PA Weighs Switch To Open Primaries: What It Could Mean For Elections

HARRISBURG, PA — Citing ever-growing numbers of unaffiliated voters and lingering distaste with the vitriol and divisiveness of the nation's two party systems, some lawmakers and advocates in Pennsylvania are pushing for "open" primaries. Switching the state's primary elections to open would allow voters who are not registered with either party to participate.

As things currently stand, only registered Democrats can participate in Democratic primaries, and only registered Republicans can participate in Republican primaries. New forthcoming legislation would chance that.

"While these independent voters all pay taxes and fund our election system, they have no voice in our primary system," Philadelphia Democratic State Reps. Jared Solomon and Christopher Rabb wrote in a co-sponsorship memorandum. "This amounts to taxation without true representation, and it needs to change."

"Unaffiliated" is the fastest growing political identification in the state, the pair added, noting that more than a million Pennsylvania voters are not affiliated with either the Democratic or the Republican parties.

As even more "young and disaffected voters challenge our nation’s political duopoly," there needs to be a mechanism to give them a voice, they argued.

There are already 30 states that provide unaffiliated voters with some greater level of participation in primaries.

In Pennsylvania, the law could mean a changing demographic in primaries. The most immediate and perhaps most obvious impact could potentially be on long-term incumbents who may live in safely-left or safely-right districts, but who could face new and unique challenges with an expanded primary voting body. Several prominent lawmakers in U.S. Congress came to power in this way, including U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy, who defeated longtime Rep. Barney Frank, and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who ousted Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Joe Crowley.