho constitution, Mayville said. They also tried to change the rules so citizen initiatives could only pass with 60% of the vote instead of a simple majority.

“We have no doubt something like that will come back again,” he said.

The same type of effort is happening in legislatures across the other 23 states that allow citizen initiatives, he said.

Mayville said the majority of Idaho voters support citizen initiatives, which is why they need to defend it when the next legislative session comes around.

He urged the Moscow crowd to write emails to their representatives, take to social media and write letters to the editor supporting citizen initiatives.

More information about Reclaim Idaho can be found at reclaimidaho.org.