House Bill 2 aims to raise threshold for voter initiatives

BOISE, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — House Bill 2 looks to change how many votes it takes for a voter initiative to become law in Idaho.

Right now, over 50% of votes are needed for approval, but the bill would increase that to 60% for any statewide initiative.

State Rep. Douglas Pickett of District 27 is one of the bill’s cosponsors and said he believes the bill would benefit voters.

“By raising that threshold from 50 to 60%, I think we would get better ballot initiatives on the ballot that would reflect what the voters actually want to see in an initiative, rather than multiple initiatives or referendums that people, in the end, really aren’t going to vote for,” Pickett said.

Pickett added that he thinks some voters are not always fully informed or understand entirely the petitions they are signing.

“For Idahoans, we just want to make sure that when they do see initiative or referendum on the ballot, that it is something that is credible and very important to consider,” Rep. Pickett said.

Luke Mayville is the cofounder of Reclaim Idaho, a political advocacy group. He said that the bill directly attacks the constitutional rights of the people of Idaho.

Mayville has helped get two voter initiatives on Idaho ballots, including Proposition 1, which voters did not approve of in the last election.

“The Idaho Supreme Court has held that this initiative process is a fundamental right of the people of Idaho.”

Mayville said this bill could harm Idahoans' right to enact their laws and even discourage them from proposing new voter initiatives if approved.

“By creating a 60% barrier, if that barrier had been in place for the past 100 years, about half of all of the successful initiatives would have been blocked,” Mayville said.

House Bill 2 is still in the early stages of the legislative process.

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