Open primaries in the United States
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Search complete. 54 mentions across 11 episodes found for "Open primaries in the United States".
Nov 5, 2026
Paul RieckhoffHOST
Independence were the water in the democratic wave and the water level is rising.
Paul RieckhoffHOST
My friend Jeremy Gruber over at Open Primaries and I saw it much the same way.
Paul RieckhoffHOST
And I'm gonna read from a piece he wrote on his sub stack that I'll link in the show notes.
Paul RieckhoffHOST
He said, independent voters turned out in force Texas saw record-breaking early voting with more than 7.7 million people casting ballots before election day.
15 MINS LATER
Paul RieckhoffHOST
And we cannot be ignored.
Paul RieckhoffHOST
And now we must be truly respected and empowered.
Paul RieckhoffHOST
And of course, that means open primaries.
Paul RieckhoffHOST
So join the fight alongside me, Independent Veterans of America, the Independent Voter Project, Chad Peace and Democracy.
KruserHOST
I've got some polling here from the Tip Insights people, and they found that among independents, They were most worried about gas prices.
KruserHOST
You know what? Now, this may be a bit of a surprise to my guest who I had yesterday, who's going to be back with us tomorrow to share exit polling data from independents, Jeremy from Open Primaries.
KruserHOST
But according to Tip Insights, independents head into this midterm election as the group most worried about gas prices, but among the least engaged, engaged in the election.
KruserHOST
Highest ever national average price for gas and diesel.
KruserHOST
Thank you.
KruserHOST
Jeremy Gruber with Open Primary is here on Cruiser and Crew at 97.3 FM and 590 AM WVOK.
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McGraw MilhavenHOST
All right, this election is going to be based on what the independent voter does, and the independent voter is getting more and more popular and less and less influential when it comes to the primaries.
McGraw MilhavenHOST
To talk about the independent voter, John Opdycke is the founder and president of an organization called Open Primaries.
McGraw MilhavenHOST
It's a national nonpartisan electoral reform organization advocating for open and nonpartisan primary systems across all 50 states.
McGraw MilhavenHOST
John, welcome to America at Night.
6 MINS LATER
John OpdyckeGUEST
Independents still have limited tools to make themselves heard.
John OpdyckeGUEST
I think the biggest way they're going to make themselves heard is by voting for independent candidates where they can and sending a message to Donald Trump where they can.
McGraw MilhavenHOST
John Opdycke is with us, founder and president of Open Primaries.
McGraw MilhavenHOST
Are you in favor of ranked choice voting?
Jeremy GruberGUEST
And if Democrats don't start building those bridges to independent voters tomorrow, they're going to have a really hard time pulling off a presidential victory in 2028.
C4HOST
Jeremy Gruber is on board with us, senior vice president of the national organization Open Primaries, is an attorney as well, because we talked to him after the primaries in January, I mean in June.
C4HOST
One of the things, Jeremy, about us here in Maryland, the biggest thing on the ballot really in this election, because we don't have a lot of competitive races, is question three, which would have a constitutional amendment to allow gerrymandering, like Brian said, it's a gerrymandering amendment, basically legalizing gerrymandering.
C4HOST
We as independents, unaffiliated here in this state represent 25 percent of the electorate.
C4HOST
But do you believe that maybe after this trial, election season is over that just from what you're hearing that appetite may be open to you know start some type of the petition drive whatever in maryland to open up primaries in the state
Jeremy GruberGUEST
Well, I hope so.
Jeremy GruberGUEST
Full disclosure, my organization is part of that litigation.
Jeremy GruberGUEST
But there's a lot of different ways to open the primaries in Maryland.
Michael MedvedHOST
We will get to that.
Michael MedvedHOST
We will also get to people who want to completely reform U.S. elections, people who are looking at the prospect of open primaries.
Michael MedvedHOST
Okay, what does that mean, and why is that important? And why is it that the leaders of this group, including Jeremy Gruber, who's going to be joining us, he is the senior vice president at open primaries, why it is they believe this change is necessary for the health of U.S.
Michael MedvedHOST
politics.
Michael MedvedHOST
Open primaries, question mark, coming up here on The Medved Show.
Michael MedvedHOST
As we're just two weeks away from these climactic midterm elections, there's a great deal of talk about the biggest block of voters who are out there, which is independent voters.
Michael MedvedHOST
They will decide the midterms.
Michael MedvedHOST
But the problem is, are we really giving independent voters the chances they deserve? to make their opinions count.
Tara EricksonHOST
And I'm Tara Erickson.
Tara EricksonHOST
And today we have John Opdycke with us, and he is the founder and president of Open Primaries.
Tara EricksonHOST
Open Primaries is building a very diverse coalition of Americans to enact open primaries in all 50 states.
Tara EricksonHOST
So I'm going to ask you, looks like from your website that I was looking at, that there are three types of primaries, Mr. Apdek.
Tara EricksonHOST
And so I'm wondering if you can walk us through what those are, please.
John OpdyckeGUEST
Three is kind of the big category, and then there's derivations of them.
John OpdyckeGUEST
But basically, there's closed primaries where if you're an independent voter, you don't get to participate.
John OpdyckeGUEST
Then there's semi-open primaries where independent voters get to choose a Democratic ballot or Republican ballot.
Chris MerrillHOST
I- in California though, you are not required to be beholden to one party or the other just to vote in the primaries.
Chris MerrillHOST
We have these open primaries that allows you to, to vote.
Chris MerrillHOST
The, both parties though have a problem with our open primary system, and they say, frankly, it's just giving you independents way too much power.
Chris MerrillHOST
That's next.
Lou PenroseGUEST
Old school politics.
Chris MerrillHOST
Old school politics, so he knows what he knows.
Chris MerrillHOST
Jeremy Gruber is the senior vice president of Open Primaries.
Chris MerrillHOST
He's a lawyer, he's also a public policy advocate, and he's joining us right now because, uh, we have, what is it, over five million voters in the state of California that have no party preference? Which we can't say independent, because in California, independent is actually a party, so we have to be a little careful.
Paul RieckhoffGUEST
You've got the air game and you've got the ground game.
Paul RieckhoffGUEST
And the ground game is about open primaries.
Paul RieckhoffGUEST
It's about equality for everyone.
Paul RieckhoffGUEST
Right.
Chad PeaceHOST
But beyond that, we got to give a shout out because to your point, this isn't about Independent Voter Project.
Chad PeaceHOST
It's not about Paul.
Chad PeaceHOST
I mean, give a shout out to organizations like Open Primaries who's been taking cases at the state level and places like Pennsylvania.
Chad PeaceHOST
They've been writing amicus briefs in Oregon.
Michael DowHOST
Yeah.
Sue TimberlakeHOST
Um, I would've preferred that they did a open primary, jungle primary, not exactly.
Michael DowHOST
Well, this is what they're talking about.
Sue TimberlakeHOST
But I would've liked them to add rank choice so that, that peoples would rank the choices in it, so that you'd have a little po- more possibility of it not just being the two people with the name recognition and the money.
16 MINS LATER
JohnHOST
But, um, the, the main thing is that the, the, the top two, without any controls, means that the people with the most money will be able to amplify certain candidates.
Michael DowHOST
Uh-huh.
JohnHOST
The other thing is that when there are only two ca- when you're doing open primary and top two, people are going to be much more strategic with their vote.
Michael DowHOST
Yeah.
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