This bill would require all voters to register with a political party in order to vote in primary elections. Voters would be able to register as “independent” or unaffiliated voters, but they would then only be allowed to vote in a primary if a political party decides to open its primaries to them.
This bill is nearly identical to another bill introduced this session, H. 3310. One difference in H. 3396 is that it would forbid voters from changing party affiliation for two years after registering with a party.
We oppose this bill because: Under the current system of extreme partisan gerrymandering, many elections – particularly for state legislative office – are effectively decided in the primaries. Locking voters out of the most important elections in these races is a plainly anti-democratic move.
For more about why you should consider voting in primaries, see our June 2024 blog post, “The case for voting in a June 11 primary.”
