Pennsylvania’s fastest-growing voting group is one step closer to being able to cast ballots in the two major political parties’ nominating contests.
Sixteen Republicans joined 99 Democrats Sept. 29 to approve House Bill 280, which would open the primaries to unaffiliated voters. Four Democrats joined the 84 GOP representatives who opposed the bill.
However, despite the bill’s passage in the House — and Gov. Josh Shapiro’s vow to sign it into law if it reaches his desk — its fate in the Republican Senate isn’t clear.
Erie County state Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-49th Dist., who has a similar bill that he first introduced in 2021, said his legislation has languished in the Senate’s State Government Committee. He expects H.B. 280 to idle there as well, at least this session, which ends at the close of the year.
“I’m assuming it will go to the same committee, so I’m not hopeful that we will get it done this year,” Laughlin said.
Laughlin still celebrated the vote, saying it might encourage some Republicans in the Senate to act.
“The fact that the House was able to pass it all the way through and get it over to the Senate obviously is a good sign that the tide is turning on this,” he said. “We’ll see (what happens) heading into next year. A lot of times how it works on some of these stickier issues, if one side can pass it first, then the other side that might not be as willing to take the lead on it, at least then they know if they do pass it they didn’t waste their vote. It’s always a bit of a calculation.”
Laughlin, who noted that his district is “notoriously purple,” said he supports open primaries because they help steer nominees for public office toward the center.
“By precluding the independents in our primary process, sometimes we wind up with candidates — and this happens to both parties — that are not acceptable to the other side of the aisle and to the independents when it comes time for the general election. By allowing the independents to vote in the primaries, they will help to moderate which candidates make it to the fall.”
Pennsylvania is one of eight states that still has an entirely closed primary system. Nine other states have partially closed primaries, while the balance have some form of an open primary.
In House Bill 280, which was sponsored by state Rep. Jared Solomon, D-202nd Dist., only unaffiliated voters would be able to vote in one of the two major political party primaries. Voters registered with a third party would not be able to participate.
Out of the 9 million people registered to vote in Pennsylvania, there are 1.2 million independent voters and 314,000 voters who are affiliated with a minor third party. There are 3.86 million registered Democrats and 3.63 million Republicans, as of Sept. 28, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of State. The number of independents has grown 35% over the past decade.
The bill defines an “unenrolled elector” as “a person who is registered to vote within an election district (who) selected ‘none’ or ‘no affiliation’ or (who) selected ‘other’ and written in a clear preference to be unaffiliated or independent in regard to a political party on their Pennsylvania voter registration application.”
Laughlin, Solomon and others note that independent voters include large numbers of military veterans and young voters.
In his co-sponsorship memorandum of H.B. 280, Solomon wrote that the current primary system “constitutes taxation without representation.” He noted that an open primary system gives independents a “full and equal voice in the democratic process, fosters greater civic engagement, encourages new ideas, and strengthens our democracy.”
The House vote was celebrated by several good-government advocacy groups.
The Philadelphia-based Committee of Seventy’s president, Lauren Cristella, called it “an important step to increase voter access and reduce partisanship in our elections.
“When primaries are closed and general elections are uncompetitive, a shrinking, more ideologically extreme slice of the electorate makes the real decision,” she said. “Candidates learn to appeal to that slice, not to the broader public. Opening our primaries can change our system. It will encourage participation and engagement and introduce more Pennsylvanians to our electoral system so their voices can be heard.”
