Open Primaries

06/23/2026

More than 1.2 million independent New Yorkers were shut out of today's primary elections.

That's why we're encouraged to see the issue getting national attention.

In a recent segment on NOW, Vitali spoke with Open Primaries President John Opdycke about the growing movement for open primaries and the millions of voters excluded from meaningful elections across the country.

The segment also highlighted new polling from Open Primaries showing that 60% of NYC Democrats support allowing independents to vote in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary.
Watch the segment below.

06/23/2026

BREAKING NEWS: The D.C. Council just voted to fund and implement the open primaries portion of Initiative 83. That means that in 2028, close to 100,000 independent voters will be able to choose whether to vote in the primaries. Congrats to Lisa Rice and Grow Democracy DC!!!!!!!!!

06/23/2026

Ahead of New York's primary election, Open Primaries Senior Vice President Jeremy Gruber joined News 12 to discuss a simple question:

Why are 1.2 million independent New Yorkers still locked out of taxpayer-funded primary elections?

As the city's Charter Revision Commission considers reforms, now is the time for New Yorkers to speak up and demand a more inclusive democracy.

📣 Sign up to testify at an upcoming hearing:
https://bit.ly/4ov1t1f

06/23/2026

Another primary day, another 4,865,738 independents locked out of primaries in New York, Utah, and Maryland.

06/22/2026

🚨 BIG WIN FOR D.C. VOTERS 🚨

A D.C. court has rejected legal attacks on Initiative 83, protecting the voter-approved measure that established ranked-choice voting and open primaries in the District.

More than 72% of D.C. voters supported the reform.

The courts have now spoken.
The voters have spoken.
Now it's time for the D.C. Council to do its job and fully implement Initiative 83.

Until they do, roughly 85,000 independent voters remain excluded from taxpayer-funded primary elections.

06/21/2026

For years, we've warned that closed primaries and partisan gerrymandering are creating a Congress that rewards party loyalty and punishes independent thinking.

Now elected officials from across the political spectrum are saying the same thing.

A major new NPR report examines how safe districts and closed primaries are reshaping Congress—and why lawmakers like Brian Fitzpatrick, Lisa Murkowski, and Bill Cassidy believe the current system makes compromise harder and polarization worse.

The debate over open primaries is no longer a fringe issue.

It's becoming a central question about the future of American democracy.

Read more:
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/30/nx-s1-5839201/party-primaries-polarized-congress

Some lawmakers are speaking out against closed, single-party primaries, which they see as part of a system that limits voter choice and incentivizes elected officials to prioritize party loyalty.

06/20/2026

"I pay taxes. I vote. But on Primary Day, I wasn't allowed to participate."

That's the reality for 2.4 million independent voters in New Jersey.

On June 2, voters across the state showed up to cast a ballot in a publicly funded election and learned they were locked out because they don't belong to a political party.

Hear directly from one New Jersey voter about what that experience feels like.

If elections are public, participation should be too.

06/19/2026

For months, political insiders warned that California's Top Two primary system would produce chaos.

They said voters couldn't be trusted.

They said open primaries would break the system.

Then voters showed up.

And they did what voters usually do: they evaluated the candidates, weighed the issues, and made nuanced decisions that reflected the complexity of California politics.

The real failure wasn't California's Top Two system.

It was the political establishment's prediction that voters couldn't handle it.

Read our full statement:

https://ivn.us/the-top-two-panic-wasnt-analysis-it-was-political-manipulation/

California voters did exactly what voters tend to do: they evaluated the candidates, coalesced around viable contenders, and produced a result broadly reflective of the state's electorate.

06/18/2026

For the first time in state history, New Mexico's independent voters could participate in a primary election.

But winning the right to vote was only the beginning.

In a new interview with KRWG, Open Primaries National Organizing Director Cathy Stewart explains why voter education remains essential, how independent voters are adapting to their new rights, and why the movement for more representative elections is far from over.

As Cathy puts it: "We went from zero to 5%."

For voters who were excluded for generations, that's a breakthrough worth celebrating.

Read more:

New Mexico's Independent and "decline to state" voters had their first chance to vote in a primary; Cathy Stewart of Open Primaries and Let Us Vote says election officials have some work to do.

06/17/2026

For the first time in New Mexico history, independent voters can participate in a primary election.

But according to Open Primaries National Organizing Director Cathy Stewart, state and local officials failed to adequately inform voters about their new rights.

Just days before early voting began, many county election websites still hadn't clearly updated their information for independent voters. That's why Open Primaries and our partners stepped in with a statewide voter education campaign.

The lesson from New Mexico is clear: changing the law is only the first step. Voters need to know about their rights before they can exercise them.

Read more:
https://www.ksfr.org/2026-06-01/expert-says-state-should-have-done-more-to-inform-independent-voters-about-new-primary-rules

Cathy Stewart of Open Primaries told KSFR "you basically needed a magnifying glass" to find information about semi open primaries on county clerk mailers.