Special interest lobbyists and big money still have strong influence in Idaho politics. Our constitutionally guaranteed rights like the ballot initiative process and ability to choose the politicians to represent us – and not the other way around – are powerful ways we as Idaho citizens help keep these special interests in check.
Find out how our right to a free and fair election is at stake in the 2020 legislative session.
Citizen-Led Ballot Initiative
Idaho’s initiative process serves as a powerful check on our legislative branch by giving citizens the right to participate in the lawmaking process when our legislature either refuses to act or acts against the will and well-being of Idahoans. Instead of laws coming from the top-down, the ballot initiative process places the right to enact laws squarely in the hands of Idaho citizens.
Who Benefits?
By making it more difficult to bring policies directly to our representatives through the ballot, Idahoans won’t be able to take action on issues that elected officials have ignored or refused to solve through enacting laws. By restricting this process, politicians will keep everyday Idahoans out of the process and make our laws even more vulnerable to the influence of outside special interests.
How You Can Protect Your Rights
Email your legislators and ask them to preserve the integrity of our constitutionally guaranteed right to the redistricting process.
Redistricting
We need to keep politics out of the redistricting process in order to defend the integrity of Idaho’s honest elections. States that have partisan redistricting almost always end up with gerrymandered maps, which end up being challenged in court and costing taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees. The current system allows for a bipartisan effort to draw and approve maps. Its an unbiased system and it works.
Who Benefits From Redistricting?
The effort to change the makeup of Idaho’s Redistricting Commission is being carried out by career politicians to further entrench their power and influence. Going back to the old way of doing things only increases the influence of lobbyists and major donors on our political system at the expense of everyday Idahoans.
How you can help
Email your legislators and urge them to preserve the integrity of our redistricting process and to keep our system the way it us.