Oklahoma Campaign Rallies To Start Signature Drive

The 90-day signature gathering effort for State Question 836 (top two open primaries) officially kicked off this week with launch events in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.  Volunteers are fanning out to every corner of the state so every Oklahoman has a chance to sign and have their voice heard. If you live in Oklahoma, sign up to volunteer!

Fundraising for the drive has ramped up - both in Oklahoma and among the Open Primaries national donor network.  In the last few days a number of Open Primaries supporters have jumped in to support Vote Yes on 836. Will you join them? Every dollar ensures this important campaign makes it on the 2026 ballot.

Keep on, keepin’ On Sooners!

Open Primaries Debate Roils Florida Democratic Party 

Political parties have the legal right to open their primaries to independent voters, and Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried has been publicly debating the idea for months. Ironic, considering the party played a leading role in opposing a ballot initiative for open primaries in 2020 that still gained 57% of the vote with few resources spent. But the party's fortunes have since deteriorated and Fried understands she needs the state’s 3.4 million independent voters that are currently shut out of the state’s closed primaries. 

Florida Open Primaries launched a campaign earlier this year to organize independents to make their voices heard to Party leaders, including releasing the findings of a poll finding super majorities of independents and Democrats supporting opening the Party’s primary and primaries more broadly across the board.

Now, in a series of emails obtained by Politico, the depth of the debate within the Party is on full display, with Executive Committees in two counties already supporting the idea while some party activists are calling open primaries a “Big Con.”

FOP is stepping up their efforts to stoke the fires. We’ll keep you updated.

New York Independents Speak Out

As New Yorkers head to the polls, OP SVP Jeremy Gruber and independent NYers joined News 12 New York to talk about one of the most backwards and exclusionary election systems in the country-NYC. Check them out:

Oregon Ballot Initiative Is Getting Noticed

As we reported last week, a pair of ballot initiatives to open the primaries in Oregon were filed by former state Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D), former state Rep. Cheri Helt (R-Bend) and Andrew Kaza, co-chair of the state council of the Independent Party of Oregon.  

They lay out a unique new form of top two primary, one that offers parties and independent candidates a choice-participate in a top two open primary where every voter votes or pay your own way with a party caucus or by gathering signatures if you’re an independent candidate.

The campaign is getting attention all over the Beaver State. We’re told by campaign leaders that they have already gathered the initial signatures needed for the initiative to undergo legal vetting by the state and a public input process that could end in a ballot title by year's end.

It’s an exciting new campaign and we’ll keep you posted as they continue to build.

Time for New Jersey’s Independent Voters To Have A Stronger Voice

Long time independent leader and Open Primaries supporter Sue Davies is in New Jersey Spotlight News this week to talk about the need to finally recognize the state’s massive growth in independent voters. As she notes:

Read her full piece here.

What’s clear across these videos is that there’s a generation searching for a political home; becoming independent and redefining what a political home looks like altogether. They’re asking hard questions, rejecting easy, antiquated labels, and imagining something different.

Have a great weekend,

The Open Primaries Team