BILL TO CLOSE PRIMARIES DEFEATED IN TENNESSEE

GOOD NEWS! Recently several State Senators tried to bypass existing legislation to close the primaries and organized around a new closed primary bill sponsored by Sen. Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun-District 1). That bill has now been defeated in committee despite its forward momentum.

Big shout out Shannon Rasmussen and all the other Tennessee based leaders who are staying vigilant and working to keep Tennessee’s primaries open to all voters.

TEXAS GOP MOVES TO CLOSE PRIMARIES

There are currently 2 bills before the Texas state legislature aimed at closing the primaries in Texas: HB-951 in the House, filed by Representative Mike Schofield (R-Katy), and SB-2648 in the Senate, filed by Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston).

Now nineteen county GOP chairs have sent a joint letter to the legislature urging them to support the bills: "Our party, like any other private organization, has the right to determine its nominees without interference from those who do not share our values or principles."

We’re working with the Texas Civil Rights Coalition and others to monitor the situation and we’ll keep you updated as things progress.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS IN NEW MEXICO MADE THE DIFFERENCE

ICYMI: The New Mexico legislature has passed SB16 – a bill that enfranchises the over 330,000 independent voters in New Mexico.  All that stands in the way of open primaries in New Mexico is Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s signature–and she’s offered up support of the bill, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed and hope to have a positive update soon. 

A potential win in New Mexico is the result of a decade-long effort by Open Primaries and a broad coalition of dynamic local leaders led by Bob Perls and Sila Avcil from New Mexico Voters First/New Mexico Open Elections. None of this would have been possible without the hundreds of independents who spoke out and pushed this campaign forward–check out some of the highlights here. 

Voters like Rodzaiah Curtis, a young independent, Navajo activist from New Mexico who attended multiple hearings for SB 16 and wrote an op-ed in the Tri-city Record in support of the bill:

“This bill is critically important to me and to my community. I am a 21-year Navajo, and I am an independent voter…I am not alone in becoming an independent voter. In my community, 28.8% of Native voters, and a whopping 40.7% of Native voters under the age of 35 are independent. Native voters are almost three times more likely to register as unaffiliated with a political party than non-Native voters.”

Now in a new video out from Let Us Vote, Rodzaiah is urging independents across the country to continue this work and show how much of a “force of power” this community can be:

If you’re an independent and want to join the growing community of independent voters working to support each other and fight for the recognition we deserve–JOIN HERE.

ANNUAL CAMPAIGN UPDATE: MESSAGE FROM A YOUNG VOTER

This week our friend and local PA leader Harry Patton Hou, a student at Swarthmore College in PA and Co-Founder of Students for Ballot PA wrote a letter of support for our annual campaign and offered up an important reminder of the role we play in local organizing all across the country: 

“I’ve been working for the last two years with college students across Pennsylvania to push for bipartisan legislation that would repeal PA’s outdated and exclusionary closed primary system. ..I’m here today to add my voice and encourage you to donate to the Open Primaries Annual Fundraising campaign because their support and leadership in the work that we’re doing in Pennsylvania and the work countless other activists across the country are doing is invaluable.

Please get involved, donate to Open Primaries TODAY so that I’m a part of the last generation operating in this closed system.”

Our current system disempowers voters–especially young voters! College-aged voters have a higher tendency to register as independents–the Institute for Citizens and Scholars recently found that 61% of young voters do not affiliate themselves with either of our two major political parties.

We’re working to build a real movement of Americans dedicated to making our political process representative of ALL Americans. As more and more people opt out of party politics it's imperative we hear from and engage with more voters/leaders like Harry! 

We’re nearly 40% of the way to hitting our annual fundraising goal but we still need a lot more help!

Please get involved, donate to Open Primaries TODAY so that voters like Harry are a part of the last generation operating in this exclusionary, uncompetitive and ineffective system. 

Recently,  Michael Pollele, a long-time independent voter and retired law professor from Naples challenged Florida's closed primary election system in Federal court. He argued that the system forces him to either join a political party to have a meaningful vote or forfeit his right to vote in primary elections, which he claimed was unconstitutional. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reviewed the case and while it found against Polelle, its ruling has broken new ground in the fight for independent voter rights. Read OP SVP Jeremy Gruber’s full analysis of the case in The Fulcrum to learn more.

Have a great weekend,

The Open Primaries Team