Election results show Idahoans to be methodical thinkers

As a result of political corruption (1890s to 1920s), citizens’ right to petition for a ballot initiative was amended to the Idaho Constitution in 1911.

Two initiatives made it on the ballot for the 2018 election. Prop I, the horse racing initiative (machine gambling), sponsored by Senator C. Scott Grow, backed by Payday Loan companies, and petitioned by hired professionals, lost with only 46 percent of the vote. Prop II, the initiative to expand Medicaid (healthcare) to 62,000 Idahoans, backed and petitioned by thousands of grassroot Idaho volunteers, won by 61 percent of the vote.

Many of the GOP legislators supporting Prop I and/or opposing Prop II were bitter with the election results. Representative John Green stated Idahoans were not informed of what they were voting for when they voted for Prop II. On the contrary, the election results for both Prop I and II show Idahoans to be methodical thinkers, with high moral character.

Sen. Grow (Google Idaho legislative voting record 2019) introduced a bill that would severely restrict Idahoans’ constitutional right to utilize the ballot initiative. The majority of GOP legislators voted for it. That caused such an outcry, throughout Idaho, that Idaho Gov. Brad Little vetoed it, on a Friday. That very next Monday, our District 1 Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, reintroduced the legislation again in four parts, and would have rescinded Little’s veto. Those attempts failed. Many of the GOP vowed to restrict the ballot initiative come the legislative period 2020.

JEFF FEE

Naples