In New York, 7% of Voters Just Decided for the Other 93%

Four out of ten registered Democrats in New York City don't actually consider themselves Democrats - they just had no other way to vote. Jeremy Gruber of Open Primaries breaks down the poll that exposes how closed primaries quietly force voters into a party they don't believe in.

We sit down with Jeremy, Senior VP of Open Primaries, to dig into a new IVP/Open Primaries poll of registered NYC Democrats - and what it reveals is wild. Jeremy lays out "the big lie" about open vs. closed primaries, why ~40% of NYC Democrats (and two out of three Latino Democrats) don't identify with the party they're registered in, and how a 10% turnout primary ends up deciding who actually runs the city. Then Jeremy lays out why almost everyone - the media, secretaries of state, even civil rights groups - has the importance of primaries exactly backwards.

This episode is sponsored by the Independent Voter Project and produced by Olas Media. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Episode Highlights

In this episode of the Independent Voter Podcast, Shawn, Cara, and Ethan sit down with special guest Jeremy Gruber, Senior Vice President of Open Primaries. The conversation centers on a groundbreaking IVC Media poll conducted in New York City that exposes a critical flaw in the closed primary system: nearly 40% of registered Democrats don't actually identify with the Democratic Party.

These voters are registered with the party solely to participate in what is effectively the only election that matters in a one-party city. With over 1.2 million independent voters locked out of New York City primaries, Gruber argues that closed primaries don't protect party integrity—they force independent voters and unaffiliated voters to misrepresent their identity just to exercise a basic voting right.

It is a dynamic he calls the "big lie" of the open vs. closed primary debate.

The episode dives deep into low voter turnout in partisan primaries, with New York's most recent primary drawing only 10% turnout—meaning highly organized factions like Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates wield outsized influence in primary elections.

Gruber and the hosts draw comparisons to semi-open primary reforms in Washington DC — where the DC Council recently voted to fund Initiative 83 — and to New Mexico's open primary rollout, where even after the system opened, voter education failures by election officials left independents unaware they could participate.

But California's nonpartisan top-two primary offers a model for reform, noting that the Independent Voter Project (IVP) ran a no party preference (NPP) voter outreach program to drive primary election turnout among independent voters.

Gruber stresses the urgent need for independent voter organizing and civic education to counter a media and civil society ecosystem that continues to prioritize general election turnout over primary election engagement — despite the fact that 90% of US elections are decided at the primary stage.

He emphasizes that independents are the largest and fastest-growing voter bloc in America, yet remain largely unorganized and misunderstood. With Open Primaries pursuing a multi-pronged strategy of litigation, legislation, ballot initiatives, Gruber makes the case that the nonpartisan primary movement is entering a pivotal moment in the fight for voting rights and systemic reform.