David Thornburgh, founder of BallotPA, hosted a wonderful “UnPrimary” rally and reception yesterday at MaGerk’s Bar and Grill in Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania. OP Senior VP Jeremy Gruber spoke alongside former PA Governor Mark Schweiker, Unite America’s Executive Director Nick Troiano, Students for Ballot PA founder Harry Hough, Independent Pennsylvanians and OP Spokesperson Jennifer Bullock and others. Over 150 supporters attended the event including dozens of Students for Ballot PA activists. The enthusiasm and hunger from Pennsylvanians to repeal closed primaries and let all voters vote is real and growing.

ALABAMA: Alabama GOP Chair John Wahl is beating the drum for closed primaries. Legislation has yet to be passed to make that a reality but we’re closely monitoring the situation.

NEVADA:  Sondra Cosgrove and Jeremy Gruber write in a new op-ed out for The Nevada Current that it’s time to make Nevada’s primary elections make sense. 34% of Nevadans are unaffiliated (they’re the largest voting bloc in the state!) but are completely shut out. 

OKLAHOMA: Because of closed primaries and gerrymandering most Oklahoma voters won’t elect their lawmakers in November–Oklahoma United is making progress towards collecting signatures for a top two open primary initiative to change all that. 

PENNSYLVANIA:  Ballot PA’s David Thornburgh appeared on NBC 10’s Battleground Politics to discuss the push to open Pennsylvanian’s primaries, the bipartisan support they’re receiving from past Governors and what’s next for the BallotPA campaign, 

TEXAS: The Texas GOP is pushing to close the primaries. In a new interview former State Rep. Mark Strama (D-Austin) pushes back and calls out party primaries as the leading contributor to our broken election system. We’re keeping our eyes on Texas.

Let Us Vote Campaign Director Will Conway spent the day in DC interviewing local independent voters and getting first-hand experience on the great work of the Make All Votes Count DC campaign and its leader Lisa Rice.  Two highlights: Blanche McLeod, a lifelong independent and resident of DC who has a mind of her own, and AJ Dawson, a transplant from Colorado where independents can vote who now finds himself in a closed system."Every vote should count!" Check out their statements: 

REGISTER: The Primary Buzz Discussion Series: “I believe almost anything can be fixed”A Conversation with Nebraskan Dan Osborn, independent candidate for US Senate.

If you know Nebraska, Dan Osborn isn’t unusual. Nebraskans have been fiercely independent and anti-political corruption for 100 years. They enacted a unicameral and nonpartisan legislature and nonpartisan primaries back in the 1930’s precisely to put problem solving and citizen leadership ahead of partisan shenanigans.  

But by national standards, Dan Osborn is VERY unusual. 

He’s no politician. He’s an independent who has spent his whole life fixing things. He’s a husband and father, member of the Nebraska National Guard and US Navy Veteran, an industrial mechanic, and a union leader who led the successful 2021 strike against the Kellogg’s plant in Omaha - preserving hundreds of middle-class jobs. He’s challenging Republican Incumbent Senator Deb Fischer as an independent and building his campaign around the simple notion that Nebraskans of all walks of life have more in common than the partisans who wake up every morning with new ideas about how to divide us. Polls are showing a competitive match-up, and Dan is turning some heads (check out his recent profile in the New York Times). 

On Thursday April 25th at 5pm ET, Open Primaries President John Opdycke will sit down with Dan to discuss his dynamic campaign, his experience as an independent candidate in an overwhelmingly partisan system and why an “independent attitude” is crucial to moving the country forward.