Independent Voting Rights Take Center Stage
Delaware House Considers Open Primaries
As of February 1st, there are over 245,000 independent/no party voters in the state of Delaware. That is 30.75 of the electorate. There are 22% more independents than Republicans across the state. But, Delaware is one of the 14 totally closed primary states where independents cannot vote in the primaries!
State Representative Michael Smith wants to change that and has introduced HB 188 to allow independents to vote in the primaries, by being able to pick a party ballot. Similar legislation has been passed in NM and ME, and is under consideration in MD.
In explaining why he introduced HB 188, Representative Smith shared, “Outside of political insiders, people are sick of tribalism. They want public servants who are working for them and helping solve problems. Opening primaries will do just that by helping make our elections be more like a job interview instead of tribal mud slinging we continue to see. All of our elections are paid for by tax payers and all registered voters should have access to those elections. As people continue to become more and more independent, let’s give them the access they want to exercise their right to vote. Political parties shouldn’t dictate our elections. People should.”
The Delaware House Elections and Government Affairs Committee will be holding a public hearing on HB 188 on March 11th. Independent voters will be able to testify and make a clear demand on the Committee to pass HB 188 and LET US VOTE! Our Let Us Vote volunteer call team has begun calling independents voters in our network to testify. Volunteer caller Kathy Fiess had this to say: “People are waiting for our call!”
If you live in Delaware or know folks that do, please reach out to cstewart@openprimaries.org Delaware is a small state and that means a handlful of independents can make a big impact.
On February 11, the Maryland House Government, Labor, and Elections Committee heard powerful testimony from more than 20 independent voters and open-primaries advocates—including bill co-sponsor Delegate Lily Qi —in support of HB0496, a bipartisan bill that would restore the right to vote in primary elections to nearly one million unaffiliated Marylanders.
With the hearing complete, the future of the bill now rests in the Committee’s hands.
What do supporters of the bill do while that Committee deliberates? They get busy.
Rob Rephan from Frostburg waited four hours at the Committee hearing, but finally had to go to work before he was called on to testify. He took his testimony and turned it into an opinion piece that ran on Feb 20th in the Cumberland Times News.You can read his full piece here. In Open Primaries to Unaffiliated Voters, Rob writes:
Dennis Philapavage, a veteran and pilot who gave powerful testimony at the hearing (check it out here) created a video message about being shut out of the primaries while in AZ last week for work.
Let’s share Dennis’ message far and wide!
Local activists are continuing to write letters to the Committee and sharing this link to the automated letter where Maryland voters can send the 19 members of the Government, Labor and Elections Committee a personalized letter urging them to vote yes on HB0496.
Melanie Combs-Dyer, the Executive Director of Independent Voters of Maryland shared:
“We cannot rest while the legislature is deliberating. Independent Voters of Maryland is hazard at work to continue to raise awareness about the need to open the primaries as we continue to put pressure on the Government, Labor, and Elections Committee. We are keeping our foot on the accelerator, organizing and making it clear that it is just not fair to deny almost one million independents the right to vote in our primaries.”
Hi, I’m Bree! Welcome to my corner of the newsletter, where we create digital storytelling as a force for the independent movement. Our mission is to make independent voters, the largest and fastest-growing voting bloc, more visible, tell our stories and fight for fair and open primaries!
This week, we’re highlighting a powerful TikTok from Ashlyn, a journalist who offers explainers, civics, media literacy to help viewers understand news + decompress from it. She takes a look at the new Gallup polling data showing the growth of independent voters has hit an all time high – we are 45% of the country’s voters!
This video is a hit because it offers:
- Insight into why Gen Z is identifying more as independent.
- A punchy analysis of Gallup’s report finding 45% of the country is independent
- A reminder that Most US voters are independents, but politicians and social media don’t want the people to know that
Get Involved! Whether you want to help us reach out to influencers or learn how to film your own story, we need your voice.
Let’s share our stories of why we are part of the 45% of Americans who are independent!
If you’re interested in more of this work, reach out to me at bdoldron@openprimaries.org
On Valentine’s Day, NY state regularly send a chilling message to the 3.5 million independents voters across the state — register into a party or forfeit your right to vote in the June primaries.
Torsha Childs, a Brooklyn independent, wrote a powerful opinion piece in the Daily News that you won’t want to miss reading.
You can read Torsha’s full opinion piece, ‘Closed’ democracy in NY shuts me out here.
On President’s Day, 18 independents from 10 states gathered for our monthly Power Hour. We took a look at what America’s first two Presidents had to say about the dangers of political parties.
We took a look at the growing fight for primary reform and then got to work learning how to create videos for social media. Here is a little tidbit from the Power Hour to all of you:
The next Power Hour is on Monday, March 16th at 6 pm ET. Join us and spend some time with independents from across the country who are taking action together to build the independent movement.
