Open Primary Bill To Be Re-Introduced in Pennsylvania

Good news out of PA: State Sens. Dan Laughlin, R-49th Dist., and Lisa M. Boscola, R-18th Dist., are planning to re-introduce Laughlin's open primary bill. Senate Bill 400 would allow 1.3 million PA independents to participate in primary elections:

Reminder: The bill has previously passed both chambers of the legislature but not in the same session. With a change of leadership now in Harrisburg, leaders of Ballot PA are optimistic there is a strong path forward. 

New Mexico  – Change is Building

After passing the State Senate last week, SB16 (to create semi-open primaries) now heads to the State House, where it has to pass two committees – House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs and the House Judiciary Committee.

This Monday SB16 will go before the NM House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee. STAY TUNED -- We'll let you know what happens!

NYC Independents Testify in Support of Open Primaries 

Mayor Adams has formed a Charter Revision Commission and Open Primaries’ Let Us Vote campaign is organizing independent voters to speak out at it.

This week, dozens of independent voters showed up in person and online at a hearing in Queens asking the Commission to place open primaries on the ballot. As a result, it became the most talked about issue at the hearing.

According to OP longtime supporter, Ed Brady, the thirteen commissioners heard how independents were “fed up”, “disheartened”, “disgusted” and “damn angry” at not being able to vote in taxpayer-funded primaries: 

“ I was proud to testify with independents of all ages and backgrounds as we told the panel that our democratic process is broken.”

Another supporter Richard Ronner (pictured below) added: 

“I ran into one man from the Commission after and he told me he was so moved, and that he had never heard of this issue before, and now he's hearing it all over.”

OP Supporter Sarah Prinsloo:

And it’s not just us–Citizens Union is calling on the CRC to take action too!

NYC VOTERS: If you were not able to be there, it’s not too late to add your voice. You are not alone!!!

You can submit written testimony to the commission via email. Let them know you want to have the primaries open to independent voters.

Please click here to submit your written testimony to the Charter Revision Commission. After you’ve submitted–share this with your network–encourage your friends, family and colleagues to take action too!

Open Primaries Leadership Has Some Advice for BOTH parties

After major losses in 2024, the Democratic party is taking stock and some in the party are looking to independents for help. Just last month, the Florida Democratic Party, after years of pressure from Open Primaries and others, announced they are exploring opening their primary.

But as OP President John Opdycke points out, Democrats need to look back to look forward. 

In a new piece out in The Fulcrum, he offers up an important history lesson on the Democratic party’s squandered coalition with independents during the early Obama days and the meaningful moves they can make to truly connect with Independent voters:

Read his full piece.

And ICYMI: In a recent piece out in the Fulcrum, OP Senior VP Jeremy Gruber asks: “whether Republicans will build bridges with independent voters and cement a generational winning coalition or squander the opportunity like the Democrats did with the independent-centric Obama coalition.”

NY Times: The Death of Competition in American Elections

A new piece out in the NY Times contains some staggering stats on the lack of competition & disintegrating trust in our elections including: 

• About a third of the current members of the House ran unopposed in their primary. 
• All but 12 of those districts were “safe” seats, meaning 124 House members essentially faced no challenge to their election.
• More than 75% of primary races in State Legislatures were uncontested
• 88% of adults believe the political system is broken

We’re glad more and more (and bigger) mainstream sources are covering the lack of competition in our elections and we encourage you to read the whole thing but it also misses a major piece of the puzzle: the tens of millions of Americans who are barred from even participating in our primaries. 

Competition starts with allowing all voters to vote.

As our coalition works to pass open primaries in the New Mexico legislature, one of the challenges we face is that many New Mexicans do not know who independent voters are.

LetUsVote New Mexico, a project of Open Primaries, has been working to change that by organizing independent voters across the state to speak out and get involved. Our Independents Speak Out Series is sharing the stories of many of the 330,000 plus New Mexico independents who would be enfranchised by open primaries

Today we are introducing you to three more of those independents:

Legendary Journalist Chuck Todd Joins Our March Primary Buzz Discussion: Advancing Reform in a World Without Trust

Americans are losing trust in many norms and institutions: Congress, the media, science - even the American Dream. The list goes on. 

On Tuesday March 18th at 3pm ET we’ll welcome journalist Chuck Todd (who spent nearly 10 years as the moderator of NBC’s Meet The Press) onto our Primary Buzz Discussion Series to discuss where we go from here and what we do when people lose faith in our institutions.  

Todd recently left NBC after nearly 20 years citing: 

“National media can’t win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report. People are craving community and that’s something national media or the major social media companies can’t do as well as local media. If you do this job seeking popularity, or to simply be an activist, you are doing this job incorrectly.”

We’ll discuss the connection between reforming our politics and restoring trust in a wide range of institutions. 

We can’t think of a more timely conversation to have–you’re not going to want to miss this one. 

Register now! 

Have a great weekend,

The Open Primaries Team