A non-partisan, informational public forum on November’s Ballot Initiative Proposition1—formally called the Open Primaries Initiative--will be held Wednesday, October 2 from 6:00p to 8:00p at The Harding Family Center, 411 N. 15 th Street, CdA, announced On Point Forum organizers.

“This is another of DART’s On Point Forum series on important issues affecting our community” said Rick Palagi, Chair. The forum is co-sponsored by League of Women Voters (LWV), Nonpartisan Doctors of CdA (NDOC), and Veterans4IdahoVoters, he said.

“The amount of misinformation being tossed about is phenomenal. Our goal is to provide expert opinion and a factual base so our community members are accurately informed going to the ballot box,” Palagi said.

Four panelists will present historical data about voting and voting rights, the veterans’ viewpoint and the public initiative itself. The panel will be moderated by long time community builder Michelle Lippert. The panelists are:

Dr. Michael Ritter, Assistant Professor, School of Politics and Public Affairs, Washington State University. His teaching, research and writings centers on elections, election laws, and election administration. Professor Ritter has published extensively including the 2020 Oxford University Press book, Accessible Elections: How the States Can Help Americans Vote.

Dr. McKay Cunningham, Director of Graduate Programs and former Constitutional Law Professor, College of Idaho. He has taught constitutional law at Concordia Law School and the University of Idaho College of Law. Professor Cunningham practiced law for nine years including a clerkship at the Eleventh Circuit Federal Court of Appeals and as a staff attorney at the Texas Supreme Court.

Dr. Luke Mayville, Co-founder of Reclaim Idaho, a grassroots organization that spearheaded Idaho's ballot initiative to expand Medicaid coverage and is credited with placing Proposition 1 on the November ballot. He holds a PhD in political science from Yale University and recently taught civics and political philosophy at Columbia University and Boise State University Honors College. Luke has written about the ideas of America's Founding Fathers, including a book on President John Adams. 

Christie Wood, current board member, Veterans4IdahoVoters. As a retired law enforcement officer and veteran, Christie has continued to serve her community as a past NIC trustee for eighteen years and CdA School Board member for eight years. She current serves as CdA City Council member. Her board involvement with Human Rights and Veterans organizations, and her contributions to improve communities are a matter of record and too numerous to list.

“We’ve assembled an exceptional panel that will provide important historical context, reasons why this initiative came to be and its potential impact on our elections process. Both pro and con information will be presented without hyperbole or ideological position,” said Mike Bullard, LWV President.

Questions have been developed by the organizing committee by reviewing information presented in The Coeur d'Alene Press opinion and letters pages, writings on the topic by known state commentators and tracking of many social media conversations.

While time limits any ability to provide audience comment, audience members will be able to write any questions they may have and submit them that night. As time permits, the moderator will synthesize important questions to the panel. In addition, questions can be submitted in advance to dartcda [at] gmail.com for consideration.

“We have made every attempt to pull together the most frequent and important questions we have researched. In our panelist’s presentation, many of the questions people have will be addressed. Most all questions we have seen fit into several different categories,” Palagi said.