April 30, 2025
Independents keep the pressure on in NYC
Danny Batista, who testified before the NYC Charter Revision Commission on April 9th, just penned an oped in the Staten Island Plea for the Fifth. In his commentary, 1 in 5 Registered Voters in City are Excluded from Partisan Primaries, Danny writes:
Not only can voters like me not vote in our publicly-funded primary elections, but so profound and insidious is the dynamic that has been created over decades that has normalized excluding independent voters from the process that even speaking with an unaffiliated voter on the street is seen as futile. The system we have says to independent voters: You don’t matter. You don’t exist. Talking with you is worthless and pointless.
If you agree with Danny and you live in NYC, join us in telling the Charter Revision Commission to put opening the primaries to NYC’s 1.1 million independent voters on the November ballot. Reach me at cstewart@openprimaries.org to learn how you can join this effort.
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New Mexico Press Conference Celebrates Opening the Primaries Independent New Mexicans Share Their View
Last week, NM Open Elections (NMOE) held a press conference at the Capitol to celebrate the passage of legislation to open the primaries to New Mexico’s over 330,000 registered independent voters. The change takes effect in the 2026 primaries, when all statewide offices are up for election.
Sila Avcil, the Executive Director of NMOE and NM Voters First, chaired the press conference which included Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Representative Cristina Parajón, among others. Avcil commented that the new law makes New Mexico the second state in the country to enact semi-open primaries through the legislature, the first was Maine.
The Secretary of State shared that she had previously opposed the idea of open primaries, but changed her mind after she served as Bernalillo County clerk and had to turn independent voters away at the polls. She added, “To me as an election administrator, that is one of the most heartbreaking experiences you can have — telling someone they can’t vote.”
The Albuquerque Journal kicked off their coverage, With NM set to open primary elections next year, political impact of change still unclear, with an interview with Let Us Vote activist Rodzaiah Curtis talking about what he sees among younger Native American voters who feel disillusioned, “We don’t want to be forced into choosing Republican or Democrat. We are independent because of the division.
Mike Michalski, an independent who has been active on the campaign, attended the press conference and spoke with the media. He described his experience trying to vote in primaries and feeling forced to “jump through hoops”. Mike told the Albuquerque Journal, “I’m one of those that have never felt comfortable in either party.”
Check out the coverage by KBO TV of the press conference HERE.
