10.11.2024 -- NLS -- TikTok Drink Craze & Breaking Down Prop 1's Hidden Agenda

On this episode of the Neal Larson Podcast, Neal and Julie dive into the latest viral drink trend on TikTok that’s surprising people with how much they enjoy it. They encourage listeners to try it out and share their thoughts.

The focus then shifts to Proposition 1 in Idaho, with a reminder that they'll be handing out "Vote No on Prop 1" signs at the Utah Avenue Walmart parking lot later that morning. Neal discusses the potential impact of Proposition 1, which would introduce a top-four primary system and ranked choice voting for general elections. A recent poll by Zolciak Research found that ranked choice voting has limited support among Idaho voters, though groups like Reclaim Idaho are working hard to improve its image.

Neal criticizes how ranked choice voting has been presented, particularly noting that it has been hidden behind the term "open primaries." He raises concerns about how ranked choice voting would work in practice, including issues like hand recounts and the confusion it might cause among voters. He and Julie emphasize that, in their opinion, more information leads to more opposition to Proposition 1.

They also discuss an incident involving a BYU-Idaho professional publicly supporting the proposition, despite the church’s pledge of political neutrality. Throughout the episode, they answer listener questions, share insights into the proposition, and reiterate their opposition to ranked choice voting.

Neal wraps up by inviting listeners to visit them at the Walmart parking lot for their sign giveaway and continues to encourage conversations about Proposition 1.

Transcript

Now exclusive bonus content on The Neil Larson Show podcast.

Okay, I know it's weird for bonus content for us. Neither one of us to know exactly what we're about to talk about, but sometimes that's the best stuff. It is fun. I just saw a headline. I saw, viral trend. I really don't know anything else about this. So I'm going to. Okay, let's do it. I'll read it.

I'll try to, Julie, and we'll see. So, here's the entire headline viral protein, Diet Coke trend sweeps social media as users are surprised by how good the drink is. Have you heard of this? No, but I'm automatically grossed out because. Okay, should I tell you my story first or tell you later what I. Okay, you tell me first and I'll tell you if my story matches this.

Okay, so it says here yet another viral drink trend is taken over TikTok. People are shocked by how much they like the beverage. Fans are getting a percentage of their daily protein intake by combining a protein drink with the internet's favorite soda, Diet Coke. Rebecca Gordon is a fourth grade teacher from Utah and shared the viral drink on her TikTok account.

And social media users are already obsessed. I feel like I do a lot of the me at 7 a.m. in Utah getting my 40oz of soda before school type videos. That's very typical of me. Then I saw someone else a couple of weeks ago. She just added protein to a soda. It wasn't anything big, just a little cup.

And I was like, well, okay, well, I like protein drinks and I like a soda. Let me try to put them together. She gave it a try by combining a vanilla protein drink with her 40 ounce Diet Coke. It's proven to be a trending beverage on TikTok now. Her video got over 2.5 million views. Yeah, so you've seen I have brought them to work before the little premiere ones that are 30g.

Yeah. So people are dumping that into their soda. It makes like a creamy soda. Yeah. Or they're doing it in their coffee instead of using creamer in their coffee. They're putting the vanilla protein drink especially in an iced coffee okay. Because then it can stay cold. Yeah. And so that's where I've seen it I, it does gross me out a little bit.

I don't know if I could drink a creamy soda. I don't know if it would work for me, but let me tell you what I did once and this could be why it grosses me out. Okay. For years I've take the collagen, right? I take it every morning you watch me. Collagen powders are typically more effective than collagen pills.

Okay, so initially I tried collagen powder. At first I tried to do it in water. I couldn't do it. Then I tried to do it in a Coke, a Diet Coke, or I think I had died. Doctor Pepper. Oh, so gross. Really. It was so disgust. Oh, wow. The only way I could get the collagen powder down was in chicken broth.

Okay, that was it. Really? Okay. Do you still do it? No I go just I do just pills because it made me sick. Yeah. Okay. It was a texture thing. It's a little gelatinous. And my fear is that there's too much texture to adding that protein drink. Yeah. Cause can you feel the grit in a protein drink like you drink it.

Yeah, yeah, I feel like that's too much texture, but yeah, maybe it's awesome. Yeah, maybe. This teacher said the flavor and the smoothness of the vanilla protein drink, too. Well, she compared it to melted ice cream, which makes it taste like soda and an ice cream float. So it got root beer float, but with Diet Coke. Yeah. So maybe, I don't know, maybe it's a vibe, maybe it's a new thing.

Maybe. Maybe it's going to be a new product. We should try it. Maybe we should. I'll bring a couple of protein drinks. Then we can crack open some Diet Doctor pepper and give it a shot. Okay, we'll give it a shot. If you're listening, maybe give it a shot and let us know if you liked it. Let's get to the podcast here and then Nielsen Show.

Me?

You want to show us?

Mr. president one. What did you. I watched Prime Minister Netanyahu tell you about his plans for release two. He's coming over to help with the story. Did did Joe Biden really say that Prime Minister Netanyahu is coming over to help with the storm? No. I'm not saying it should be 25th amendment time, but it should be two.

I mean, what, three and a half weeks at this point? What difference does it make? But I just sounded like Hillary Clinton. His brain is gone. Just mush. Welcome, everyone. It is Friday. Welcome to the program. Today we have a lot going on. Of course, a little bit later we're going to hear from Jill Duncan performing What's Up.

And that will be our second studio cover excuse me, studio for cover. And, which we debuted just a week ago. We look forward to that. Need a little bit of, of a breather, a little bit of relief there. We also have for you, Julie and I are going. We've been given a stack of vote No on prop one signs that we will be giving out between 11 and noon later this morning at the Utah Avenue Walmart parking lot, kind of on the south end, down by the home and garden center, on that end.

So just come and it's a drive through. Like, you don't even have to get out of your car. You can pull up. We'll probably be Facebook living at least some of this and, but grab your sign and, we, we give you the sign that also the the metal prongs that stick into the, into the lawn.

And, we love to say hi. We love interfacing with our listeners. So we've got some of those to to give out. And, I will tell you the there's a fever pitch right now, a discussion about what's happening with prop one. There was some polling that has been done, which I find, well, encouraging. But it's not overwhelmingly encouraging.

According to Idaho Dispatch, there was a poll released yesterday by Zolciak Research. I've never heard of this research group, but Zolciak research. That it shows that there is opposition to prop one, and the opponents have an edge, but we're not close enough to 50% to feel comfortable at this point. The final outcome could shift greatly depending on the level of familiarity with some measure, the ballot initiative would enact a top four primary system and implement ranked choice voting for general elections, and there was a poll of 400 likely Idaho voters conducted by Zolciak Research between October 2nd and October 6th.

45.3% of those surveyed are against prop one and 39.5 support the initiative. So there's about a six point spread here. And additionally 15.2% of those surveyed are undecided. The poll a margin of error plus or -5%. So that could be much closer. And I suppose it could be further apart to, The survey revealed differing levels of popularity among the initiatives.

Two pieces, the and I found this kind of fascinating because it was a few months ago, I believe Boise State did some polling, and they found that open primaries was overwhelmingly, positive. Like somewhere around two thirds or three fourths of Idahoans would like to have open primaries. But on the flip side, it was just the reverse of that.

When it came to ranked choice voting, very few people wanted ranked choice voting, but I think a lot of work has been done to try to rehab the image of ranked choice voting by Reclaim Idaho and those invested in the passage of prop one. They wanted to keep it a secret. Then when the secret got out, everyone said, oh, gross, we don't want that.

And now that the secret's out and the initial reaction was, oh, gross, we don't want that. They're like, okay, we gotta go out and rehab ranked choice voting, which we weren't able to sneak it in like we wanted to. So now we got to we got to go out and prop it up, no pun intended. So here's here's that how that broke out.

The the top four primary, was supported by about 46.7% of survey respondents. 41.3% of those surveyed opposed it. So that's actually really close. There's only about a five point spread there, another 12% undecided on the top four primary portion. The other piece, ranked choice voting, proved to be less popular with respondents. Only 38.2% of those surveyed support that piece, which that's up from the Boise State numbers.

But it's a little more encouraging. 47% are opposed. The last 14.7 remain undecided. The survey also showed a large Partizan split on the initiative. 74.4% of Democrats said they support prop one, 18.8% opposed another. Almost 7% of Democrats were undecided. Of Republicans, 57.7 oppose the initiative, 28.4 in support. Another 13.9% remain undecided. Just weeks before Election Day.

Among independent voters, 50.6% support the proposition nine and 29% oppose it. Well, yeah, they want to vote in the Republican primary. That's why they're supporting it. Another 20.3 have not decided on the measure. Su Zolciak of Zolciak research said that Democrats were far more familiar with the initiative compared to their Republican counterparts. Look, people, you got to get out and and tell this story.

You really do. Although I hold on a second, I'm going to put the pieces here. If Republicans were less familiar, that sort of tells me there's more Republicans in the undecideds, which would bode well for that swath of undecideds that are were still grappling to win their hearts and minds. Zolciak told Idaho Dispatch that the race could shift dramatically as voters become more familiar with prop one.

Her and Allison indicated that as Republicans became more familiar with the measure, they were more likely to oppose it by about 10%, while Democrats and independents who became more familiar were more likely to support it by about 10%. As opposing sides worked to shore up votes for their side. Voters are largely learning about prop one on social media, local news and friends, family and colleagues to familiarize themselves with the initiative's language and potential effects.

The survey also asked voters their preference in the hotly contested presidential election. Unsurprisingly, 60.9% of those surveyed planned to vote for former President Donald Trump, 31.3% plan to vote for Kamala Harris, which that's that's probably about the split. I would I would put it at another 4%, or undecided, 3.7% support a third party candidate or a plan to write in an alternative, Susan Black told Idaho Dispatch in their takeaways from the polling.

In part, the contest is tight, no votes slightly ahead. This is mainly attributed to the Partizan makeup of the Idaho population. If turnout matches the general election in 2020, we will see 61% of voters from the Republican Party, 12 to 13% of voters from the Democrat Party, 25% unaffiliated voters. Republican voters are overwhelmingly against prop one. And so, yeah.

So there there you have it. We got some survey numbers and but I again, I want to reiterate, Julie and I are giving out some signs and we don't have an unlimited number of signs. We've allocated an hour of our time to go out there. We're expecting to give away the signs that we have and, but the real needle mover will not be a few dozen more signs in people's yards.

Part of the reason why I want to do it is I just I love interfacing with, my listeners. I love to talk with people. I love, just seeing where they're at and what they're doing. So that's that's part of our, our motive here. But I want to tell you that the real needle mover will happen when you are at work, when you are.

Okay. Hush, hush at church and you're having it, you know, conversation in the hallway while you're skipping Sunday school. And not that that would ever happen, but I'm just saying there it may happen when you got your, you know, adult brothers family over for the last barbecue of the of the well. So not the summer we're past Labor Day.

But you know what I'm saying? Those are those moments when and and I will tell you, just say, have you heard about prop one? And have you decided how you're voting on it? That opens up the discussion. And then when the discussion opens up, there's a decent chance they don't know the full story. And I'll tell you why they don't know the full story.

Part of the strategy of Reclaim Idaho and Idahoans for open primaries is to occlude part of the story. It's to not tell you everything. They are not out there. And we've made the point over and over again. There's a reason why it's not called the ranked choice voting initiative. But they also didn't tell you that built into this proposition is the allowance for candidates to say they affiliate with any party, even though there's no need for an actual affiliation with a party.

So what what that means is, and I think you have to I think we have to have very clear eyes on this. Now, they would say it very innocently. They would just say, well, well, yeah. You know, they just, we're going to it's the honor system. A candidate gets on a ballot. And the way they get around this, and because I was curious, I'm like, how does even that even pass?

A judge's, you know, the judicial system, how does that get passed this? And they actually print on the ballot that just know that the party does not have to recognize them for them to say they're part of the party. We know that in most legislative districts in Idaho, most candidates are going to if they put a party affiliation, they are going to say they are Republicans.

I've been warning people about this for a long time. This is part of the discussion that you have to have. And I think it's it is sort of their their silver bullet. It wouldn't work out as well for them if they couldn't do this, if they hadn't included this. Very few people are actually going to put that they're a Democrat.

In most races in Idaho, the true Republicans, of course, they'll put Republican on there. They should that that's their true and accurate, authentic, genuine affiliation. But there will be others who feeling as though they they need the same tactical advantage as their opponents who have put the R behind their name will also put the R behind their name, even if they've never gone to a Republican meeting.

Even if they can't stand the Republican Party, even if they are going to vote for abortion or, all the things that Republicans stand against, they they may have no intention whatsoever. And I the here's, you know, what little things come up. I feel like I know much of what is in prop one, but sometimes there are things that will come up if they put that they are a Republican on the ballot and they win when they go to the legislature, do that, does that bind them to be a Republican in the legislature?

I don't know the answer to that question. Or do they win? And there's a reset button all of a sudden, poof, that affiliation was only necessary for them to win in November, and then they don't have to worry about it at all after that. And then they can join the Democrats in January. I mean, what what is the role here?

What impact if we don't have Partizan primaries? And I don't mean Partizan, usually the word Partizan has a negative connotation. And maybe I should just say if we don't have a party or, excuse me, a primary election that is based on political parties choosing their nominees, and then it's sort of a free for all in terms of information on who is what in November on the ballot, then what happens in January with the victors, the electoral winners.

And I'll ask, this could be a flash poll question. It isn't today, but I'm going to ask you to the ether. It's a it's an ether flash poll question. Feel free to text on it if you want. If you list Republican on the ballot legally, you will be counted as a Republican as the legislature is determining their, their, leadership.

Am I right? People should that should that not be how it is? I don't know that that's how it is. I don't know that that's how it is, but that's how it ought to be. And I don't even know if that has been, included in the proposition or considered. Another issue came up. I spent I spent some time yesterday because I'm working on a project.

I, I've had so many people tell me, hey, is there something you can share? Is a I've got a nephew, or I've got a brother, or I've got this community or whatever. And I'd like to know more about prop one. What do I tell them? How do I how do I give a concise version of this. So I'm working on that and hope to have that for you ready early this next week.

But here's something I watched. There was a forum with Trent Clarke, representing the Republican side. He's sits on the executive committee. And then you had Todd Achilles, who's one of the principal architects of prop one. He and Luke Mayville are the ideological architects of this, and then some academic from the College of Idaho that I never heard of him.

Can't remember his name at this point, but I watch this forum that they did in Sun Valley, in Ketchum, at the library there. And a really good point was brought up by Trent Clarke. Trent Clarke said. What happens Idaho law requires a hand recount of elections that are razor thin. For instance, the Ben Furman Julianne Young race that initially was separated by two votes, I believe, and it ended up being eight in the end.

But it requires a hand recount. How do you hand recount thousands of ranked choice ballots that require a computer to do, and an algorithm to do the computing? It's it actually was a fantastic question. I know there's a little history with our show and Trent, but I think that that is an incredibly good question to ask. How do you do a hand recount of a ranked choice election with three, 4 or 5 6000 ballots?

When there is high potential for human error in the there's not really much potential in human error when it's just a binary race. And one vote counts once and there's one round like the the system we have today, that's much more manageable. Tell me how that works. When you have a vote that was separated by, 1 or 2 votes and it requires it's not that they can it's not a prerogative.

It's a requirement that that a recount happens. Do you go back and start from the very beginning and do the multiple rounds? Do you only recount the final round? Like what? Well, how do you do it? And Todd Achilles was asked, how's that going to happen? Do you know what the answer was? In fact, I've got the audio.

I don't have it ready. I'll try and find it and play it for you. It was. We'll figure it out. We're smart. Okay. That's not good enough. I know Todd continues to declined to come on the show and answer the questions in greater detail, but I am telling you that is not good enough to have that answer, because at some point, we're going to have a big statewide race and it's going to be separated by half a percentage point, something very minor, and they're going to have to do a recount.

And I don't know if anybody knows how that will be conducted in a ranked choice environment. Got a break at 826 on Newstalk 1079. Well, we'll be back and a short segment, and in about ten minutes we will be joined by Jill Duncan performing What's Up on our studio for covers this morning.

I'm geeking. Give you time and take to me. All right. It's, 830 on Newstalk 107. I, Neil Larson, along with Julie Mason on this Friday. You craving some protein? Well, guess what I had for dinner last night. Why? Let me guess. French dip? No roast, no ribs. Steak bites. Oh, yeah. You like the steak, but you like steak bites.

Seasoning them all. Yes. So good. Butter, garlic seasoning the whole thing. And got that meat from Grand Peak's Prime meats. You know, that is a great meal because it's so easy. You just take the steak, cut it up into cubes, roll it in some butter and seasoning, throw it in the air fryer for like eight minutes. Yes. It's so easy.

Yeah. Super easy. That and they've got lots of pre Swedes bagged meals that are ready to thaw and heat and eat. Yeah. Yeah. And a good way to stay healthy by the way because last night that was steak bites with olive oil and seasoning. So you got limited you know extras there. Yeah. And then we had vegetables on the side with olive oil and seasonings.

That sounds good. Put your health first. Get a hold of GG Prime meats.com. Okay. And free delivery in the Idaho Falls area. And for orders over 75 bucks. Right. It's a very affordable fee under that GG primates.com 832 when we come back Jill Duncan will join us. She's going to sing What's Up for studio four coverage this week.

And, we're back on this Friday morning. It's 838 on Newstalk 178. Neil Larson along with Julie Mason. Julie, it's Friday at 835 ish. You know what? That means? It's studio for covers, and today we're joined by Jill Duncan. Thanks for being with us today, Jill. First, thank you. Yeah, it's great to have you with us, Jill. We'll have you come a little bit closer to the mic there so we can hear you really well.

Hey, tell us about yourself. I know you are a frequent performer. Yes, well, I get to sing for the Spud King sometimes, and then it's just for fun. Weddings, funerals, all that kind of stuff. So funerals are fun? Yeah. Yeah, it's always a good time. It's good. You come from a singing family. You and your sisters will sing together.

Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah. So my dad was a singer. My brothers, my sister. Kerry and I like to sing as much as we can anyways, but it's a good time. Yeah. What is your favorite kind of music to sing? Like if someone said, I want you to pick any song, what? What would it be?

Oh, my. Kind of like we've done here. All the things. Yeah, all the things I love. Rock, country, even classical. I love everything, all of it. All of it's fun. Okay. Yeah. All right. Are we ready for this? Should we do it? Sure. Okay. All right, here we go. And tell us the song you're performing today.

So I'm singing. What's up from For Blonds? It's my favorite little okay beginner song. Here we go. Okay.

25 years in my life is still trying to get up that great big hill of hope. For a destination. Realized quickly when I knew I should. That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man. For whatever that means. And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed just to get it all out. What's in my head?

I know. Oh, I'm feeling a little bit. You're. You're. And so I wake in the morning and I step outside and I take a deep breath. And I get really high. And I scream the top of my lungs. What's going on? And I said, hey, yeah, yeah, hey, hey, hey, yeah. I said, hey, man, what's going on? And I said, hey, yeah, yeah yeah yeah, hey, yeah, yeah.

I said, hey, what's going on?

Whoo whoo whoo whoo hoo! You're.

Ooh whoo! Whoo hoo! You're. Yeah, yeah. And I try to. Oh, my God, to try a try all the time in this institution. And I pray, oh, my God, to pray. I, I can God day forever national. And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed just to get it all the what's in my head I know.

Oh, I'm feeling a little peculiar. Yeah. And I wake in the morning and I step outside. And I take a deep breath. And I get real high. And I scrape the top of my lungs. What's going on? And I said, hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, hey, yeah. I said, hey, hey, what's going on? And I said, hey, yeah, yeah yeah yeah, hey hey hey, yeah.

I said, hey, what's going on? And I said I hey, yeah yeah yeah yeah, hey hey, yeah I said, hey, what's going on? And I said hey hey hey hey hey hey, yeah, yeah I said, hey, hey, what's going on?

You. Who do you do who. Yeah, yeah.

25 years and my life is still trying to get up that great big hill of home. For the destination. Good job, Jill Duncan, thank you so much. Thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you for coming in this morning. All right. Thanks so much. All right. We'll be back. It's 843 on Newstalk 179.

It's 848 on Newstalk 179. Neil Larson, along with Julie Mason and Julie. Again, thanks to Jill Duncan for her great performance today. Yes. What's up is the name of that we didn't even know that was the name of that song. I had no idea, but we both knew the song very well. If you had asked me, I would be like, it's what's going on?

But it it's what's the name of by for non blonds. Yeah. Okay. We've had a few people ask us let us know again where Neil and Julie are going to be giving away. Vote no on prop one signs. We will be at the Walmart parking lot, South end, kind of down there by the, well, closer to the, what's the Chinese place?

Panda express, near the garden center. This is the Walmart on Utah Avenue. So Idaho Falls Farm, Walmart, not the M and Walmart. It's the Idaho Falls Walmart. So, again, between 11 and 12 p.m. and stop by and, you can grab us while supplies last. We have a few dozen of these that we're going to give out.

So, but we will do this on Facebook Live. I was thinking we'll we'll keep people posted. And if we stop the Facebook Live, just keep watching the the post, because as soon as we run out of signs, we'll let you know we're out of sight on this post because we don't want you driving across town or 20 miles or whatever.

So, we'll let you know as soon as that's done. But, anyway, Julie, a great point is brought up. I don't know if you heard the monologue or not. Not my point. That was so great. But I do want to ask you about this. If you list that you're a Republican and you win in November, you are a Republican for legislative leadership purposes, right?

You you cannot be allowed to go. I'm a Democrat. Now that it's January. I mean, I don't know what the prop the prop says, but do you know, I don't think, you know, even I don't think I know, but what flashed in my mind was federal, not state. Now, keep in mind the state laws and constitution read differently than the federal.

So I'm going to give you a federal example here. That doesn't mean that's how the state of Idaho runs. Yeah, but Joe Manchin has decided he's not a Democrat anymore. And that was while he was in office. Now he's not rerunning well. So here's here's where I would, jump in. And for me, this is the nuance. Okay.

I don't have a problem if in the middle of a congressional or legislative session, a lawmaker says, I'm switching my party or I'm no longer part of the party, that doesn't instantly change leadership. So there will be a leadership election next Congress, you know, whatever. They'll vote for the leaders. Right. And that's when you just decide then totally get it.

What I'm saying now is that if you win listing yourself as a Republican in November, then you you cannot be counted as a Democrat once you're seated in the legislature. Okay. So that will affect committees that will affect like it'll affect leadership. It'll affect things like that. The real downside for me is their behavior while they're over there, that if you lied about who you are, your constituents are expecting something from you, and then you go over there and you do something different.

Now we're going to go back to the federal level example of Joe Manchin. He didn't vote any different after he he left the Democrat Party. Yeah, right. It was the same thing. Yeah. He's always been very center, very center. So he the constituents were getting exactly who he told them he was. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I you're right.

And I think Joe Manchin would probably say I didn't leave the Democrat Party. It left me. I couldn't call myself a Democrat anymore because they moved. And and so I bit you're right. And I actually respect that more than if he left the Democrat party and then started voting differently. Right? Right. He was the same guy. Yeah.

I think the fear here is that you put an R behind your name just so you can score a win. Yeah. And then you go over there and immediately behave different. Yes, yes. Agreed. Yeah. And I've never heard I think that's a very plausible scenario. And I haven't heard the resolution to this. So the next time we talked to Phil McGrane or, or Moyle we ought to ask him that question.

Well the people who are, who have written and put forward the proposition, they don't care about that part of it. They don't care him. They don't care if that's muddled. That's somebody else's messed clean. Yeah. It is. And that's how they approached Medicaid expansion. We care about being compassionate. And I'm going to force you to be compassionate by giving more money in taxes to Medicaid.

And when posed with the well, what do you do if there's more people in this? Well, there's not going to be, but the legislator will figure the legislators will figure it out. Yeah, that's how they approach it. Yeah, right. They don't want to come up with a good solution. They want to come up. Well Senator Rich said it yesterday.

They have invented a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. And their solution is they want to get more moderates elected. They don't care how that has to be implemented. They don't care how hard it is for elections to be audited. They don't care that we're going to have to come up with 25 to $40 million to make this run.

They don't care that there's not voting machines in several counties that can even handle this process. Not none of that matters. Yeah. What matters is we want more moderate people elected. Yeah. Yeah. You're right. It it's like the legislature now becomes their servants. Yes. Which they are our servants. They are. But but now it's like they don't they really don't address those, those details.

That's that's rough. All right. (208) 542-1079 we have 3 or 4 minutes left this hour. If you'd like to join me on the program. Usually, Julie, if there is an answer to a question, we get text saying, oh, it's it's this. I'm not seeing anything. Come in. I'm not seeing anything either. I these are these are questions they don't want people to ask.

There's a reason they buried the ranked choice voting part of this. Yeah, there's a reason they've buried the complicated details. They want that to all stay hidden because they don't have answers for it. Which is another reason that I believe Todd Achilles will not do a, a difficult interview, one that asks hard questions. Now, the reason why Luke Mayville will not do a difficult interview.

So we got a question. Julie. Apparently Gordon Monson wrote a piece in the Salt Lake Tribune and his. It says it's time for LDS prophets and apostles to urge members not to vote for Donald Trump. Now he's just a columnist, right? Do we know the connection? If there is one to Thomas Monson, I don't know. But this sure feels like when I asked the man who he interviewed about Mormons for Harris Walls or Latter day Saints for Harris Walls, and I said, do you feel like you're capitalizing on your religion?

And he said, absolutely not. I feel like Gordon Monson is capitalizing on the last name Monson right here. Yeah. I, he's not related to Thomas. Okay. Okay. So I don't give a crap what? Gordon I wouldn't give a crap if it was his son, and I even more don't give a crap. There are no crap to give.

It doesn't. I mean, I look at this, and for a moment because somebody texted this in and said, what do you think about Gordon Monson telling, you know, church leaders, they ought to encourage you know, members of the faith not to vote for Trump? My initial reaction was, I don't care what anybody else says. It doesn't.

However, I will say that. Well, let me bring this up. What do we have two minutes here. We had a situation where someone keyed me in to a discussion going on in a local, pretty sizable community page and a high ranking BYU Idaho professional was openly advocating for vote yes on prop one. Now, I don't want to deprive anybody of their, their ability to express opinions, but it's interesting that it comes on the very recently on the heels of the church pledging neutral party, but you have a very high ranking PR professional at BYU, Idaho, who's now on social media openly advocating for Vote yes.

And again, I don't there's nothing illegal there. I don't know if the employer's thrilled with it. He's he's more than able to do that. But at the same time we can pointed out to. So it was his comment I'm like I, I got it I got to respond to this. I had already written 80% of a column about ranked choice voting, and I copied and pasted it and made a couple of, of, just to was he frowny faced it?

Which is fine, I don't care, I don't he can't yeah, that's that's perfectly fine. But when it comes to pressuring church leaders to tell their flock how to not vote, just days after they said, we're politically neutral, we are not going to tell you how to vote or not vote. It just seems like it he's up to like he just is sort of I how dumb are you?

You know they're not going to. He's the vegan attending the party that's being held at a Brazilian grill. Yeah. Telling everybody in the Brazilian Grill restaurant, stop eating all of that meat. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. 859. We'll be back. Our two coming up.

I only got, like, just under four hours of sleep last night, so what are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? Yeah. All right, here we go. Standby.

Good morning. It's 907 on Newstalk 179, Neil Larson, along with Julie Mason. And here we are, the 9:00 hour. And yesterday we promised that we would open this hour up for anybody who wants to call in, even if you've already called this week, I will mercifully and benevolently lift the one call per week rule. And if you have a question about ranked choice voting or open primaries or proposition one, we will do our best to answer those questions absolutely for you.

If we don't know, we will say we don't know. And I will also include this caveat. I understand the proponents arguments well, and I will do my due diligence to represent what their arguments are. Okay. Does that make sense? I don't know, I think that that's actually actually how it should be, because you want people to be able to affect of Lee.

Argue back if there's a counter point. Yeah. That someone's pressing them on. Yes. I have always felt Julie, I was driving home yesterday and I remember right where I was, I was driving right next to the river and I had this thought that, you know, we're here. We are in this environment where three plus weeks to go before the election, you and I are very opposed to ranked choice voting.

And I sort of took note in my own mind that we we have this bias, we have this opinion. And then I thought, no, we just know the whole story. Like, I feel like we may actually be less biased, even though we're adamantly against it. Once you get the full picture of what this is, you're going, wait a minute, that's not what I signed up for when I signed that petition back in April.

That's not what I thought I was getting into. And when you get the full story, when you get Paul Harvey's rest of the story, then then I think people are like, the more informed you are, the less likely you are to support this thing, right? Right. I think that's exactly right. So yes, please call in. Let's chat about ranked choice voting.

Let's ask those questions that you're you're you're maybe uncertain of or that somebody pressed you with. And, or maybe you're one of those people that is just sitting on the fence and that you're, you're not quite sure yet. I think the version of that that I've heard the most of is, well, open primaries doesn't sound too bad. So convince me why ranked choice voting is so bad.

I shouldn't just go ahead and vote yes for this. Yeah, I think that's probably been the biggest pushback. Yeah. So, we do have calls waiting and I'm going to get to those calls very, very shortly here. But there was one point yesterday when I was watching this video from Sun Valley, where they put on this forum, and Todd Achilles and Trent Clarke were on it, and Todd Achilles had this visual simulation of how ranked choice voting worked.

And there were four choices for desserts and ice cream. Apple pie, I don't remember exactly what they were. Doesn't doesn't even matter. And so I'm watching this and I'm thinking, these people are clever. They are really, really clever. Because when you're if they can link this process that they want to implement to something everybody likes, like dessert, you're like, oh, it's a good thing.

Yeah, I and they're not accurately they might functionally present how it would work. But a more if you're going to have to use food. Yeah. You would have raisins and hummus and kale, kale and stuff. That's controversial stuff that some people love. Some people hate but act like they love and virtue. You've got to have this wide array where there's lots of different opinions and you have to say the people voting, well, you know, 48% of them are vegans and the other, you know, 52% eat only meat.

And you, you know, you they're not introducing to you the the variable dynamics of a race where you look at at half of the candidates and you don't like them, like that's what you get in politics. You don't get that when you're choosing between blueberry pie and ice cream. Well, you know, the next one they're going to do is you could go on for vacations and it's either going to be, Puerto Vallarta or Cabo or Mazatlan.

Yes, of course I'll take any of the vacation. Oh, everybody loves that outcome. Even if it's not your first choice. You're like, there's still palm trees at the beach. That's not how politics works now. And furthermore, whether you have blueberry pie or peach cobbler, that doesn't impact your way of life. With with the real application of ranked choice voting, our way of life is at stake.

So I didn't really like how reductive his approach was, but it was clever. Like people could get their minds around and they're like, oh yeah, this is how it works. Well, yeah, you go away. And, one of the sponsorships I want I've wanted to do for the longest time, it's still hasn't come to fruition. I wanted to be the official napkin sponsor of of the Eastern Idaho State Fair.

And you print the station logo right on the napkin, and then all your vendors use those napkins. So when people are eating, it's this very positive, you know, who doesn't love a good Tigerair or or SCO nuggets or whatever? And they're like, oh, in the Newstalk logo, you, I want them in a good mood when I present my thing to them.

That's what he's doing when when he reduces a ranked choice voting model to desserts. Right. It's like, they're clever. Yeah, it's like a Jedi mind trick. Good. That's that's the reason they're one for one, right? Yes. They got Medicaid. They got shut down on the tax hike. Yeah. So this is the this is like the deciding one right here.

Don't give it to him. Well imagine Julie, if you had let me give you for ranked choice voting options. Cancer a pandemic the Holocaust and adultery.

Rank those for. Yeah yeah I mean it's thing. Yes. Totally. Get it right. Yes. Okay. Let's go to the phones. By the way, if you have questions about prop one, we will do our best to answer them. And I will incorporate into this because we can get neither Todd, Achilles nor Luke may be able to spend a few minutes with us.

I will try to incorporate the best, most compelling version of their argument that I can. Okay, so, let's go to the phones. Caller, how are you today? Good morning. Good morning. Julie, I before I heard your little comment about we're going to waive that or you're going to have mercy on us. I was going to throw myself on the mercy of the show because this is my second call this week.

Okay. You're good. You're good. Thank you for being thank you for being a benevolent radio host. Yeah, well, it's my pleasure. I'm going to ease you guys's minds a little bit. I drove while I'm currently in the second most liberal part of Idaho right now. That would be Driggs, Idaho. In between Titania and Driggs, I saw not one vote yes on prop one, and I saw probably 50 vote no on prop one side, no right next to Kamala Harris and wall signs.

Weight vote no signs next to Harris walls signs. Yep. Oh, that's good to hear, right? In the same way as signs. Yeah. If I on my way back, I'll stop and take a picture for you. Oh, yeah, that'd be great. Yeah, that's good to hear about that. I will tell you. That gives us some, some comfort to think that even the most liberal parts of Idaho aren't completely as dumb as we think they are, and that's a valid point of view.

Not individually. Point of view. Yeah, well, let's hope not. Oh, yeah. Okay, have a fantastic weekend. And I'm going to try and make it back to pick up a sign in Idaho Falls. But if I don't I know other ways I can get some. Okay okay. Good. Sounds good. Thank you. Thanks, Ron. Okay. All right. Again, we will be at Walmart 11 to noon today.

South end down by the garden center at the Utah Avenue Walmart, giving out a few dozen signs. Perfect. First come, first serve. Let's go to the next call. Welcome. Caller, how are you today? I'm good. Neil and Julie, my second favorite host after Alex Jones. Well. Oh, okay. Is that a compliment? Is this, like, ranked choice show host?

No hurry. There. Go I I so when Trump first ran for election, I did not want him in my primary. And then by the time he got chose for that primary nominee I loved him his presidency. It was great. And somehow Mitt Romney has this vicious hate for him. Just this week, he did some endorsement for Harris and said some other stuff.

And I just so curious on why he has so much hate and animosity towards Trump. There's got to be something that he's hiding or afraid will come out. Okay, let's back up for just a moment. We have not heard any news that Mitt Romney endorsed Kamala Harris. Is that true? It might not be an official. I saw Deseret News is what I was reading this week, and that's not the most correct news.

More like CNN. Okay, I'm seeing the article. It says, this was two days ago. Mitt Romney reiterates he won't vote for Trump, but he will not endorse Harris. So he's he's doing the thing I complained about in the 6:00 hour, which is I am so righteous and holy. I am better than all of you, and I will not vote.

Yeah, that's what he's doing. Yeah, I just what's he hiding? I think he's afraid of Trump for something. I don't know if he's afraid. I just think he's better. He hates him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I, I yeah, I think it's just bad blood. I think with Mitt Romney and admittedly, Donald Trump, you have two men with massively big egos.

And Mitt Romney's ego was injured by Donald Trump's ego, and he cannot let it go. Well, that might be it. Well, thank you guys for your show I love it. Well, I hope it's a good election. I love to say thank you for calling in, but now I'm a little irritated. Yeah, I just am more irritated. Admit he's so irritating.

Yeah. He is, he is. Yeah. Thank you for the comment. I don't know what you're saying. Here's the thing. I think we could defeat Alex Jones in a subsequent round, though. Oh we could. Yeah, but not like neither one of us would get 50 right off the bat. But in round two, a round three, we might be good.

That's true. Yeah. Let's go back to the phones. I caller, you want to turn your radio down and listen only to your phone, but go ahead. You're on the program. This is me. It is you. Yes. Please go ahead. Yeah. I just calling to, respond to your previous caller. The reason why Mitt Romney so salty with Trump is because, Trump snubbed him in his administration.

Because you want to keep rolling his administration and Trump snubbed him. So, yeah, that's where the bad blood came from. Yeah. I mean, we all go we all thank you for the call. We all remember the dinner that Mitt Romney had with Donald Trump. And this was after this was vintage classic Trump. Mitt Romney already held this virtue signaling press conference in Salt Lake at the University of Utah and shredded.

Donald Trump talked about his his, personal life. He talked about his business failures. He talked about his bankruptcies. He talked about all of those things. And of course, you do that to Trump. It's over. Right? But Trump didn't act like it was over. So Trump gets the nomination. This is early on when they were like a bunch of choices.

I don't remember exactly what phase Trump ends up winning the nomination. Trump doesn't forget. And Trump says, let's pretend that I want to make nice with Mitt and we'll even invite him to dinner. They go to dinner, pictures are taken, the media covers it, and there's lots of speculation that Mitt Romney might get tapped to be a secretary of state.

So Mitt Romney's excited about this. I mean, he wasn't the president, but whatever. Okay, feeling like waters under the bridge and then Trump dumps him. Yeah. And it was clearly a setup. And I think Mitt Romney felt stupid, as he should have. And and he fell for it. And since then it's been now Mitt Romney always couches it in terms of his own virtue.

And I'm not I'm too good for he didn't say that. But that's the vibe. But in reality, it's just jealousy. It's just just it's just it's just, grudge and jealousy. Yep. Next caller, you're on the program. Good morning. I think you guys might be a little off subject, but I was watching the news this morning, and they're talking about all of this, this disinformation information, whatever, whatever your ability.

And, the news station, I watch, back in, June, June this year, the 23rd, they reported that, Mayorkas reported that they were running out of money from FEMA because they were, contributing to the illegals at the shelters on the border. And I called and asked him if they could, like, go deeper into the conversation about it and, and then all of a sudden now they're saying, you know, Trump's making up all this disinformation, Joe, I don't know enough $750 a person.

That is ridiculous. How much are the spending per day per illegal per motel room in New York City? So, I don't know if I should say that station that I watch, but, I just thought I'd bring that up because I thought it was interesting. Yeah. No. Yeah. Guys, thank you for that. That question. And, you're not wrong.

I mean, you you can tell what a president's priorities are and congresses by what, how much money they allocate towards something. And there's been way more money that's been going to illegals than to hurricane victims. Yeah. So to clear it up for the caller, Mayorkas did come out and say that, they were running low on FEMA money.

And part of the reason they were running low is because they had allocated so much of that money to illegal immigrants. Yeah. Then just a couple of days later, Karine Jean-Pierre from from the white House podium totally went against that. Yeah. So you've got the highest ranking cabinet member right there on this issue going against the press secretary.

What that does is it allows the mainstream media to use only what the press secretary says and not play what Mayorkas said. Yeah. So that's probably what you're hearing in your news reporting. What Trump is saying about, FEMA using funds for illegal immigrants. It's absolutely true. It's absolutely true. Okay. The second the call is that it's difficult for these people to get the $750.

It's a very low amount when you've lost everything. And then it is a really difficult process to get it. You there's been people denied because they can't upload their ID because their ID was washed away. Oh my. So they're not getting any of the money yet. As an illegal immigrant, you don't even have to upload an official document.

Yeah. To be part of their the app that puts you into the country. So I think that that's a big like a bigger, just an understanding of what the government is doing. The people who are hoping for that little teeny amount of $750, we're having a very difficult time to get it. Getting it, and it's difficult to access it, and they're getting denied.

And all you have to do is fill out a profile for the immigration app and you're automatically entered in, okay, fact check this for me, Julie, because I've seen this and I haven't had the bandwidth or time to chase it down, I've heard that that 750 bucks is not just money like it's a loan. Now, is that true?

I have seen that in multiple places that the. And it must be the way that you fill out the paperwork that enters you into the loan portal or into the Greenleaf portal. Okay. Yes. So I don't think across the board it's completely alone, but I think for some people it would be a loan, like like maybe you can enter.

I'm just spitballing here. Maybe you can enter into that portal as a business versus an individual. And if you're a business, maybe it's a loan like that kind of a thing. There's a variance on, on on how you're identifying yourself. If it's a loan, I'm not even going to bother. I don't want your 750 bucks. No. And then I've got to worry about it.

So, okay, I, I, I don't know if we can trust the fact checkers, but I just did it, and there's, like, a station nine news has. That's not true. Another one called check. Your fact.com says the claim is false. FEMA's official website states that this moneys a grant unless you meet certain criteria, which is what you said.

The seven and 50 comes from FEMA's Serious Needs Assistance Plan, which allows recipients to buy essential items, including emergency supplies. Yeah. So so depending upon you how you answer the questions, you're going to get funneled down there. Hey, you have to pay this back. Yeah. Area versus if you answer in a different way than it's a grant okay.

Let's go back to to the, callers. Go ahead. Caller, you're on the program. Good morning. Julie. Hi. Is there, on that ranked choice voting? Is there or, some outside influence involved in this? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you got I will tell you something. It's really fascinating. If you go to Google and you just Google open primaries, ranked choice voting.

There are multiple states where these these this effort is in various stages. And when you see that kind of a widespread effort where just one little piece in a much bigger, bigger movement and, yeah, I don't know if it's George Soros. I've heard that accusation before, but it does mean that there is some very big dark money behind this kind of thing so as to then, anyway.

Yeah, well. There might come a day when the American people get fed up and say, hey, we've been, Yeah, we're, we're going to put up for that. Well, anyway, so you do have a great day. I'll talk to you another day. Well, thank you. You as well. 208542 179 caller you're next. Go ahead. Hello?

Is that me? It's you. Yeah. Go ahead. Okay. I am I'm totally against prop one, but I went to a neighbor, had a guy come and talk about the. Yes. And I went to it just to see because I, I'd never really listened to someone who was for it. So I went and it was just kind of fun.

Funny how, the one thing they prefaced his speech with was how smart he is. Wait, wait a minute. Which one was this? It was up here by Sugar City. It was just in someone's home. There was only about seven of us there. Okay, so. But, the speaker was, Hiram Erickson. Okay. What's your name? Yes.

Yeah. And and so there was another guy on the Sugar City news page, Facebook page that we were debating with a little bit, and he prefaced his with that. He was a physicist. And so I just said, well, you know, physicist doesn't discount what I've come to, the conclusion I've come to as a housewife. And so I just, I just think it's funny that you have to tell me how smart you are before you tell me what, well, what your reasonings are for wanting this and how smart they are in a field completely unrelated to this.

And that's crazy. Yes, but I do have a question like my my neighbor. She no longer registers as a Republican. She registers as an independent. And so her, you know, she asked me because I put a no sign out in front of my house, and it's kind of gotten a conversation going amongst my neighbors, which is is kind of fun.

But she asked me why I put so and so. I told her my reasons, and she's like, well, I go to the primaries and she's like, I can't vote for anybody. She didn't realize that how the primaries work. So she's like, well, why? Why does that? Why me not being a Republican? I don't get to vote. Who gets in the office.

And so I've tried to explain it to her a little bit because, you know, I'm not totally against open primaries the way they have it, have it going to be an open primary on this ballot. I don't like that way. But and so I just don't know how to really. So hey, I have a question. I asked this kind of rhetorically earlier this morning, and I've asked it before.

And maybe this is a conversation conversation you should have with your neighbor and say, if you wanted to vote in the Republican primary, how are you injured? By registering for the Republican Party in order to vote? Like what? What's the injustice there? What harm is brought? If that's the primary you want to vote in by registering? Okay, well, because when I went to that meeting, that was the main argument he used as to what the problem was, was that only Republican registered Republicans really are putting in our people in office.

And, you know, he was very convincing, like, I, I, I don't I'm don't doubt why people vote yes when all they do is go to somebody who's voting yes, how they get convinced to vote yes. Because they, they're very convincing. Yeah. I was there at this meeting. Was there any counter point? Did it did anybody get an opportunity to say, hey, there's another perspective here, and here's what it is.

And it was just kind of a here's an information. You know, I don't think anybody there wanted to really get into a debate. Yeah, I think it was more the lady that put it on more just wanted information. You know, let's be informed. And, you know, I like that because I, I got his perspective on what a yes person's perspective is.

And so I was able to come home and be like, okay, well that's that's why I'm against it. Yeah. It's right. That perspective is flawed, you know. So I thought it was okay, but I could I could see how anybody who doesn't go and, and look further into it can be convinced that this is, this is good because there's a problem, because only 20% of registered Republicans go and vote and they're putting in all the offices, and independents can't go vote for him.

And, you know, and so they put forth the problem like it's a problem, but it's not really a problem. No. It's just people are making choices. Yes. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. So okay. All right. Well thank you. Thank you for the call. And I think here here's my advice to this, wonderful caller. Counterbalance it. If there were seven people at that meeting and maybe six of them were convinced, go out and tell six people the whole story.

That's what I would suggest. If you're in an environment like that, go out and tell them the whole thing, right? Right. And you can even this sound, it's like almost like an MLM presentation. Yeah, right. So I would say if these people were willing to sit through an MLM type presentation, pull up a presentation, a YouTube video, or even go to Mountain State's policy.org.

Yeah, and pull up that presentation because it talks all about Alaska and the ways and the way that the races were dramatically altered in that state and how they're trying to repeal it and what it ended up looking like and how much it ended up costing. And they only did six races that were relative to ranked choice voting in Alaska.

So we're looking at doing 20 races in Idaho. So the cost is going to be more. Yeah. Like if if these people were willing to sit down for that time, don't don't shoulder this whole responsibility. Say, hey, let's sit down and look at this together. Fine. Go online, go over the voter guide, go the secretary of state, put out a voter guide.

Go over that with them. They're obviously willing to put in some time. It's more it's going to be more than a two minute conversation. So let somebody do the hobby. The heavy lifting for you. Yeah. Yeah I don't understand those Julie who are don't like ranked choice voting. But they like open primaries and they're going to vote for it like that's where Rick Cheatham is at.

I think it's possibly where Ben Furman is. Furman. He hasn't even decided how he's voting yet. I did ask him, do you think your constituents deserve to know? And he said, probably so he'll he'll let them know when you know, he decides. But, I, I'm like, okay, this is like going to a car dealer and there's something massively wrong with me or something significantly wrong with the car that you don't like.

You don't buy the car, you keep looking. Yeah, okay. If you want to open primaries, just a clean view of open or a clean implementation of open primaries, then advocate for that. We've had that before in the state. The the makeup of the the Republican Party will change over time. I don't personally have a problem with closed primaries, but, I'm not adamant that it has to be that way.

If the membership says we probably ought to reach out to the independents, if you can keep the Democrats from voting in it somehow and truly independent people want to be a part of it. I'm open to that discussion. Okay. I it's not my cause. I'm fine with it the way it is. But we could have that discussion. So why would you be in an abusive relationship?

Why would you marry someone? Because we're going to be married to this. If you pass it, you're married to it. Why would you marry someone when you had those massive warning signs way before the wedding day? But you're like, I don't know if I'll ever get another chance to get what I really want. If that's not a great way to end her marriage.

No, it's not. I mean, let's just do a deal. It's a deal killer, right? It is. Yeah, it is. All right. (208) 542-1070 934 we'll break away and be back after this. Yeah. And you're entering a marriage when you already had a perfectly fine marriage prior to this. Yeah, I know, it's not like you didn't have a relationship at all.

And you're really, really searching for one, and. And so you decide to enter this one. You're already in a relationship with somebody, and it's working. It is. It's totally working. It's not perfect, but it's working. And welcome to every relationship. Exactly. But I'll trade it in for this crazy weirdo. Yeah. And once and, somebody on Facebook Live said, well, it's a one time cost for machines, a cost we've paid before.

Well, the machines that we have aren't broken, so why do we? Yeah. Why do we have to buy all brand new machines? Yeah, right. I know there's no reason to. Okay. Nettie, let me find your comment. Nettie asked. When you vote on ranked choice voting, do I have to vote for multiple people for the same position, or can I choose just one choice?

Well, you have options here, Nettie. You can choose with just one choice. But when they start to do the second round of counting, your ballot will be thrown out. Yeah, your ballot will be exhausted. So yes, you can just choose one, but you run the risk, then your ballot being thrown out in the subsequent rounds of counting because they're going to call your ballot exhausted.

Yeah. They are. Okay.

People don't really process that. It's because it's complicated. Yeah I don't even think they really understand. There will be another round of counting. I don't think they, I don't either. Yeah. The low information voter doesn't even get that part of it. Yeah. The when they hear ranked choice voting they're like oh I just do 1234 okay I can do that.

Yeah. They don't understand. There's going to be extra rounds of counting. Yeah. Trying to think of a mathematical way that you can do this differently but get the same result. But I want the same result. Do you agree with this? The state Republican Party really screwed up with the whole caucus thing this last time. They forgot about the majority of lower information and voters.

Many felt disenfranchized and it set the stage for the prop one agenda. How do you feel about that? Well, I got to reverse engineer the history here. Oh, they botched the legislation. Yeah. In order to have a this is what they had to do, right? They had to do the caucus. Yes. I don't think the party screwed up at all.

It. Yeah, it doesn't work in our favor because I think it did make people feel like they were disenfranchized. However, I don't think they had a choice. Yeah. And as we've said multiple times, I think that blame can be dished out all around. Yeah.

All right. To 939 on Newstalk 1079. For a moment, I had to reverse engineer why we had to have a caucus and the presidential race, because someone made the point that the Republicans having a caucus for Donald Trump or, you know, for the Republican Party, Nikki Haley was part of it, too. But because of that, it made a lot of people feel left out, which would help generate support for something like prop one, right, and open primaries.

I get that argument, but I don't know that the Republican Party could have avoided it. Now some would say, oh, they absolutely could have avoided it, but they would have had to have implemented an election that would have been meaningless because it would have been too early in the primary season in order to to get that all done.

And, and, I mean, there were all sorts of problems. It goes back to the legislative snafu from not this past one, but the prior legislative session where they really, really messed up the, the, the May primary. And by the way, that's not fixed yet. It's not. Yeah. So this is a problem that is still looming out there. That so let's say prop one fails.

They still got a fix that let's say prop one passes. They now were tasked with figuring out how to implement open primaries and ranked choice voting, which changes the whole problem that they're they're supposed to be fixing with the primary anyway. Yes. Right, right. Yeah. And, someone else said Luke Mayville and Todd Achilles are the. Oh, I can't see the rest of the message.

Do you see that one? It did. I think they were saying they're the tailors in the Emperor's New clothes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think is what they're saying. Yeah, but they are definitely the ideological architects. Absolutely. And I would say that Idahoans for here's the thing you got you got Reclaim Idaho that they've kind of taken a lower role in this because word is out there is.

So you know Luke Mayfield they're practically social dark money. Yeah. Lots of lots of things there. But they have provided the organizational thrust for it. The hiring people, getting them out, doing the push on it. But it's Idahoans for open primaries, these Republican faces that they're putting out there like Benaiah Sirsa and Bruce Nukem. And I don't know if Jim Jones is a Republican face or not.

He left them. I think he left the party. I think people associate it. Because he was in an AG and a Supreme Court justice, and he's been a prominent Republican there like the human shields in it, like they're being put out as the face of this. And you got to understand the whole landscape here. It's it's it's sleazy what they're doing.

All right, all right, all right. (208) 542-1079 it is. 942 Neil Larson, along with Julie Mason. And we are we're talking about other things. But if you have questions about prop one, about ranked choice voting, we're here and we will do our level best to answer them both Julie and I have well, we spent a lot of time trying to understand this 17 page initiative.

We feel like we can answer most of the questions. If we can't, we'll tell you. And, also striving to represent the other side's position as well as possible. So at least for this hour. Yeah, yeah. Well, there's a, the reason to do that in the exercise because you're going to be talking to people that might have that side.

Yes. Yeah. All right. Next caller, welcome to the program. Oh they hung up. Yeah. They hung up I'm sorry for them. To the person who texted in the Republican Party has left me, what should I do. We need more information. I can answer that question for you. Can I ask a question. Yeah. Then why do you want to vote in their primary.

Right. So do like explain why you can be just that dissatisfied if you want to, but I can't. I can't help you unless I know the the why behind that statement. Yeah, yeah I don't, I don't I don't know what to do with that. The Republican Party left me, okay. Then find a new party. Like I don't be that simple, I don't I I've got to know more about what's going on.

All right, let's go to the phones. Hi, caller. How are you today? Good. Hey, I have a question that has not been talked about much with this one issue. There was a lawsuit. We were told that it couldn't go through because the harm had not happened yet, because it had not passed. Yeah, but because it's unconstitutional. If it does pass, does that not mean then there will be a lawsuit?

We'll spend more money if it passes getting the machines and everything and then spend money on a lawsuit. And then it may be all for not because it's simply not constitutional. It may be. My hope is that, there is no date specific when this has to be implemented. And I would think that the Secretary of State would be in communication with the attorney general, and they would say, okay, we're going to challenge this in the courts.

Don't start buying those Dominion voting machines, until we get this all through the courts. So I hope that kind of coordination would go on now. I would hope so. But I wonder if they would get the same thing. Well, no harm has come from it yet. Yeah. Yeah. It's a it's a good point. Yeah. It is I mean that's a valid question because when, when does the quote unquote harm happen.

It does the harm happen when the legislators have to now implement it? Does the harm happen after we've actually spent the money and paid for all of the training and the and the new system? And then there's harm. Yeah. When when does the harm occur? Yeah. Yeah. Just just another question. I don't know why we're even discussing it if it's not going to pass the constitutional muster.

Right. Well, we don't know that it won't though. That's, that's the problem. We don't know the outcome of it. So, it's a good question, right, of association. And I don't think it's going to pass that institutional investor. Yeah. I guess we shall see. I hope people make good informed votes and that they do go out and vote because, yeah, voter turnout is really low here.

Yeah. Well, thank you for the call. It is low. (208) 542-1279. We are going to take a break here in just a moment. This though to speak to that caller. This is why they are gutting our whole system. They have to. Because in the current system, political parties are officially recognized and allowed in state law to to select their nominees.

The federal judge said the right to associate contains inherently the right to not associate. And so it's unconstitutional under current law to do anything else. That's why they have to get rid of the law. And political parties will just simply be you can have one if you want. It's just advisory. They won't have any standing in Idaho's law that more than any other group at all.

And so that's that's why this has to be such an overhaul for them. Yeah. You said we had to take a break. Let me I can answer this, this text in question really quick. It says in prop one what keeps me from giving all four of my ranked votes to my one and only candidate? First off, they'll expire your whole ballot.

You're thinking that they won't even let you be in the first round, because that's not the rules of ranked choice voting. You have to choose from amongst the ones that are handed to you. Might be three, might be four, it might be two. So you've got to rank them or else it will. If you put the same person in.

I don't even think you'll have a choice for a bubble for all of those, because not you do one, then two, then three them four. Yeah. So, eight you're going to screw up your ballot. You're not going to get counted if you do that. You know, that's the bottom line. And if the question is simply why can't I do that?

I 100% agree with you. You ought to be able to throw your entire vote behind one. Yes you should. All right. 947 on Newstalk 1079.

Okay, that's an answer. I didn't think that that when that person texted in the Republican Party has left me, I didn't think that was going that direction. What they say they said all of this Stephanie Mickelson, Josh Wheeler I'm sick of this all. I'm sick of this. All of the good. I'm sick of this. All of the good Republican candidates didn't win their primary like Carrie Hanks, the machine of Otter and Little and Bedke.

They do not represent me. They are more Democrats, and they are than they are Republicans. I need a way to get my people elected. I am not a prop one guy. However, I can see it going that direction. Okay, this is a regional phenomenon though, because if you look at the overall state, the legislature, they shifted to the right.

I mean, we're gonna have a more conservative legislature. Dorothy Moon's still the chair. You know it. When you look at the leadership of the Republican Party, it's still very conservative. And I would I would venture to say in Idaho, the lawmakers that you cited, they're the outliers. They're not the standard. They're not the rule. And and so I in fact, I think Governor Little's in trouble, I will say, especially with this water fiasco.

Anyway, at least on this side of the state. Yeah. And when you look at one of the reasons why I think they are implementing, this open primaries thing, and the governor has to be careful how he approaches this. They they do not want Raul Labrador to to be the attorney general. I saw an interview with Todd Achilles.

He did with, I think, K-T-V-B. And he says the reason why the Republican Party is protecting the closed primary is so they can elect people like Raul Labrador. I don't think I disagree with him on them. You want the candidate that most reflects the the party platform, and the fact that Tom Arkush can't put up a fight is not Rahul's problem.

It's not the Republican Party's problem. That's a new problem. And so I, and that's the blind spot they don't want to deal with. Yeah, that the alternatives in Idaho have been unpalatable. That's not our problem. Not my problem? Yeah, it's not our problem. You gotta deal with that the way you're trying to deal with it is you're the vegan showing up at the party and demanding they get rid of all the meat, and it's.

No. Yeah. That's a that's, You don't like it. So find a party that fits you. Yeah. Create a better alternative. Yeah. Okay. We're gonna have time for like one call okay. And then we'll have to take it. Let's see. We get one two, three and a half. So at about 50 no later than 55.

So yeah we'll have about three minutes. Let's plug the the sign going okay I'm feeling okay about it. Yeah. That I'm that makes me happy. Yeah I'm feeling okay about it. Because I think all the Democrats first of all, it's easier to inform all the Democrats because there's so many fewer. I'm serious. They can fit in Bonneville High School gym.

It's like, what's faster? Telling three friends or telling 5000 friends? Yes, exactly. Well, and you expect everyone on your street to be a Republican. Yeah. Democrats know it's the third House on the left. That's the guy that's like me. Yeah, right. That's true. And so I think the support for it is more likely to be maxed out than the opposition to it.

Yeah. Little headbanging music here. Julie, for I hate it but I like it. Yeah, I'm good with it. We do want to remind our listeners come see us 11 to noon today will be in the Walmart parking lot handing out vote No signs. You got a few dozen of them that we want to get distributed. And we'll we'll be Facebook living and videotaping and, it'll be it'll be fun.

And we look forward to it. Just a little pop up thing that we're doing and, So. Yeah. Should we take a phone call? Yeah, let's do it. All right, caller, you're on the program. How are you today? Good morning. Neil. Julius. Dave, how are you? Good. Dave. Good. You know, I was thinking if you go to, Lincoln, without a can dinner or something, you wouldn't want a ranked choice.

Menu. Like McMullen muffins or, Kamala. Borderless words. Salad. I'd go for Trump bringing the beef, but anyway, I wanted to say that on the site, there's a place in Pocatello I actually got. So I don't know if you know about this, but it's downtown Pocatello. It's on, I think, Main Street, and it's, right across.

I don't know the cross street, but people know where, like, muscatel. A coffee shop is is a couple blocks away. It's across from Tea Theater. It's called the purpose, building. And it's on the fourth floor up there. And, I picked some signs up there that are for. No, on prop one, so. Okay, people, Pocatello can get them there.

Do they charge for them? They do not have a whole bunch of stuff. Those are free. They do have Trump signs and things like that. They're like, I think ten bucks. Okay. And they got a lot of fliers that are about no, prop one okay. They hand out that are really helpful too. Okay. All right. Thank you.

I appreciate you letting our listeners know about that. And if you'll in good faith, display one in your yard, we encourage you to grab one 954 we'll be back. We'll wrap it up after this. We've had a couple people message in and say their prop, vote no on prop one. Signs were stolen from their yard. I saw that it's time you put a camera up and that's going on in your yard.

Yeah. You need a you need a couple. And it's not hard to do these cameras nowadays. Don't let it be intimidating. It's. You can do it. It's pretty easy to do a doorbell cam. It's pretty easy to do an exterior cam. Yeah. You know what? And, we have a ring camera, but I also have another camera that I've used.

Like, if we go on vacation, I'll put it in our kitchen window so I can see into the backyard, make sure benches. Okay. They're super cheap. They're such a Walmart. You can go to Walmart and get one and it just talks to your Wi-Fi. You plug it in with a USB to the wall outlet and then you do it.

You load a little app and you can get on the app and you can at any time and see it, and it doesn't require a monthly subscription. It it's it's awesome. It's nice. So my son and daughter in law live in a two story home. It's a two story townhome, and, Asher's very mobile. He goes up and down the stairs and he's playing, and he prefers to be with all of his cars in the TV room.

But since he doesn't want to stay with him 100% of the time, she would like to walk upstairs and possibly shower, you know, make beds or whatever's going on. So they bought a little camera, a $25 camera from Walmart. It's attached to her phone. She sticks it in that room so she can see where he's at. Yeah, while she's upstairs, in case all of a sudden it gets really quiet.

All right. Yeah, yeah. So super affordable. I they were we were talking about it when I was down there this last week. And I think she said she spent 25 bucks. Yeah. On it. So yeah you can do that. Yeah. Put it on your porch. Put it somewhere. Yeah. Yep. Some of the baby monitors that they have, they're, they're like, pretty incredible.

Oh, we got this text from somebody. Yeah. I won't say his name. Crazy thing. I participated in the Idaho Falls High School homecoming parade yesterday. Saw my very first vote yes sign for proposition one, as well as my very first Harris sign. I actually think I know which street he's on. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Wanted to knock on their door and ask why.

Also interesting that the Vote Yes sign only referenced open primaries and not the ranked choice voting. Oh, yeah. Shocking. That's their whole campaign. That is their whole campaign. You know, it's it's hey, can I are you. Oh sorry. No no no. Go. So that forum with Todd Achilles during that he talked about ranked choice voting and he complained about the title of ranked choice voting.

And he said, you know, you get these political scientists and they're not all that great at naming certain processes. A and he said that the process I prefer is instant runoff. I'm like, no ranked choice. Voting is the most accurate description. It is the fact that it's gotten a negative connotation. I understand why you now want to change the name of choice voting, but it's just they're they're always dodging.

They're always moving. Product of conception. Yeah. Right. Right. They know what to call it. What it is. Yeah. Here we go. Last minute Julie okay Julie tell me where we will be from 11 to noon today. 11 to noon. Idaho Falls Walmart on Utah Avenue will be towards the south end of the parking lot, handing out vote no on prop one signs.

Come say hi to us. We're going to have a little bit of a party. 11 to noon. Okay. Grab a sign and everyone, please have a safe weekend. Bengals are in town, so you said it was an orange out. It is an orange out against Portland State. I won't I won't say my dad joke. Okay, but, but we'd love to see their 4:00 kickoff at the ICC arena.

So, All right, we'll see you back here Monday.