MD Third-Party Voters May Win Primary Election Rights

A new lawsuit, if successful, could upend primary voting in the Old Line State and give hope to long-excluded third-party voters.

Unaffiliated voters may reject both the Republican and Democratic parties when registering to vote, but in Maryland, that means they can’t vote in primary elections.

Jeremy Gruber, senior vice president of the Open Primaries Education Fund and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said states must expand primary election access to independents and third-party voters because the vast majority of general elections aren’t competitive.

“This lawsuit is meant to address a situation where publicly funded and administered elections, which primaries are, are shutting out American citizens,” he said. “We cannot continue to call ourselves a democracy when we allow that to continue to happen.”

Supporters of closed primaries argue that the system ensures only dedicated members of a political party vote for a nominee. They add that excluding antiduopoly voters protects party nominations from potential outside influence. Maryland is one of 15 states imposing primary election bans on third-party voters.

In recent years, Colorado, Alaska, and New Mexico have all changed their primary process. Gruber argued that if the government is going to run primary elections, then it must ensure all people are allowed to participate. He said closed primary systems violates third-party voters’ voting rights.

“Maryland is well behind the rest of the country in recognizing and empowering independent voters,” he said. “This is a voting-rights issue that has to be addressed in Maryland. When a million voters can’t vote, that is a crisis.”

In 2024, 17.6 million unaffiliated, third-party, or independent voters were barred from voting in primaries. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, average voter turnout was nearly 20 percent higher in open primary states compared with closed primary states.

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