For years now, I have been fighting to get Pennsylvania to end its archaic practice of excluding independent voters from fully participating in our democracy by locking us out of voting in primary elections.
This issue is personal to me, and not just because as an independent voter I have experienced this exclusion firsthand, but because it just so clearly violates basic concepts of fair play and the notion that every person’s vote should count that are the very bedrock of American democracy. We should be working to ensure that everyone can make their voices heard, and it is unconscionable that this practice of disenfranchisement continues.
And it’s not just me, there are more than 1.4 million independent voters across the Commonwealth who are unjustly excluded from having a full say in choosing their leaders, and most people don’t realize that this policy makes PA an extreme outlier, as only eight other states completely shut independents out of primaries.
The effects of this disenfranchisement are significant, especially since so many races are effectively decided in the primary, especially at the state and local level. Our research has shown that approximately 90 percent of all state legislative races in 2022 were effectively determined by the primary because of how voters are sorted. Shutting these independent voices out of the process leads to a more polarized legislature and encourages gridlock in Harrisburg at a time when we need our government to be able to effectively address a wide range of problems facing PA.
This is especially true in a so-called “off year” like this year, where turnout for local elections is generally much lower than in presidential years. In a local election year, independent voters’ voices would be even more powerful than they are in those years where the turnout is much higher, and local government is far more likely to have an impact on the day to day lives of these voters than anything that happens in Washington or Harrisburg.
It’s not just a matter of how many voters are disenfranchised, although that is certainly the most important part; it is also a matter of which voters are being unfairly locked out by this policy. Younger voters are disproportionately registering as independents, with more than 50 percent of independent voters in PA being under the age of 40.
This is a problem that will only grow worse as time goes on, as our research also shows that independent voters are the fastest-growing segment of the Pennsylvania electorate, growing at a 5 percent faster rate than Republican registrations, and 23 percent faster than Democratic registrations.
It’s not just a matter of how many voters are disenfranchised, although that is certainly the most important part; it is also a matter of which voters are being unfairly locked out by this policy. Younger voters are disproportionately registering as independents, with more than 50 percent of independent voters in PA being under the age of 40. If the rising generations feel locked out of our democratic process, they will be far likelier to become cynical and disengaged with politics, and that will further weaken our democracy.
It is also important to note that veterans make up a large portion of independent voters in PA. Nationally, 55 percent of veterans identify as political independents, which makes perfect sense because as my good friend, U.S. Army veteran (and Pittsburgh Steelers legend) Rocky Bleier likes to say, “Veterans aren’t on the red team or the blue team, we’re on the red, white and blue team.” These are folks who were willing to put their lives on the line to defend American democracy and the fact that we turn around and “thank” them for their service by taking away their right to fully participate in the democracy they swore an oath to defend isn’t just horrific; it also doesn’t make any sense!
During my time advocating for policies that would enable more people to vote, I have been fortunate enough to meet all kinds of folks from across the Commonwealth who are similarly dedicated to this kind of important work.
One effort in particular that is aligned with our effort to open primaries to independents is the push to enact early in-person voting and remove the arbitrary deadline to register to vote in advance of an election. All three of these issues are common sense solutions to the challenge of making voting more convenient and accessible to citizens with busy lives: parents with small children, students, Baby Boomers caring for aging parents, first responders and healthcare workers with irregular schedules.
Elections are pop-up events, like the temporary Halloween stores that fill storefronts in the fall. Asking busy citizens to keep track of confusing and arbitrary dates, deadlines and details about how, when and where to vote is counterproductive, and the research shows those rules are what most discourage people from voting. It’s long past time for the General Assembly to adopt some common sense modernizations into law. When more people vote, our democracy will be stronger for it.
David Thornburgh is chair of Ballot PA, the statewide effort to open primaries to independent voters. He is the former CEO of the Pennsylvania good government group Committee of Seventy and a longtime leader in Pennsylvania’s civic community.
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