Open Primaries.
New York is one of the ten states left in the country with a fully closed primary system. Primary elections decide the vast majority of elected positions in our state, and more than 3.4 million registered voters have no say in them. Open primaries would change that, and we are pushing to make it happen.
What Are Open Primaries?
An open primary is an election in which all registered voters can participate regardless of party affiliation. New York has a fully closed primary system, meaning only voters enrolled in one of the four established parties (Democrat, Republican, Conservative, and Working Families) can vote in their party's primary. Everyone else is locked out.
Democracy works best when every voter has a say in choosing the candidates who will represent them. In New York, more than 3.4 million voters don't.
How We Got Here
For most of the twentieth century, party affiliation was a near-universal feature of American political life, and closed primaries reflected that reality. But the electorate has changed. Today, unaffiliated voters are the second-largest voting bloc in New York.
Despite that shift, New York's primary system has not adapted. States as politically different as Texas and California have moved toward systems that allow unaffiliated voters some level of participation. New York remains an outlier even as the share of voters choosing not to affiliate with any party continues to grow.
Why It’s A Problem
- Most general elections aren't competitive
In many parts of New York, the primary is the election that matters—the candidate who wins the dominant party's primary is effectively guaranteed to win the seat. When voters are barred from those primaries, they're not just shut out of a procedural step. They're shut out of the election that actually determines their representation. - 3.4 million voters are locked out
More than 3.4 million New Yorkers are not enrolled in any political party, and that means they’re locked out from voting in the elections that often choose their representative. - A small fraction decides for everyone
In 2022, despite primaries for Governor in both the Democratic and Republican parties, just 10% of eligible voters in New York State decided the two candidates on the ballot. - Taxpayers fund elections they cannot vote in
Taxes from all voters, including the 3.4 million unaffiliated, pay for these partisan primaries. - It stifles government productivity
Legislators who know their next race will be decided by a small, ideologically committed slice of their party's base have strong incentives to avoid cross-party collaboration, even when broad-based solutions are within reach. The result is a legislature less responsive to the full range of voters it's meant to serve.
What Has To Happen
New York's primaries should be open to every registered voter—including the millions of unaffiliated New Yorkers who currently have no say in choosing the candidates who will appear on their general election ballot.
The public is already aligned. Unite NY's 2026 Voter Empowerment Index found that 60% of New Yorkers support open primaries. Open primaries don't take anything away from party members. They simply give every registered voter a meaningful role in the elections their tax dollars fund. Open Primaries are a long-overdue update to a system that has fallen out of step with the voters it's supposed to serve.