Independent Voters Push Pennsylvania's Supreme Court to End Closed Primaries

A group of independent voters is asking Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court to strike down a nearly century-old law barring them from voting in the state’s primary elections.

In a petition filed Tuesday, the plaintiffs argue that excluding independent voters from primaries violates a clause of the state constitution requiring “free and equal” elections. The plaintiffs are four independent voters, including David Thornburgh, a former president of the nonprofit government watchdog group Committee of Seventy.

“How can a constitution with a ‘free and equal’ elections clause deny 1.4 million voters the right to exercise their franchise every single election, simply because they chose not to join some private association?” Thornburgh said at a press conference held Tuesday to announce the lawsuit filing.

The stakes are high because many districts and localities across Pennsylvania lean heavily toward one party or the other, so the primaries often effectively determine who wins the general election. A 2024 Spotlight PA analysis found that the vast majority of state legislative races on the ballot that year were effectively decided in the primary.



https://www.politicspa.com/independent-voters-push-pennsylvanias-supreme-court-to-end-closed-primaries/142130/