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# Don't Let It Happen Again: California's Unconstitutional Presidential Primary
- URL: https://ivn.us/dont-let-it-happen-again-californias-unconstitutional-presidential-primary/
- Published: 2019-05-22T18:44:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-22T20:06:15.000Z
- Author: Independent Voter Project
- Tags: News

Imagine that California’s 4.7 million Republican and 8.6 million Democrat voters were not able to vote for a presidential candidate of their choice in March 2020.

**And NO ONE seemed to care.**

California’s 5.6 million NPP voters don’t have to imagine, because for the state's second-largest voting bloc by a wide margin, **this IS their reality.** Even though California’s constitution requires an “open presidential primary,” meaning every voter is supposed to be able to vote for whomever they want, they cannot.

This is a fundamental *civil rights issue* that contributes directly to the suppression of voter rights and magnification of partisanship.

The issue has the attention of state election officials. They are not only planning a massive education effort to ensure NPP voters are aware of the complicated primary election rules, but also calling on elected officials to adequately address the problem.

### **Movement Gains National Traction**

A growing coalition of national and local organizations have signed on in support, including: The [National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers](https://nonpartisanreformers.org/?ref=ivn.us) (which represents more than 30 reform organizations), [RepresentUs](https://represent.us/?ref=ivn.us), [Alliance San Diego Mobilization Fund](https://www.alliancesd.org/?ref=ivn.us), [Open Primaries](https://www.openprimaries.org/?ref=ivn.us), [FairVote](https://www.fairvote.org/?ref=ivn.us), and many more.

These organizations span the ideological spectrum, but all agree that a voter’s right to participate in a taxpayer-funded election should not be subject to the control of any private political party. In fact, it is this First Amendment “right of non-association” the Supreme Court recognized in [*Democratic Party v. Jones*](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/530/567/?ref=ivn.us)to close California’s old “open blanket” primary.

“No voter should have to join a party or participate in a party’s private nomination process as a condition of exercising their fundamental right of vote in an important and taxpayer-funded election process," says Independent Voter Project legal advisor Chad Peace.

The Independent Voter Project has just launched a video to educate and activate the electorate. See above.