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 New York City, it goes without saying that the most consequential election in nearly every race is in the Democratic Primary. However, if registered independent voters don't join a party soon, they will be completely denied a say.
Alex Koma of Loose Lips @WCP reports that a significant legal battle over Initiative 83 (I-83) has been reignited after the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled on February 6, 2025, to remand the case to Superior Court
The nonprofit reform group Open Primaries hosted its first Primary Buzz Discussion of 2025 last week. But this conversation worked differently as Open Primaries President John Opdycke was the one being interviewed.
Ballotpedia reports this week that in 2026, Alaska’s independent voters will have the chance to solidify their role as election reform pioneers by voting on two initiatives.
The Chamberlain Project, an organization I co-founded with Peter Ackerman a decade ago, has been dissolved. The Chamberlain Boards have voted to combine all of Chamberlain’s associated entities, including Americans Elect, Level the Playing Field, the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting, and Citizens
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt sat down with former RNC chair and MSNBC commentator Michael Steele to talk about the difference between the partisan politics in DC versus the more pragmatic outcomes at the local level.
Idaho lawmakers are still fuming that citizen-led groups tried to change the way the state elects its lawmakers. The 2024 initiative failed, but now a bill in the legislature would make it harder for any ballot proposition to pass.
Indiana lawmakers will consider a bill filed in the state's House of Representatives that seeks to the close the state's primary elections and condition full voting rights on joining one of two major political parties.
While all eyes are on the speakers vote Friday, a bipartisan coalition of US lawmakers plan to re-introduce legislation that would represent the largest expansion of voting rights in modern US history.
This was a big year for the open primaries movement. Seven state-level campaigns and one municipal. Millions of voters declaring their support for open primaries. New leaders emerging across the country. Primary elections for the first time at the center of the national reform debate.
In 2024, a historic number of statewide initiatives appeared on the ballot to open primary elections to all voters and candidates. Most of the initiatives failed, but reformers were successful in Washington DC.
Shawn Griffiths
Cara Brown McCormick
Jeremy Gruber
