In May, theNew Mexico LawHas adopted a bill to give independent voters the right to vote for some primary elections. Nevada’s legislative power did the same last month, although the governorVeto the bill.
Legislators in Pennsylvania (where primary reform accounts have already been adopted to the Senate and the meeting, but in several years)Also debate about the issuejust like theFlorida Democratic Partyand the New York CityCharter Revision Commission.
Former President Clinton is talking about open primaries on “View. “Elon Musk Post about oneNew political partyand the press secretary of former President Biden has left the Democratic Party and publishes a book with the name ‘Independent.“
Independent people have a moment. And powerful people listen and respond.
Every day,Thousands of Americansbecome independent voters. And independents make noise and express their concern about beingLocked from primary electionsbuilding new organizations and initiatives such as theForward Party, Independent veterans of America“Veterans for all votersAndLet’s voteand creating new research centers such as theIndependent Instituteand Arizona State UniversityCenter for an independent and sustainable democracy.
Independentrun for the officeOrganize protests to draw attention to their exclusion of voices in primaries and to speak out at local, national and national level about the need to evolve beyond red-versus-blue dogma.
Independent people speak, act and create, not under the flag of a single organization, but as a growing decentralized movement that demands real change in how we do politics.
For years, the media lampsed independent voters such as ‘party cancer’ or apathic fence sitters who are too lazy to ‘choose a team’. Those days have disappeared. Independents want to clean up the mess. We are driving a new conversation and politicians are starting to listen.
So where do we go from here? It is useful to look back before we look out.
In 2024, reform activists put measures on the mood in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and South Dakota to completely abolish and replace part -time primaries with a single non -party -bound primary. Moreover, there was a measure on the vote in Washington DC, to allow independents to vote in part -time preliminary elections.
The DC measure has been passed on withMore than 70 percent of the votes. The other measures failed. What was completely revealed in 2024 was that there were no fast solutions or shortcuts.
We have to build trust and make different and authentic coalitions of Democrats, Republicans and Independents. We must inform voters about problems with closed primaries and the importance of voting in primaries, that ismy organizationgoal. We must make campaigns and initiatives that are driven by people, organic and connected, not imposed from above.
Polls show thatLess than 20 percentFrom Americans such as the current, partisan controlled closed primary system. But it is up to us to create campaigns, initiatives and activities that deserve the trust of people. If we don’t, our opponents will eat our lunch.
That is why the embrace of open primaries by legislators who resisted us only six months ago.
Steve Yeager, the Democratic Assembly speaker in Nevada (where Independents are now the largest block of registered voters) and author of the Open Primaries Bill who was just Veto by Gov. Joe Lombardo (R), had actively opposed voting measure 3 in 2024.
After the measure 53 percent to 47 percent was defeated, Yeagerpublicly mentionedThat he was not against open primaries, only the specific form that was claimed in the ballot. Local activists Sondra Cosgrove and Doug Goodman took the opportunity to put Yeager under pressure to do something if that was in fact his position, and to his honor, he did that.
The result was AB 597, with which independent people can vote for partisan primaries, although it continues to refuse access to the presidential primary and continues to claim the general party control of the process.
It was not a perfect account, and in the end it was thatVeto by the Governor. But it is a reflection of the growing power of independent.
The legislative progress in New Mexico and Nevada are examples of independent people who claim our political power and do this as a movement, not as a party. (Independents do not really like political parties).
But we have to convey to both voters and legislators that we have just started and we will not rest until all Americans can vote in any elections who they want by the taxpayer.
Independent voters speak and the parties respond. They acknowledge that our figures are rising, we decide elections and they have to give us something. But they also want to hold their privilege.
The challenge and opportunity for the independent voter-open primaries is to celebrate this profit without losing sight of how much more work should be done.
The American people are quite clear. They want a political culture that is participatory, innovative, responsive to ordinary people and effective in improving our lives. Independent people are an engine for that kind of change. Let’s lean on that.
Opdycke is the founder and president of Open Primaries, a national advocacy that works on carrying out and protecting open and non -party -related primaries in all 50 states.
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