CORRECTION/UPDATE: Looks like ACA Medicaid expansion will be on the ballot in two red states this November!

A week or so I noted that activists in Utah had managed to secure enough ballot petition signatures to get full, no-strings-attached ACA Medicaid expansion placed on the ballot this November...superseding legislation signed by the Governor which would otherwise only expand it to fewer than half as many people, while also imposing a work requirement on enrollees:

If approved, the initiative would require the state to expand Medicaid to people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, and would prohibit enrollment caps.

Under ObamaCare, the federal government would cover 90 percent of the costs of expansion. The state share would be funded through a 0.15 percent increase in the sales tax.

...The ballot initiative would cover more than 150,000 people.

Well, today it looks like residents of Idaho will also have a chance to decide whether or not they want ACA Medicaid expansion as well:

Reclaim Idaho meets signature goal, marches on

It appears the grassroots political group founded in Sandpoint is closing in on that third goal, thanks to months of signature collection across the state. Late Tuesday night, co-founder Luke Mayville confirmed that after his group’s latest tally, they believe they’ve surpassed the 56,192 signatures required to put Medicaid expansion on Idaho’s November ballot.

But Mayville said they’re not done. Volunteers across the state will continue to collect signatures until the May 1 deadline in order to further ensure meeting the goal. Idaho law requires that 6 percent of registered voters in each of at least 18 legislative districts sign the petition, as well as 6 percent of the registered voters in the state. As of Monday, 16 districts had qualified.

“We are not slowing down,” Mayville said. “We do not just want to meet the signature goal, we want to shatter the goal.”

Mayville said his group wants to make “100-percent sure” that they collect enough valid signatures to qualify Medicaid expansion for the November ballot.

“The health of 62,000 Idahoans is too important to leave anything to chance,” he said.

If both the Utah and Idaho initiaves are approved, Medicaid would be expanded to cover an additional 212,000 Americans.

UPDATE/CORRECTION: 

(sigh) Sorry about that...it seems that the Sandpoint Reader jumped the gun; they've modified their headline (without any correction note, I'm afraid):

Reclaim Idaho closes in on signature goal

The article itself remains identical, but if you read carefully it says they've only hit that 6% requirement in 16 out of 18 legislative districts, so they were still short around 1,000 people as of Tuesday night:

Exciting update! We've reached the district threshold & are close on the total number of valid signatures needed to put Medicaid Expansion on the ballot in Idaho. #WeThePeople #ReclaimIdaho #ExpandMedicaidNOW https://t.co/c03fdxJ5Bk pic.twitter.com/g96xiMb7CB

— Reclaim Idaho (@reclaimID) April 25, 2018

If you have yet to sign, these Sandpoint locations have Medicaid expansion petitions on site: Family Health Center, Women’s Healthcare, Panhandle Art Glass and All Seasons Garden and Floral. Contact Reclaim Idaho’s Bonner County leader Linda Larson at larson.linda.f@gmail.com with any questions.