NYC has more than one million independent voters who aren't allowed to vote in June elections.

Because our election system in New York City is broken.

• New York City’s “Closed Primary” prohibits more than 1 million Independent and Third-Party voters from participating in June primary elections.
• By the time they can vote in the November general election, there’s really no point. The winner has already been chosen in the June election.
• In the November election, voters feel like they have to choose from the lesser of two evils - one candidate from only two parties. Closed primaries narrow the field before many voters ever have a voice.
• This makes our November general elections non-competitive and leads to some of the worst voter turnout in the country (Source: Big Cities – Tiny Votes? America’s Urban Voter Turnout, UC San Diego Dept of Social Science, December 2024)

When governing, politicians care most about the people who get them (re)elected.

• They make decisions that keep their voters happy.
• This works when the majority of people vote. But they don’t. In fact an extremely small minority is voting.
• This means a minority of voters are setting the agenda for the majority of New Yorkers on taxes, policing, housing, education, transportation and all the important issues that impact our daily lives.

Open Primaries give all voters a voice and requires candidates to pay attention to more voters to win. It makes government work better for the majority. And it's used in dozens of major cities across the United States.

Cities with some form of open primary