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JANUARY 5th 2023, BOISE, IDAHO – Former Idaho Republican Party Chairmen Tom Luna and Trent Clark, today called for the withdrawal of a proposed rule that strips away the voting rights of hundreds of thousands of Idaho Republican voters and gives a small group of people the power to decide who they think is worthy of being on the GOP primary ballot.
The proposed rule would allow a handful of Republicans to bar currently elected Republican officials from appearing on a future primary ballot for a period of five years.
“This proposed rule is an expansion of the anti-voter rules passed last summer, they are undemocratic and give too much power to a small group of people,” said Tom Luna. “They would effectively silence the voices of thousands of Idaho Republicans who may not agree with every plank of the current party platform.”
“The timeline for the proposed rules is deeply concerning,” said Trent Clark. “A current lawmaker could be barred from the Republican primary ballot before they have had a chance to appeal the decision. This is simply unfair.”
“A ban of any length makes no sense,” Clark observed. “It is punishment for violating a platform that is revised and could be wholly new every two years.”
The former party leaders are calling on the current leadership to openly and publicly condemn this atrocity as a total violation of democracy. “We call on Chairman Moon and other executive board members to denounce this proposed rule and repeal the anti-voter rules passed last summer and to instead focus on building a bigger and more inclusive party as proposed by Ronald Reagan.”
“The Republican Party has always been a big tent party,” said Luna. “These proposed rules would shrink that tent and make it harder for Republicans to participate freely.”
The former party leaders call on all Republicans to contact their state party representatives and urge them to withdraw the proposed rules.
This rule and others being proposed for this weekend’s winter meetings can be found online at: https://idgop.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2024-Winter-Submitted-Rules.docx.pdf
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Tom Luna served as the Idaho Republican Party Chair from 2020 to 2022, and Trent Clark chaired the party from 1999 to 2002. Anyone wishing to learn more can visit GemStateConservatives.com