‘Liford Law’ passes Idaho House, Senate - East Idaho News
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‘Liford Law’ passes Idaho House, Senate

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DRIGGS — A federal lawsuit that involved Teton County Sheriff Tony Liford and County Clerk Mary Lou Hansen has inspired a new piece of state legislation to pass this year.

House Bill 13 is also known as the “Liford Law,” because it fixes an issue in Idaho election rules that almost kept Liford from being able to switch parties and run for office as a Republican.

The bill passed the Idaho Senate with a vote of 34 in favor, 0 against. It also passed the Idaho House 68 to 2.

The bill strikes down a provision that requires incumbent holders of an elected office to report their intent to change part affiliation five days before it can become official.

“Simply striking this one sentence here makes it so if you walk in and file for a candidacy on the last day of an election, you can at that time declare,” said Sen. Jeff Siddoway, the bill’s sponsor in the Idaho Senate.

Sen. Siddoway is the father of Teton County Prosecutor Billie Siddoway, who represented the Teton County Republican Central Committee in the case.

The bill is sponsored in the Idaho House by State Rep. Dustin Manwaring, of Pocatello.

“Requiring a five day waiting period for an incumbent and no waiting period for everybody else creates a freedom of association problem,” State Rep. Manwaring told the Idaho House during debate about the bill. “It prevents incumbent electors from associating with the party their choosing. This amendment eliminates the conflict… by simply eliminating the five day waiting period requirement.”

Manwaring’s description of the constitutional issue created by the legislation mirrored the decision made by US District Judge Candy Dale, who ruled on the case involving Liford in the spring last year.

“The Court therefore finds… there can be no five day waiting period before an incumbent’s declaration of change in party affiliation becomes effective,” Judge Dale wrote in her decision. “Liford, like any other elector, is entitled to associate with the political party of his choosing, and TCRCC cannot be deprived of its right to associate with those desiring to join its ranks.”

The Court had issued this decision as part of an injunction that kept Liford on the Republican primary ballot for the office of Sheriff.

Clerk Hansen had ordered it be removed following the direction of the Idaho Secretary of State’s office.

“Mary Lou found that there was what appeared to be a conflict in the law,” wrote Idaho Secretary of State Laurence Denney shortly after the injunction. “She called the Secretary of State’s office to discuss the problem and to seek guidance on the proper course of action… A Federal Judge disagreed with that decision and determined that the relevant state law was actually unconstitutional.”

Judge Dale had more to say at the time than that, however.

“Although Defendant’s desire to interpret the election law correctly is commendable,” she wrote. “The self-interested manner in which the law is interpreted and applied to Liford will prevent TCRCC from promoting the candidate of its choosing due to a manufactured technicality.”

Sen. Siddoway put the problem into the context of Idaho’s change in 2011 to a closed primary system, where only party affiliates could vote in that party’s primary.

“When we changed our laws from an open primary to a closed primary they could see this was a potential wreck,” he said. “But there was no effort in the legislature to change that.”

Siddoway added that he hoped the change would straighten out the issue of officials changing party affiliation for good.

“That’s going to simplify the laws in the state and make it a lot more understandable,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll avoid any further lawsuit.”

This article was originally published in the Teton Valley News. It is used here with permission.

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