Closed Primaries May Be The New Form Of Voter Suppression

Something strange is happening in American politics. Latinos are becoming the largest minority group in the country. At the same moment, they are walking away from both parties. And at that exact moment, Republicans and Democrats are moving to close primaries and shut independents out of the process entirely.

This is not a coincidence. It is a reaction.

California just ran its largest gubernatorial primary since the state began keeping records in 1914. Nearly 9.4 million ballots were cast. Latino Independent turnout jumped roughly 40 percent over 2022, growing three times faster than the electorate as a whole. These voters do not belong to either party. They showed up anyway, and they helped decide the race.

These voters are dissatisfied with both parties but desperately want to participate in our democracy. Are we going to let them? Forcing voters to choose a party in order to exercise their right to vote is anti-democratic - so why are both parties working together to suppress voters and limit voter choices?

The same insiders who claim to want more participation are pushing to repeal the system that produced it. They want to restore closed primaries. Hand the choice back to party loyalists. Tell the fastest-growing bloc of voters in the state that their ballot only counts if they pick a team first.

Do voting rights begin when you’re a citizen or only when you join a political party?

I wrote about this for the Sacramento Bee but also wanted to share it with my readers. The short version: this is voter suppression dressed up as a return to party order.

Read it here: California’s Latino voters matter — and some insiders want to shut them out

Latinos are not leaving the parties by accident. They are looking at what both parties have become and are choosing neither. Closing the primaries will not bring them back. It will just make sure their votes don’t count.

It’s time we started calling this by what it is: voter suppression.