While appearing on CNN host Michael Smerconish’s show, former Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, now a registered independent, told Smerconish that “we have to have open primaries” in order to get candidates who prioritize representation to run and have a chance to win.
From California, where independent redistricting commissioner J. Ray Kennedy, a Democrat, describes how state leaders effectively sidelined the nonpartisan commission, to Texas, where the Republican Party is suing to close one of the nation’s oldest open primary systems, the hosts trace a pattern of
This week the Supreme Court denied cert in the case of Polelle v.Byrd; a case challenging Florida’s closed primary in the federal courts. It was not an unexpected
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking the extraordinary step of refusing to defend the state’s election laws and the Texas secretary of state in a federal lawsuit filed by his own political party, even as he runs in the very election those laws govern.
As Indiana Republicans weigh whether to call a special session to redraw the state’s congressional map, a new Unite America poll shows that voters overwhelmingly oppose the idea — including a majority of GOP primary voters.
A new statewide poll finds near-unanimous agreement among both Democratic and independent voters that Florida’s primaries should be opened to the state’s 3.4 million “No Party Affiliation” (NPA) voters who are currently shut out of taxpayer-funded elections.
With deep frustration, Vote Nevada PAC announced it is withdrawing its ballot initiative to create an independent redistricting commission -- a proposal meant to bring openness, accountability, and fairness to how Nevada’s political maps are drawn.
Every major voting rights movement in U.S. history – whether successful or not – has intertwined with landmark litigation. This was the case for women’s suffrage. It was the case for civil rights. And it is the case in the ongoing effort to protect the right of all voters to have equal participation
In a dramatic step forward for litigation challenging closed primaries, the U.S. Supreme Court has indicated they are going to conference to discuss whether to grant a writ of certiorari to Polelle v. Florida Secretary of State; a case challenging Florida's closed primaries that Open Primaries has s
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt is in a rare position in Oklahoma. He is a popular Republican mayor in a deep red, closed primary state that is making the case for primaries open to all voters and candidates, despite his party’s opposition to reform.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously rejected a challenge to a proposed ballot initiative that would open taxpayer-funded primary elections to all candidates and voters, regardless of party affiliation – paving the way for the signature petition process to begin.
Right now, the divide between the Republican and Democratic Parties appears beyond repair. The political rhetoric is toxic, the nation’s leadership puts party gain before lasting solutions, and few voters actually feel heard by the people elected to represent them. At a time when it seems things wil