Idaho voters seeking to change their political party affiliation before this year’s presidential primary election would be up against a tight deadline under new legislation introduced Monday. The bill, approved by the Senate State Affairs Committee through a voice vote, would cut off party affiliation changes on the second Friday of February. That would be Feb. 12 this year. The current deadline is March 12. Chief Deputy Secretary of State Tim Hurst says current law allows people to register as Republican during Idaho’s new March 8 presidential primary election and then switch to another party to vote under different affiliation in the May 17 primary for state and local offices.
“We are moving it up quickly, because the election is coming up pretty quick,” Hurst said. “It just means people need to make a choice and they need to make the choice earlier.”
Roughly half of all Idaho voters are unaffiliated and rarely change party registration, Hurst said.
The bill would also prohibit write-in candidates from participating in the March 8 presidential primary, but not the November general election.