HARRISBURG (TNS) — More than 1.2 million registered Pennsylvania voters can’t take part in the state’s “closed” party primary elections. A veteran state senator says changing that is crucial to restoring healthy political discussion.
In a bipartisan move, Sens. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton, and Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, are introducing legislation to allow voters not affiliated with the two major parties to cast ballots in party primaries. Doing so, Boscola said, would mean Democratic and Republican primary candidates would have to reach out to a broader swath of voters, instead of issuing “soundbytes and talking points to the extreme right or the extreme left.”
Many similar bills in the past have failed to gain traction. But Boscola said the time is ripe because political polarization seems as bad as ever. She cited Gallup polling last month showing that 49% of U.S. residents surveyed consider themselves politically “independent” — the highest level in more than two years and the second-highest in 19 years of Gallup survey data on the question.
Pennsylvania has about 8.6 million registered voters. About 3.9 million are registered Democrats, about 3.4 million are Republicans, more than 900,000 are registered as “no affiliation” and almost 350,000 as “other.” Those unaffiliated voters can vote on ballot questions that appear on primary ballots, but not in Democratic or Republican primaries.
The bill, Boscola said in an interview before its formal introduction, is “about shaking up this system that relies too much on those extremes.”
Last session, both Boscola and Laughlin sponsored bills to end Pennsylvania’s closed primary elections. Both bills stalled in the Senate State Government Committee. In a memo supporting their latest effort, the lawmakers cited results in other states with “open” primaries.
Pennsylvania is one of nine states that don’t allow independent voters to participate in party primaries, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The others are Delaware, New York, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon and New Mexico.
Boscola was the prime sponsor of the 2019 bill that — after a multitude of changes — became Act 77, the sweeping election reform package that ushered in no-excuse mail voting. In January, Boscola was the only Democrat who joined 27 Senate Republicans in voting for passage of a package of three proposed constitutional amendments, including one on opening a window for otherwise outdated lawsuits over claims of childhood sexual abuse. (Democrats and Republicans have been at odds over whether the constitutional amendments should be separated or packaged together.)
Boscola’s home county is also an important bellwether county in statewide elections: Northampton is one of only two counties in the state that voted for Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. The other, Erie County, is represented by Laughlin.
