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As election reforms have become a key issue across the nation, in 17 states independent voters still cannot cast a ballot in primary elections. This restriction applies to presidential primaries in some of these states, state and congressional elections in others, and all types of primaries in most of these states.
State parties can establish rules to permit independents to vote in their primaries, but this is rare. According to publicly-available voter registration statistics, there are just over 15.7 million registered independents who lack the right to vote in primary elections in these 15 states.
Different state parties have different rules for how they operate primary elections – and naturally, they vary by office as well. This article will break down exactly where registered independent voters can participate in partisan primary elections, and where they can’t.
Here, voters not affiliated with any political party are called "independents." They can take part in which primary election they want to vote in. For instance, they can vote in either Republican, Democratic, or other party's primary without the need to be a registered member.
77% of Excluded Independents consider the fact they are not allowed to vote in partisan primaries to be unfair, and 74% say it is a violation of voting rights; 87% of Excluded Independents support opening primaries to independent voters, while 81% support nonpartisan primaries in which all candidates compete on the same primary election ballot;
First, one party could organize its voters to vote in the other party's primary and choose the candidate that they most agree with or that they think their party could most easily defeat. Secondly, in the open primary, independent voters can vote in either party.
In open-primary states, independent voters can vote in either party’s primary without changing their party affiliation. Semi-closed primaries allow independents to choose which party primary to participate in, but you may need to declare a temporary party affiliation at your polling place.
If an independent voter wants to vote for a Democrat in the primary election, they can do so. Likewise, if they want to vote for a Republican in the primary election, they cast a Republican ballot. In semi-closed primaries, voters must still affiliate with a party before they can vote.
Some states' party primaries allow participation from registered Independents, or members of other parties. If you are a registered Independent and would like to vote in a party primary, please indicate that party on your voter registration form.
The group Unite America underscores what it terms the "primary problem" with this finding: In 2020, "only 10% of eligible Americans nationwide cast ballots in primary elections that effectively...