Imagine if states prohibited some citizens from voting based on their political beliefs. The reaction, justifiably, would be outrage. Yet about a dozen states already do exactly that, with hardly a word of protest.
Much of the current national debate over voting rights has centered on overly stringent
voter identification laws. But the single largest impediment to voter participation is a system that barely arouses notice: closed primaries that exclude anyone who declines to join a political party.
In the most recent presidential primary election, New York's on Tuesday, about 1 in 4 voters were prohibited from casting ballots because they do not belong to either major political party. On April 26, the same fate will befall independent voters in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Democrats and Republicans alike have tended to defend or discount the wholesale disenfranchisement of independent voters in closed primaries, arguing that it’s their choice not to join a party. But membership in a party should not be a prerequisite for equal access to the polls when the election is paid for by the public and administered by the state.