PHILADELPHIA - A recently filed petition asks the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to allow independent voters to participate in primary elections, which is standard practice in the majority of states.
Fifteen states close at least some primary voting to independents, including Pennsylvania neighbors New York, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. Today's petition, filed by law firms Kline & Specter and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, seeks to change that.
"Pennsylvania's system of closed primaries is fundamentally unjust, and it's making government at all levels worse," said one of the petitioners, David Thornburgh.
"It's time for the Commonwealth to open our primaries and give every voter a voice."
Thornburgh is the chairman of Ballot PA Action. He's joined by journalist Michael Smerconish and Rachel Shanok as saying they have valid reasons for wanting to vote in primaries despite not belonging to either the Republican or Democrat party.
Only nine states, like Pennsylvania, completely forbid independents from primary voting even though tax dollars from them help pay for elections, they say. Smerconish and Thornburgh argue they must be registered as independents to protect their professional integrity.
There are 1.4 million registered independents in Pennsylvania. Section 2812 keeps them on the sidelines in primaries.
"Simply put, by the time independent voters get to vote, most electoral races in Pennsylvania are already decided," the petition says.
"At best, the choice has been formally or functionally narrowed to two nominees whom independent voters never had a chance to select."
The petition argues that every voter must have the same rights as other voters and the Legislature can't pass laws that dilute votes. It cites a 2018 ruling from the state Supreme Court in a challenge to Pennsylvania's 2011 congressional map.
The Free and Equal Elections Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution says elections shall be equal, and the 2018 ruling said that means all voters must "have an equal opportunity to translate their votes into representation."
"Indeed, for our form of government to operate as intended, each and every Pennsylvania voter must have the same free and equal opportunity to select his or her representatives," the ruling said.
