Letter to the Editor featured in The Queens Chronicle

According to a recent Gallup poll, a record-breaking 45 percent of Americans now identify as independent, but here in New York, our election laws are stuck in the past. Over one million independent voters are locked out of participating in New York’s closed primary elections. Independent voters are the largest and fastest-growing voting bloc in the country. In fact, 56 percent of Gen Z voters now reject two-party labels entirely.

Yet, establishment insiders dismiss us as “swing voters” and “confused leaners.” These dismissive labels ignore a critical truth: Nearly half of all voters are choosing to reject the two-party system. Independent is a distinct identity. For me, it means voting for the person, not the party. I want my elected officials to represent as such and not be swayed by party loyalty.

Taxpaying independent voters, like me, are barred from the most critical stage of our elections: closed primaries. We pay for these elections, yet we are told they are “private club meetings.”

Organizations like OpenPrimaries.org and LetUsVote.org, for which I volunteer, are leading the charge to fix this broken system with a simple, powerful principle: Primaries should be open in all states to all voters.

It is time to bridge the gap between our modern electorate and our outdated election laws. We must stop punishing independent thinking and start welcoming it.

Legislators in New York need to hear us. Let us vote.

Alice Rydel

Manhattan