According to OpenPrimaries.org, 43 percent of Americans identify as politically independent. In New York state, voters who haven’t chosen a party affiliation total more than 2 million – more than 20 percent of all registered voters in New York. Unfortunately for them, they will be shut out of tomorrow’s New York primary where the stakes for the country’s future have never been greater.
New York state is one of only 11 U.S. states that hold a “closed primary,” meaning that unless you are registered as either a Republican or a Democrat, you are precluded from voting in that party’s primary on April 19 in New York. Not only will Independents be barred from voting but those registered as Greens (about 26,000) or part of the Working Families Party (about 48,000) will also be locked out. This hits the Bernie Sanders campaign hard because he has won by large margins in states with open primaries where independents were allowed to vote. According to a national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted March 3-6, Sanders led Hillary Clinton 59 percent to 35 percent among independents. Sanders has also been endorsed by the Working Families Party which is actively engaged in his New York campaign.
What is particularly outrageous to the millions of Independents that have been barred from participating in closed state primaries this year is that all taxpayers pay for these primaries – and yet, only registered Republicans and Democrats get to cast a vote. That hits people as decidedly un-American and fuels growing anger at a system perceived as rigged for the benefit of the one percent.