Over 800,000 Independent voters in Nevada just got the power to vote in primaries–if the Governor lets it happen

With a 12 to 9 vote in the Senate, the Nevada Legislature has passed open primary bill AB597 which would enfranchise the state’s 840,000 nonpartisans -the largest voting bloc in the state. It’s a similar bill to the New Mexico open primary bill that was signed into law only last month.

Bill sponsor Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager has gone on the record that he introduced the bill as a response to reformers on the ground who nearly passed Question 3 (nonpartisan open primaries) in 2024 and have continued to challenge the legislature since: 

“The dam is going to break one way or another. The question is: Are we going to be part of the process?”

The bill now goes to the Governor’s desk. As our friend and Executive Director of Vote Nevada Sondra Cosgrove declared: 

“To protect civil rights in Nevada, every eligible voter must be empowered to participate fully in all publicly financed elections. It is encouraging to see that so many of our legislators, and we hope the governor, also share this view through their support of Assembly Bill 597.” 

All credit goes to Sondra, Doug Goodman, Cesar Marquez and all the Nevada activists who have worked tirelessly to keep the pressure on the legislature and whose underlying message of voter disenfranchisement clearly struck a chord with the state’s political establishment. 

LET NEW YORK CITY INDEPENDENTS VOTE

NYC is having a moment: primary reform is squarely on the NYC Charter Revision Commission’s agenda. 

In a new op-ed in the Daily News, Open Primaries Senior VP Jeremy Gruber and OP Board Member Dr. Jessie Fields lay out succinctly why it’s long past time NYC allow the fastest-growing group of voters in the city (now over 1,000,0000!) to participate in primary elections: 

“Who are NYC independents? They are as diverse as the city itself. More than half are Millennial and Gen Z voters. And despite persistent myths to the contrary, 53% of independents in our city are voters of color according to a recent study by Common Cause NY. That amounts to 165,151 African-American, 176,161 Asian-American, and 242,221 Latino independent voters shut out of the elections that matter. Is there any context where that is anything other than a crisis?”

Read their full op-ed here. 

Last week, Open Primaries President John Opdycke sat down with award-winning journalist, author, news anchor and media executive, John Avlon to explore the moment NYC is having. 

He talked with Avlon about what’s changed, where we are in the process, and what a shift to open primaries could mean for NYC and the country.  

Watch the full conversation here:

If you’re in NYC–there are still a few opportunities left to make sure the NYC Charter Revision Commission understands that giving 1.1 million New York City independent voters the right to vote in primaries is an URGENT issue.

You can make a difference by testifying at the next public hearing on June 10th. 

Sign up here. Indicate which hearing you can attend. National Organizing Director Cathy Stewart will reach out with all the details.  If you can’t testify in person, you can testify on zoom.

OPEN PRIMARIES EDUCATION FUND GOES TO COURT IN MARYLAND

The Open Primaries Education Fund, in partnership with Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, LLC, one of Maryland’s leading law firms, filed a lawsuit in Maryland last week on behalf of five plaintiffs across the state against the Maryland State Board of Elections, challenging the State’s closed primary elections as unconstitutional.   

The case has been covered in publications across the country with over a dozen publications carrying the story, including features in the Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun.

OP Senior VP Jeremy Gruber was quoted in the Washington Post on the timing of the lawsuit:

This week former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford, our counsel representing the plaintiffs, went on Fox 45 News to discuss the lawsuit:  

"The plaintiffs have been arguing this for years and they've been going to the legislature to try to get the legislature to change, the legislature doesn't want to change, they have their people who elect them and they're not interested in expanding…over a fifth of our registered voters are unaffiliated and this is a trend nationally and it continues to grow... If you look at the election activity report the net increase and voter registrations is unaffiliated, so that's what's going on. That's what's driving this whole thing.” 

Watch his full interview here:

We’ll be keeping you posted as the case progresses. Maryland is just the beginning!

Opening New Mexico’s Primaries: A Roadmap for Reform 

After New Mexico’s groundbreaking passage of open primaries legislation just a couple of months ago, we took a look at HOW this win was possible. 

Check out our new report titled New Mexico Open Primaries: A Roadmap for Reform- a detailed account of how New Mexico transitioned from closed to open primaries.

As IVN put it: “Reformers had to chip away at decades of partisan resistance and had to have the patience to build a grassroots movement that was in it for the long haul. Success required the right combination of strategy, leadership, and local collaboration.”

The report highlights critical lessons that can be learned from New Mexico for open primaries advocates to enact similar reform across the US.

OPINION: OPENING PRIMARIES TO INDEPENDENT VOTERS IMPROVES INCLUSIVITY AND REPRESENTATION

Speaking of New Mexico, a new op-ed in the ABQ Journal from Breahna Roark, the President of the University of New Mexico College Democrats highlights the growing frustration younger voters are having with closed primaries: 

“Excluding independent voters not only weakens our elections, it silences voters. In the United States, independent voters truly are the backbone of our system…Like many independents, I have voted for candidates on both sides of the aisle. This reform recognizes that thoughtful voters don’t always fit into one ideological box, and they shouldn’t be forced to choose one just to participate.”

Roark testified in New Mexico and was one of the leaders of the campaign. Her voice is one of the growing chorus of young voters-half of whom are independent-that are calling for reform.

Have a great weekend,

The Open Primaries Team