The spring 2019 session in Idaho was relatively quiet in the voting rights sphere. One notable bill was almost passed that would have restricted Idaho’s constitutional right for citizens to introduce ballot initiatives. That legislation (SB 1159) was introduced by GOP legislators after Idaho voters passed Medicaid Expansion through a ballot initiative. Idaho’s GOP governor vetoed the bill, but said he supports the goal of the legislation. Restricting citizen ballot initiatives takes power away from voters and is undemocratic.

A Democratic legislator introduced legislation (HB 49) that would have brought automatic voter registration to Idaho, but the bill did not advance. We hope automatic voter registration will move forward in Idaho’s next session.