Next week Idaho voters will have an opportunity to express what they believe, what they value, and what they want done to improve their quality of life. The overriding questions are: Will they vote for these things, and will they even vote at all?
In Idaho, the primary election is probably the most important election because of the overwhelming control the Republicans have in our state. This year there are many legislative races where voters have a choice between philosophically divergent Republican candidates. Which candidate voters choose will determine the direction our state takes over the next two years.
The problem is that the voter turnout in primary elections is historically low. In 2022, the last non-presidential primary, only 32 percent of registered voters turned out.
What is even more discouraging is that even a smaller percentage of eligible voters turned out to vote in the 2022 primary – 23 percent. Two years ago, only 19.5 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the primary.
In other words, only 1 in 4 Idahoans are determining which legislators determine the state laws we all live under and the fate of the institutions and programs that touch our lives every day. No wonder there is a strong disconnect between what Idahoans tell pollsters they value and the candidates who get elected to the Legislature.
It also helps explain why Idaho’s legislators increasingly focus on radical culture issues and often pass unconstitutional laws rather than focusing on the kitchen table issues Idahoans say they care about most.
Over the past decade one can trace what Idahoans believe by reading the annual Boise State University Public Policy Survey which comes out at the beginning of every legislative session. What is surprising and encouraging is how Idahoans, regardless of political persuasion, agree on the issues facing our state.
For example, K-12 education always ranks at the top of the list of issues. In 2025, eight out of 10 Republicans and Independent voters put education as an important issue. Nearly 9 out of 10 Democrats rated it as an important issue.
Yet Idaho continues to rank last nationally in education spending per student, and the Legislature has made improved funding even harder by passing a voucher tax credit that diverts millions in state funds to private and religious schools.
In 2025, teacher pay was one of the top concerns of Idahoans of all parties, yet our state ranks 36th in teacher pay. Only 14 states pay less than Idaho. Most of our surrounding states pay substantially more. And last session the Legislature voted to weaken the Idaho Education Association which works to increase teacher salaries.
In the 2025 survey, Idahoans said that workforce development was a key issue. Yet each session legislators line up to repeal the Idaho Launch program which helps young people get the postsecondary skills they need to productively join the workforce. And because the Legislature has shot a torpedo into our state’s revenue base, this year’s Legislature cut higher education funding by millions, causing at least two universities to abolish and merge colleges and lay off faculty.
A high-tech entrepreneur told the Boise City Club last week that by 2030 half of the existing jobs may be replaced by Artificial Intelligence. Yet our lawmakers haven’t even started thinking about the ramifications of AI on our labor force or the economic future of our state.
In BSU’s 2025 survey, housing affordability rose to the top of concerns for 64 percent of Idahoans, including 64 percent of Republicans, 63 percent of Independents, and 84 percent of Democrats. This year 40 percent said housing was the top issue the Legislature should focus on. Yet lawmakers hardly even talked about housing affordability last winter.
In 2025, 69 percent said health care was a top issue, including 64 percent of Republicans, 68 percent of Independents, and 85 percent of Democrats. In this year’s survey Idahoans blamed the lack of doctors and cost as barriers to access. Yet in the last few years legislators have passed laws that drove many doctors out of our state and caused some rural hospitals to cancel procedures.
And every year legislators want to repeal or weaken Medicaid health care for Idaho’s most vulnerable citizens even though Idaho voters expanded the program in 2018 by more than a 60 percent margin. Medicaid is a program that not only provides affordable health care for Idahoans, but it helps support our rural hospitals, thus making health care more accessible.
These are only a few examples of the gap between what Idahoans say they value and the priorities of the lawmakers they send to Boise each winter.
So, what explains this disconnect between what Idahoans say they believe and what they are getting from their legislators? Part of it is that many Idahoans don’t really know what their legislators stand for and most candidates don’t bother to tell them.
The ubiquitous candidate yard signs and billboards you see along Idaho’s highways this time of year hardly tell you what the candidate believes or anything about their character. And efforts to produce a non-partisan and thorough voting guide to help voters decipher the truth has repeatedly been blocked by legislators.
I don’t blame the voters for not knowing much about the candidates. Most Idahoans are busy just trying to work and support their families. This year’s BSU survey revealed that 20 percent of Idahoans are having a “hard”” time getting by economically and another 43 percent said they are “just getting by.”
Yet at both the federal and state levels, Idaho’s lawmakers have done little to narrow the income gap or ease the strain on middle- and low-income families. Over the past year, food prices have risen, gas prices have soared, and programs that help people have been cut or eliminated.
The good news is that next week Idaho voters have a chance to have their voices heard. It is a chance for them to put into action what they believe, what they value, and what they want from their lawmakers to improve their everyday lives. The only thing standing between them and making a difference is the distance to the closest polling place and the will to get there.
My fellow Idahoans, this is your chance to decide the future of our state, for your children, your grandchildren and yourselves. Please vote.
