Ballot Initiatives for Open Primaries and Independent Redistricting Filed in Nevada

Independents are now the largest group of voters in Nevada-43% of the electorate-but they are shut out in the state’s closed primaries. Good news! Open primaries may be heading back to the ballot in Nevada after Vote Nevada filed two initiatives with the Nevada Secretary of State this week. The first would force the state to open the primaries by adding the right to equal participation in all taxpayer-funded elections regardless of political affiliation to the state constitution’s Voter Bill of Rights. The second would create an independent redistricting commission made up in equal parts of Republicans, Democrats and independents.

The effort builds upon the failed campaign to combine open primaries with ranked choice voting in 2024. During this year’s legislative session, Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager acknowledged those frustrations. He sponsored a bill to allow independent voters to participate in either Republican or Democratic non-presidential primaries. The bill passed the Legislature but was vetoed by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.

In filling the initiatives, longtime open primaries advocate Sondra Cosgrove declared: 

Texas GOP Files Lawsuit to Close the State’s Primaries

The Republican Party of Texas filed a federal lawsuit against Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson in a bid to restrict participation in the GOP’s primary elections to only voters registered with the party. Note to reader: Texas does not have partisan voter registration. Enacting a closed primary would require every voter in the state to re-register to vote. But the parties seem committed to doing ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to solidify their power and reduce the role of the voters.  

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court, claims Texas’ open primaries violate the Republican Party’s First Amendment associational rights to choose party leaders. The GOP said in its suit that it would prefer the Legislature to pass a law allowing only registered party members to vote in primary elections, but that it could not wait for lawmakers to act.

The response from Democratic Party leaders and reformers has been crickets so far - a remarkable contrast to their response to the same party’s widely denounced gerrymandering proposal.  

The Texas GOP has been openly building towards this moment, having passed a party resolution to close the primaries last year and introducing legislation to close the primaries over multiple sessions of the state legislature. 

Open Primaries is working to organize a legal response. Stay tuned!

Open Primaries, IVP and the Forward Party File Brief with the US Supreme Court Challenging Closed Primaries

Speaking of legal responses, Open Primaries and the Independent Voter Project (IVP) were joined by the Forward Party and Florida Forward Party in submitting an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court in support of a writ of certiorari for Polelle v. Florida Secretary of State; a case that challenged Florida's closed primaries which shut out 4 million independent voters.

As we reported in an earlier issue, the concurring opinion in the 11th Circuit’s decision in that case offered a series of firsts for any court on the issue of independent voters. Indeed, in it Justice Abudu declared that the precedent for the court’s decision deserved to be seriously reconsidered. Equally unprecedented, he explored the massive change in the electorate, the numerical rise of independent voters, and who they are, with a serious consideration of the particular growth of independents of color. No court had ever undertaken such an analysis prior.  

In their brief asking the Supreme Court to review the case, the amici curiae declare:

IVP and Open Primaries have been leading the fight to take primary reform to court. In 2014, IVP and Independent Voting challenged the constitutionality of New Jersey’s closed primary system.  That same year, IVP also challenged California’s unconstitutional use of semi-closed primaries in presidential elections. This year, Open Primaries filed a lawsuit in Maryland and has supported legal efforts against closed primaries in Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming.  

The brief offers a new resource to the movement, exploring the many open questions of law that American courts have failed to address when it comes to independent voters and offering new framings in the fight to let all voters vote. Read the full brief HERE.

Independents Are Done—With Everyone

In a scathing piece, executive editor of the Liberal Patriot John Halpin looks at the numbers and finds BOTH Democrats and Republicans are in trouble with independent voters heading into the midterms. They don’t like the direction Trump is taking the country, but they also don’t like the alternative, or non-alternative, offered up by Democrats. As he concludes:

OP President John Opdycke will be joining United Independents and other independent leaders on Thursday September 18th at 7pm est for the first episode of their new podcast. They’ll be discussing the structural challenges independents face-and why this moment is different than anything we’ve seen before.

Register to join NOW.

Our Primary Buzz discussion series returns with a bang this month as Iowa Gubernatorial Candidate Rob Sand joins us.

Sand is running for Governor of Iowa as a Democrat. But he isn’t following the Democratic Party rule book: “I reject pretty much all labels, including the word moderate. I’m pretty issue-based and I’m independent-minded. I think what we need to do is actually end the system of ‘the lesser of two evils.’ It’s not necessarily so all the answers belong to any one place, it’s just to actually free people up.” 

Sand says he’s building his campaign around the simple notion that Iowans 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 he is turning heads well beyond the Hawkeye state. See national coverage in the NY Times, Wall St Journal and The Atlantic.

On Thursday September 25th at 2:30pm ET, Open Primaries President John Opdycke will talk with Rob about how he’s building a new kind of political campaign, his longtime support for open primaries and political reform, and why an “independent attitude” is crucial to moving the country forward.  

REGISTER TODAY.

Have a great weekend

The Open Primaries Team