Partisan Bias on Display: Oregon AG Eviscerates Proposed Open Primary Ballot Language

More than 1.3 million registered Oregon independents-the largest group of voters in the state - don’t have a say in closed primary elections, but two potential ballot initiatives for an entirely new “top two plus” system could change that in the November 2026 election.

Before gathering voter signatures, though, petitioners had to submit 1,000 sponsorship signatures and receive approval from an openly hostile Oregon attorney general on the ballot language for both petitions. That language was released this week to a host of harsh criticisms including:

• Failure to mention the initiatives would enfranchise Oregon independents.
• Use of previous unrelated and inaccurate ballot language from prior initiatives
• Failure to state the various ways candidates can get to the ballot.
• Allowing opposition supporters to weigh in on the drafting.

To their immense credit, the proponents of the measures includng former Gov. Ted Kulongoski have marshalled a cadre of supporters to oppose the language including the statewide chamber of commerce, two former secretaries of state and former governor Barbara Roberts. They will have the opportunity to have their objections heard and the language modified by the AG, and if unsatisfied, appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court. We’ll keep you posted.

The 90-day petitioning effort to put Open Primaries backed State Question 836 (top two open primaries) on the 2026 ballot has entered its final weeks and hundreds of volunteers and professional gatherers are going for broke. New volunteers and funders are joining the effort EVERY DAY now - OP staff and volunteers included!

NEWSFLASH: the Cherokee and Choctaw nations opened their reservations to petitioners and joined the movement!

If you want to hit the streets with us, sign up here. Live in OK and want to sign? Here’s a list of where we’ll be gathering signatures. Can’t sign but want to help?  Donate here.

Gallup Releases New Numbers: Independent Voters Are Surging

Public disaffiliation with both major parties is reaching historic highs. This week Gallup, which has been conducting large-sample polls of partisan identification since the 1980s, reports that a record 45 percent of Americans consider themselves political independents. Self-identified Democrats and Republicans each represent a dismal 27 percent.

Data from Gallup shows this trend is only intensifying. 54 percent of millennials and 56 percent of Gen-Zers now call themselves independents.

As Gallup notes, today’s younger folk are disaffiliating from the major parties at higher rates than their predecessors:

Our friends and colleagues at the ASU Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy have been all over the coverage. As Professor Thom Reilly noted to the New York Times:

These numbers are not just national. Check out the new numbers on independent voter growth in the great media coverage of the campaign to open the primaries in Nevada.

PA Independents Are Organizing

Speaking of Gen Z, new Open Primaries leader Sophie Gelling is stepping up and adding her voice to the chorus of independents in PA demanding open primaries. In a new piece out this week in USA Today and carried in local papers across the Keystone state, she lays out how closed primaries shut out young voters like herself and notes:

As Sophie notes, OP partner Ballot PA Action is organizing a robust approach to the issue, both supporting House bill 280 to open the primaries and launching an exciting legal challenge to the state’s closed primary. For more information about the case and all our legal challenges, check out OP’s litigation portal.

Will 2026 Be The Year We (Finally) Heal Our Politics?

Navy veteran and Veterans for All Voters founder Eric Bronner has a great piece out in American Grit calling on all Americans to serve by advocating for nonpartisan reform. As Eric declares:

20 Million Independents are Being Locked Out of the Midterm Primaries

What's the Big Deal?

Here is what Bree Doldron, Open Primaries National Organizer has to say:

85% of US elections are decided in the primaries (that we pay for with our tax dollars),

Surprised? You’re not alone. Most Americans have no idea this is even taking place, let alone at such a huge scale.

Join Operation Independent 2026 and make the exclusion of millions of Americans from the primaries impossible to ignore. Email [email protected] and join the campaign.

Have a great weekend, 

The Open Primaries Team