In this file photo, then-candidate for Idaho Secretary of State and Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane speaks with an attendee at the Idaho GOP election night watch party at the Grove in Boise, Idaho on Nov. 8, 2022. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun)
Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane is preparing for the open primaries/ ranked-choice voting ballot initiative to appear on Idaho’s Nov. 5 election ballots, even as Attorney General Raúl Labrador advances a lawsuit attempting to block the initiative.
In an interview Wednesday with the Idaho Capital Sun, McGrane said it is his duty to protect Idahoans’ rights to vote and rights to bring a ballot initiative or referendum forward for a vote. Unless or until there is a court order to stop, McGrane said, he will continue to prepare ballots and design the Idaho voters’ pamphlet with the ballot initiative included.
“That’s why we are here, to defend the initiative process and the Constitutional right of Idaho citizens to exercise the initiative. It is not about the contents of the initiative. It is about, this is a right and we are overseeing the process.”