MAINE:  Maine approaches its first down ballot open primary under a new law Open Primaries helped pass and OP President Opdycke was interviewed about what it means for the 300,000 independent voters who will finally be allowed to participate in the June 11 primaries. His take on the state’s previously closed primaries? “As I say, it’s a Blockbuster card in a Netflix era.”

KENTUCKY: KY’s Secretary of State Michael Adams has just come out in support of open primaries saying:“I do think it’s inevitable that we’re going to have open primaries. The state has to stop disenfranchising 10% of our voters and tell them they can’t vote.” Many of those excluded happen to be young voters. Longtime OP supporter Mark Ritter stopped by a local high school in Lexington, Kentucky to discuss the harms of closed primaries, the growing trend of young voters ditching the two major parties and the results of Students for Open Primaries’ Young Voter Survey

MARYLAND: Maryland just held its primary elections–1 in 4 Marylanders who are unaffiliated were disenfranchised because of closed primaries–but even more egregious (as this recent letter to the editor by Ronald Verbos points out) is that certain offices that should be impartial (i.e. our judges, law enforcement) held partisan elections where 25% of the state’s voters could not even participate. Verbos concludes: “If you think the independent voter isn’t crucial, then why do all the presidential candidates want that vote? It is because the independent voters have an impact on the results. You would think our leaders would be very open to ensure all voters voices are heard.”

ARIZONA: BREAKING NEWS! The Make Elections Fair campaign has gathered 430,000 signatures but needs to collect 120,000 more signatures to guarantee it gets in front of Arizonans in 2024. Campaign leader Chuck Coughlin on the campaign’s final hurdle: “This is hard, but it will change the nature of our elections and make them competitive once again, not coronations.”

OKLAHOMA: A new op-ed in Tulsa World from Civic Advocate Adam Kupetsky makes the case for “better voter turnout and a less divided government” by bringing open primaries to Oklahoma. He encourages the state to follow the lead of municipal elections in Oklahoma cities like Tulsa: “these open elections are a refreshing example of how the government can find a way to improve society without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” Nearly 1 in 5 voters currently shut out of Oklahoma’s elections would probably agree. 

TEXAS:  As we reported last week, The Republican Party of Texas is making moves to close the primaries. The Party’s Rules Committee just passed a closed primary rule in a 26-4 vote and this past weekend the full caucus met to decide on next steps–thankfully they’ve run into a hurdle: “The party rules are non-binding, so if GOP delegates vote to approve the new rule, lawmakers would still need to pass legislation closing the primary.” Stay tuned.

This week at Let Us Vote, we’re talking about an absurd new law in Tennessee that is scaring all but the most loyal party-line voters away from voting, under the threat of criminal prosecution.

Picture this: you walk into your polling location to vote in a primary. You're a civically-minded voter, frustrated by the two-party system and eager to improve your community. And you see this:

The government demands you swear allegiance to a political party in order to vote, or else you go to jail? Is this real? It's Orwellian. It's Big Brother from 1984. 

Tennessee has open primaries AND it doesn’t require its voters to register into a party to vote…so how is this not just a move by partisan insiders to scare voters away from participating? 

Fortunately, the TN League of Women Voters is taking action. They've filed a lawsuit, which you can read all about HERE.

This is, of course, more evidence of what LetUsVote has been saying all along: independent voters are ignored, suppressed, and shut out of participating in democracy. It's downright unAmerican.

And we’re pushing back by telling the real stories of independent voters. LetUsVote has collected hundreds of stories from independents, and we want to hear yours. If you’re an independent voter–share your story with us to help push back on absurd laws like those we see in Tennessee.

Next Wednesday June 5th at 2:00pm ET Open Primaries President John Opdycke will talk with author Frank Barry about both his new book Back Roads and Better Angels: A Journey into the Heart of American Democracy and his previous book, The Scandal of Reform which investigated how political reform in the hands of partisan insiders can be used to entrench their power.  

But who is Frank Barry? Meet our next Primary Buzz Discussion guest–watch a short teaser of his latest project and what we’ll be discussing next week:

Here’s what former Congressman and OP Spokesperson Mickey Edwards had to say on Barry: 

“Years ago I read a book by Frank Barry called  "The Scandal of Reform: The Grand Failures of New York's Political Crusaders and the Death of Nonpartisanship."  I bought it, read it, and not a lightbulb but a whole bank of blinking lights went off in my head. All of the ideas that had been circling around my brain started to come into focus. I understood how it was not the players but the extra-constitutional party-centered structure of both our election AND governing systems that were the problem. That book by Frank changed my entire focus.” 

You don’t want to miss this one. Register today: