Nearly 500,000 Oklahoma independent voters can vote on a voter ID amendment Tuesday but are locked out of the Republican gubernatorial runoff that will effectively decide the next governor in the deep red state.
Florida's closed primary system allows single write-in candidates to block voters outside the dominant party from participating in elections, effectively turning primaries into general elections that exclude 3.3 million independents.
Independent voters are now the largest political bloc in America, but closed primaries and two-party ballots still leave millions with nowhere else to go.
Despite pressure from within his own party, Robert Howden says Texas will defend its open primary system — and that any effort to close it belongs in the Legislature, not the courts.
NYC's Board of Elections rejected 42,000 petitions demanding open primaries, affecting a million independent voters. Meanwhile, independent candidates in South Dakota, Nebraska, Idaho and Montana are positioning themselves as kingmakers in the Senate.
After a legislative effort to require party registration stalled, the Alabama GOP made closing its primaries an official party priority—even as some Republican lawmakers warn it would shut out too many independent voters.
Political insiders from both parties largely reject the claim that independent voters would sabotage primaries if allowed to participate, and some say open primaries produce stronger candidates.
Closed primaries do not protect party purity—they force independent voters to register with parties they do not believe in just to have a meaningful voice.
A constitutional lawsuit in Oregon is challenging closed primaries and forced party membership, sparking a broader national debate about independent voter rights and public elections.
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.
Shawn Griffiths
Jeremy Gruber
Russell Dutton
Righteous Media
