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Election reformers are celebrating the adoption of primary elections in New Mexico that are open to the state's substantial independent voter population. But there is an even larger group of independents that could soon be granted access to these critical taxpayer-funded elections in Pennsylvania.

KOAT 7 in New Mexico featured an investigative report on the impact of open primaries now that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed SB 16 into law, a bill that opens the state's primaries to more than 330,000 independent voters.

As of Monday, New Mexico has officially moved away from closed partisan primaries and has adopted semi-open primaries that allow more than 330,000 independent voters to participate in critical taxpayer-funded elections after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed reform into law.

It has been a long road for reformers in New Mexico, but the legislature has passed a bill that would open state primary elections to a quarter of the state's voting population registered unaffiliated of a political party.

A bill that could open primary elections to more than 330,000 New Mexico voters registered as "Decline to State" or "Unaffiliated" has been scheduled for a hearing Friday in the House Government, Elections, and Indian Affairs committee.

With a short legislative window to work with, the updates on a bill to open New Mexico's taxpayer-funded primary elections to more than 330,000 independent voters are happening fast -- and so far, it is good news for reformers.

There are more than 330,000 registered independent voters in New Mexico. However, none of these voters have full access to the taxpayer-funded elections process as a result of the state's closed partisan primary system.

In 2024, Gallup found for the first time in the history of its polling that more than half of the electorate identified as independent. The biggest driver of this political shift are young voters, who enter voting age more independent than the generation before them.

My rates! What happened to my rates? Partisan and independent voters ranked the economy the most important issue in the 2024 election.

Close and contested elections are a part of American history, and the upcoming presidential election will likely continue this tradition.