Advocates Push for Open Primaries to Include Independent Voters

Advocates and commentators are campaigning for the adoption of open primaries across the United States to increase voter participation and reduce the influence of special interest groups. Currently, approximately 47% of registered American voters are unaffiliated with any political party, yet many remain excluded from partisan primaries.

Open Primaries, a nonpartisan advocacy group, argues that closed systems create one-party states where the primary is the only election that matters, rendering the general election meaningless. This push for reform is driven by growing political independence among Gen Z, millennials, and Latino voters, the latter of whom are unaffiliated at a rate of 52% nationally.

In New York City, the group UniteNY is framing the transition to open primaries as a civil rights issue. The group cites a July 2026 Voter Empowerment Index showing that two-thirds of New Yorkers favor the change. This effort comes as major Democratic-controlled cities, including New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, maintain closed systems despite 15 states already utilizing open primaries.

Critics of the current system, including writer Froma Harrop, argue it is democratically problematic for taxpayer-funded elections to be restricted by private party rules. They contend that citizens should not be forced to join a party whose agenda they do not believe in simply to participate in the selection of their leaders.