Shawn Griffiths
Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash
The nonpartisan reform group Open Primaries released a new video that highlights the current state of a growing movement to change the way critical taxpayer-funded primary elections are conducted in the US.
Specifically, reform them to respect the rights all voters have to an equal and meaningful voice in the process.
The video premiered Monday evening during the first-ever Virtual Rally for Open Primaries, which brought hundreds of voters together to show their support for primary reform initiatives on the 2024 ballot.
Voters in 6 states and the District of Columbia will vote on proposals that end party primaries in favor of nonpartisan systems that grant access to all voters and candidates, regardless of party.
Or, in the case of DC, it opens partisan primaries to the city's 73,000+ independent voters.
But the fight for fairer primaries doesn't end at the ballot box. Pennsylvania reformers, for example, have made significant inroads in the state's legislature, and the movement is growing in states like Oklahoma, Florida, and New York.
Meanwhile, reform advocates are working to protect open primaries in states like Alaska, where party bosses and special interest groups are trying to repeal nonpartisan election reform approved by voters in 2020.
"Closed party processes are distorting everyone's political incentives and pushing our leaders toward more extreme points of view than most Americans actually believe," says former presidential candidate and Forward Party Founder Andrew Yang.
Check out more on the open primaries movement in the video above.
