Open Primaries

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!!!!!!!!!

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

🚨 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.

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

How single-party primary elections are reshaping 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.

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/

The Top Two Panic Wasn’t 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.

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:

Group urges states including New Mexico to open primaries 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.

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

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.