Advocates of an initiative to increase education funding in the state are having their day in court this afternoon. The group, called Reclaim Idaho, is responsible for the successful push to expand Medicaid in 2018. But when they turned their attention to education funding, they had no idea that a disease called COVID-19 would be a thing in 2020.
This spring, they ended their push for signatures early. Ballot initiatives in Idaho rely on volunteers going door-to-door gathering in-person signatures, and organizers said it became too dangerous for volunteers and citizens when the coronavirus began spreading in Idaho.
Reclaim Idaho organizers didn’t give up on their goal of getting the initiative on a ballot easily. They sued the state for more time to collect those signatures, digitally. Today, their case will be heard in U.S. District Court. Boise State Public Radio news reporter James Dawson has been following this story and joins us remotely now.
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