Two bills in Pennsylvania General Assembly aim to create open primaries
HARRISBURG (KDKA) - A new piece of legislation aims to create open primaries in Pennsylvania and it has bipartisan support.
Pennsylvania is one of nine states who, at the moment, do not allow voters who are registered as independent to vote in primary elections.
That means, if you're not a registered Republican or Democrat, then you don't get a say in who you want to run for office.
The argument for two bills currently sitting in the House came yesterday when supporters said it disenfranchises voters.
Some lawmakers did show hesitancy as to why people not registered to a specific party should hold any stake in their primaries.
However, supporters showed the numbers, which in the past decade there have been more registered independents than Democrats and Republicans, totaling about 1.3 million in the state.
That number showed independents have grown 27-percent in the last decade.
The two bills currently in the general assembly aren't in unfamiliar territory as similar bills have come and gone in the past without any action.
Supporters hope that changes this time around.