Governor Pritzker frames the Democratic Party divide as "Team Cave" versus "Team Fight," but sidesteps questions about whether this commitment extends to independent voters locked out of primary elections.
Arizona lets independent voters participate in its taxpayer-funded primaries—but only after they choose a party ballot, accept limited candidate options, and rely on party leaders to keep the door open.
After two Charter Revision Commissions, five op-eds in one week, and a new poll blowing up the "donor scheme" narrative, independent voters are done waiting to be invited into the conversation.
The effort to repeal California’s Top Two primary would erase the constitutional guarantee that “all voters may vote,” sidelining more than 6 million independents as reformers push for a Top Four or Top Five alternative.
From closed primaries and gerrymandered districts to ballot-access barriers and debate rules, the two-party system limits voter choice long before Election Day.
In wake of Graham Platner's exit in Maine, former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and Paul Rieckhoff get in a heated debate over the future of the Democratic Party, which Rieckhoff argues is run by a generation of "establishment leaders and grifters."
On Meet the Press, Open Primaries President John Opdycke explained that the country's political extremes are thriving because party primaries reward small ideological electorates while treating independent voters like outsiders.
Luckily, there are organizations out there who are endorsing independent-minded candidates as well as candidates who support reforms key to unlocking independent political power.
From ballot access and open primaries to independent candidates and ranked choice voting, these groups are shaping the next phase of the voter-first reform movement.
A California court’s ranked choice voting remedy is about Latino representation. But it also reflects a larger reality: election systems built around narrow political coalitions routinely leave independent voters outside the room.
Shawn Griffiths
Jennifer Esteban
Jeremy Gruber
IVN Editorial Board
Righteous Media
Matt Shinners
Dan Schnur