DC Dems to Independent Voters: You. Don’t. Matter.

Here’s a trend for you:  Progressive Democrats insisting that they (not the voters) should control the reform agenda.  It was on display in NYC.  And now in DC, where the DC City Council voted to fund ranked choice voting and ignore open primaries.   

The backstory.  73% of DC residents approved Initiative 83 last year.  It called for two things - letting independents vote in the primaries, and using ranked choice voting in the general election.  But getting 73% of the vote does not make it law; full adoption runs through the City Council’s budgeting process. 

Now, with a brazen middle finger to the voters, the City Council has found a pathway to institute a new voting method, but couldn’t find a pathway to allowing 80,000 voters to cast a ballot.  Wow.  

Who are DC’s independents? Watch the video.

As Shawn Griffiths declares in a biting new critique in IVN:

Kudos to Lisa Rice, the proposer of Initiative 83, the CEO of Grow Democracy DC, a proud independent voter and an Open Primaries National Spokesperson and her team for leading the fight for the rights of independent voters until the bitter end this week.

And the fight is not over. The City Council can still budget open primaries into existence in the 2026 budget. Lisa and Grow Democracy have dedicated themselves to that fight. But to win it, we’ll have to mobilize at an even larger scale. If you’re ready to rumble in DC, email us at [email protected].

Speaking of the Democratic Party, Open Primaries friend and supporter attorney Lanny Davis has come out this week with a striking piece challenging the Democratic Party to embrace open primaries if it hopes to rebuild its reputation among American voters. 

As both a former White House Special Counsel to President Clinton and a member of President Bush’s post-9/11 Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, Lanny is an unlikely ally in the fight for independent voters. And as he readily admits, he used to be a strong supporter of closed primaries. So what changed his mind?

He credits the Open Primaries backed lawsuit in Pennsylvania challenging the state’s closed primaries in court as the reason. As Lanny puts it:

It’s an important piece, by an important political leader. Read it HERE.

Pennsylvania:

Speaking of Pennsylvania, the press continues to buzz for a third straight week with news of Ballot PA Action leader David Thornburgh’s litigation-backed by Open Primaries- challenging the state’s closed primary elections in court. Philly Daily calls it a “landmark” case, the Daily Pennsylvanian goes deep in covering the suit, while Philly Voice declares that the fight for open primaries in PA has “new legs” and Broad and Liberty declares independent voters to be the “key to victory” in PA elections.

Former PA Congressman and Undersecretary of the Army, Patrick Murphy also has a new piece out declaring his support for primary reform. A friend of Ballot PA Action and Open Primaries alike, Murphy decries the lack of representation of American veterans today and declares:

As we’ve reported, the Democratic Party of Florida is considering supporting open primaries.  We hope they do (it would be nice for the Democratic Party to act democratically for a change).  

And so does Magic Johnson!!!!!

Southern States Wrestle with Challenges to Open Primaries

Most southern states combine nonpartisan voter registration with an open party primary. But as we’ve been reporting for some time, this system is under increasing attack across the region as these states are dominated by a single party-Republicans-and an increasing number of Republican party leaders want to control the electoral process.

Louisiana is getting a lot of attention this week, as party insiders-who led the repeal of the state’s nonpartisan primary for certain offices-wrestle with implementing an open party primary. That’s because even with the repeal, political insiders were unable to exclude independents from the process after public outrage at the prospect of their exclusion.

Meanwhile, West Virginia Democrats are calling the state’s Republican Party “hypocrites’ for voting to abandon open primaries after supporting them for years. As WV D Party Chair Torisa Toriseva declared:

Speaking of hypocrisy, we searched for any example of the WV Democratic Party speaking in support of independent voters and open primaries prior to the Republican Party’s decision. If you can find any examples, please let us know.

Well-known journalist Michael Smerconish, a plaintiff and supporter of the Open Primaries backed litigation in PA, had OP SVP Jeremy Gruber on his CNN show last week to talk about how closed primaries shut out millions of independent voters every election year and to debate Professor Seth Masket who wants to keep it that way. Check it out - and please share with your networks across all social media platforms. 

Our new Spokesperson Training Program is now holding an open application process for its next session in October. Held on Zoom, the program offers independents and reform-minded citizens a creative space to develop your skills and share with others why you have chosen to be independent.

The training has attracted hundreds of participants, including many leaders in the open primaries movement. Participants will be presented with an overview of who independents are across the country, learn key talking points to dispel commonly held myths about who we are, have a Q&A session with independent leader Jackie Salit, and get performance training from top-notch professional trainers.

 If you're interested in applying for the upcoming session, which will be Tuesday October 28th at 6:30pm ET, Apply here or email Gwen Mandell, Open Primaries’ Director of Leadership Development at [email protected] for more information.

Have a great weekend

The Open Primaries Team