Op-Ed: Open primaries bill introduced in Congress

The debate about open primaries may soon occur in the halls of Congress. A group of bipartisan lawmakers last month introduced the “Let America Vote Act of 2024” to require open primaries for state and federal elections across the country.

According to the bill: “It is the sense of Congress that the right of a citizen of the United States to vote in any taxpayer-funded election for public office shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on the grounds of political party affiliation or lack thereof.”

Here is what the sponsors said about why they introduced the national open primaries bill:

“This commonsense reform is not political or controversial. It ensures every US citizen, regardless of political affiliation, has the unequivocal right to vote while reinforcing election integrity by strictly prohibiting non-citizens from participating in tax-payer funded elections.” - Rep. Fitzpatrick (PA-1)“Participating in our democracy is a central right of citizens, and voters unaffiliated with any political party deserve to have their voices heard throughout the entire political process.” - Rep. Golden (ME-2)“The right to vote is reserved solely for American citizens. I am pleased to co-lead this legislation to codify this commonsense principle and safeguard our elections from unconstitutional non-citizen voting.” - Rep. Garbarino (NY-2)“Good ideas come from both sides of the aisle, so Americans shouldn’t be denied the right to vote for the candidate of their choosing because they aren’t affiliated with a political party.” - Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-3)

Sponsors of the “Let America Vote Act of 2024” described the bill’s features this way:

“The right of a U.S. citizen to vote in any taxpayer-funded election for public office shall not be denied or abridged on the grounds of political party affiliation or lack thereof.

No person who is not a citizen shall be permitted or granted the right to vote in any taxpayer-funded election for public office held by or in the United States or any State.”

Notably, this federal bill does not require the controversial use of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Open primaries and RCV are two very different things.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), “primaries can be categorized as closed, partially closed, partially open, open to unaffiliated voters, open or multi-party.” Here is how NCSL classifies each state’s primary system.

Multi-Party Primaries (Including Top-Two and Similar Systems) – 5 states (Alaska, California, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington): “A small but growing number of states hold a single primary in which all candidates, regardless of party, are listed on a single ballot.”Open Primaries – 15 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin): “In an open primary, voters choose which party’s ballot to vote, but this decision is private and does not register the voter with that party.”Open to Unaffiliated Voters – 7 states (Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Rhode Island): “Many states allow unaffiliated voters to participate in any party primary they choose, but do not allow voters who are registered with one party to vote in another party’s primary.”Partially Open – 4 states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio): “This system permits voters to cross party lines, but their ballot choice may be regarded as a form of registration with the corresponding party.”Partially Closed – 9 states (Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia): “In this system, state law permits political parties to choose whether to allow unaffiliated voters or voters not registered with the party to participate in their nominating contests before each election cycle.”Closed Primaries – 10 states (Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wyoming): “In general, a voter seeking to vote in a closed primary must be a registered party member.”

While there are many examples of states with open primaries, currently only Alaska and Maine use Ranked Choice Voting for statewide elections. Alaska voters narrowly adopted RCV in 2020 by 50.55%, but its use has been so controversial that Alaskans this fall will have the opportunity to repeal it with the certification of a new ballot measure.

Both Washington's Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and Montana's Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen have spoken out against ranked choice voting, with Hobbs saying "ranked-choice voting adds a layer of complexity to voting that threatens to disenfranchise people who aren’t experts at the process."

As expressed by the sponsors of the “Let America Vote Act of 2024,” it is important to remember that taxpayer-funded elections don’t belong to private political groups. Moving our election systems to a clean open primary is a debate worth having. Adopting open primaries, however, should not be limited to a take-it-or-leave-it proposition tied to the controversy of Ranked Choice Voting.