Last Tuesday was Primary Day across New York State and hundreds of thousands of voters came out to select who is going to be on the general election ballots. And most of the time, those general elections are not competitive. 

Here’s the thing — 3.5 million New York state independents CAN’T VOTE — we are locked out of these taxpayer funded elections. 

It’s unAmerican and undemocratic!

Most states and 85% of our cities allow independents to vote.

As John Opdycke at Open Primaries said, “Most Americans don’t know that New York and other states don’t allow independents to vote in taxpayer-funded primaries,”

So, what to do?  My answer — let’s go talk to voters and picket the lock out!  

I had the pleasure of coordinating this effort and working with our partners at Open Primaries and Unite NY.  

Tim Hoefer, Interim Executive Director of Unite NY puts it this way: “Open primaries are an essential step to building a more inclusive democracy where every New Yorker can participate.”

A heat emergency with temps in the high 90’s did not stop dozens of independents from coming out in Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Syracuse and Rochester.  

We got some media attention, had some great conversations with voters and raised a ruckus about our voting rights.

This was a great experiment!

I think we could take this national next year!  Millions of independents are going to be shut out of the primaries! 

If you live in a closed primary state — would you want to join Operation Independent and help bring a pocket to your area on Primary day 2026. Send me an email at cstewart@openprimaries.org.  Let’s talk.

Cathy Stewart

Let Us Vote Project Manager

P.S.  Do you have two hours to help us reach independents across the country and welcome them to Let Us Vote? Join me and Danny Battista for the Let Us Vote Power Hour on July 14 from 7 – 8:30 pm ET?  you can RSVP  here.