Abe Lincoln said “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” And that is the problem we are facing in the United States. We have a very divided political system. It has become a political sport to fight the other party regardless of the issue. Political party fighting has become the standard issue, instead of addressing the real problems facing our states, our country, and the world.

One of the key factors that contributed to this division is our primary election process. Most people do not vote in the primaries. In Idaho typically about 20 to 25 percent of eligible voters vote in the primary. Nationwide it varies by state, some states as high as 40 percent, but some states as low as 6 percent. With a nationwide average of about 25 percent.

The majority political party in any given state often has the most candidates for a primary election, often about 3 or 4 candidates. For example, where the democrats dominate in a Blue State there may be three democrats running in the primary election and one republican. In a Red State the same thing occurs, 3 or 4 republicans candidates running in the primary versus one democrat.

The problem this generates is that with an average of three candidates from one political party running, and dividing the votes between three candidates, the winner of the primary election may only need the votes from about 10 percent of the eligible voters. As a result, the Blue States tend to remain Blue, and the Red States tend to remain Red. And extreme candidates often make it to the general election because voters that are more extreme tend to show up for primary elections, while most of the more moderate voters simply don’t vote in the primaries.

This problem is often magnified because only one of the three or four primary candidates has the most financial and political support from the dominating party in any given state. Nearly 80 percent of the time the candidate with the most money and most support from the political party bosses wins the primary. We have developed a primary election system whereby the leaders of the majority political party within a given state can basically elect who they want.

What we should have is a primary system whereby voters elect who they think is the best candidate, not the political party bosses. So how do we change that. Open primary elections will help, along with ranked choice general elections. The big advantage of open primary elections is that independent or unaffiliated voters can vote. In an open primary you do not need to be a member of the majority party to vote in the primary, and democrats can vote for a republican candidate, or republicans can vote for a democrat. It also gives independent candidates a real chance, and the number of independent voters across America keeps increasing as more and more people become dissatisfied with the continual fighting between the republicans and democrats. In Idaho we have about 266,000 independent voters. Currently they don’t get to vote in our closed primary system.

There are several other advantages to open primaries and ranked choice voting. Most of the negative campaigning is eliminated. One candidate can’t just bash the other candidate when up to four of the top vote getters make it to the general election. Campaigning becomes more civil and the focus is more likely to be on real issues of concern to the majority of the voters. It makes it harder for the extreme left or extreme right candidates to compete, and definitely gives more moderate candidates a better chance of being elected. Candidates have to appeal to a wide range of voters. With four candidates in the general election you no longer have to vote for the lesser of two evils, which is common in many elections. Open primaries and ranked choice voting allows the will of the majority of voters to emerge. Political party bosses no longer control the election process.

Open primaries and ranked choice voting will cost more initially for some counties, but statewide it amounts to somewhere between 60 cents and one dollar for each registered voter in Idaho. But I think it’s worth it to end up with better politicians that work for the majority of Idahoans.

Open primaries and ranked choice voting will be on the ballot this fall. Vote “Yes” for better political leadership.