BREAKING: PA House Committee Moves Bill to Repeal Closed Primaries

From our nonpartisan partners at BallotPA.org, announced on May 13, 2025.

Representative Solomon speaks before the House State Government Committee Tuesday 5/13/25 about the need to repeal closed primaries in Pennsylvania. 

HARRISBURG (May 13, 2025) – We are thrilled to share that, just a few minutes ago, the House State Government Committee approved Representative Jared Solomon's legislation (H.B. 280). H.B. 280 would repeal closed primaries in Pennsylvania, allowing the 1.4 million independent voters to participate in our primary elections. The measure now goes before the full House for consideration.

The committee vote today follows a historic vote last legislative session in October when a strong bipartisan majority of the state House of Representatives – for the first time ever – voted in favor of a similar measure offered as an amendment.

Both chambers now have voted affirmatively to end an 87-year-old ban and allow independent voters to vote for candidates in primary elections. The Senate previously voted, 42-8, with strong bipartisan support to pass a similar proposal in 2019.

Last month, Ballot PA and Dickinson Votes hosted a standout town hall at Dickinson College featuring Rep. Carol Hill-Evans (D), Rep. Valerie Gaydos (R), and Cumberland County Commissioner Kelly Neiderer (R). Both Representatives Gaydos and Hill-Evans mentioned how, when they were college-aged students, they had also been unaffiliated. Representative Hill-Evans also chairs the important State Government Committee, which moved forward H.B. 280 today.

Pennsylvania is one of only three big states (New York and Florida are the others) that completely prohibit independent voters from participating in primary elections, even though their tax dollars pay for the election. It’s hard to think of a more blatant example of taxation without representation.

This isn’t some niche issue that only affects a handful of voters. There are more than 1.4 million independent voters across the state, and they are the fastest growing political group in Pennsylvania politics, meaning this is disenfranchisement on a mass scale.

Moreover, half of all veterans identify as a political independent. Given that there are about 800,000 veterans in the commonwealth, some 400,000 Pennsylvania veterans who might register as independents are denied the right to vote in primary elections.

The injustice of this system becomes even clearer in so-called “off-years” like this one when voters choose the local officials who directly affect how basic services are delivered in their communities. Many of these races effectively are decided in the primary election.