Vote no or grab a fiddle

I remember when deception was subtle.  Not so much these days.

Let’s take Prop 1 on this November's ballot. The proponents of this proposition claim it is about returning to open primaries as was the case in Idaho prior to 2012. The blatant deception here however is two-fold.

First, Prop 1 proposes a top-four primary.  You vote for one person and the top four candidates go on to the general election, regardless of party. Not at all the same as what was before.

Second, Prop 1 includes ranked choice voting or RCV.

RCV is ridiculously expensive, requires new equipment, is overly complicated, requires voter training, and is calculated by proprietary software.

But, of course, this little tidbit is completely ignored by the proponents. It’s not like they don’t know about the RCV part. It’s a quite intentional deception by omission.

The point of this whole package is to engineer a particular outcome. It’s true that liberals have a hard time getting things passed in the Legislature. They manage to, but it’s difficult for them. That should be expected given the vast majority of Idaho being conservative. So they want to burn down the system that has served this country well for nearly 250 years. If they succeed, it’s just the spark that will burn down everything this republic stands for.

Nero famously fiddled while Rome burned.

Please don’t grab a fiddle. Vote no on Prop 1.

MARK QUINN

Moyie Springs