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For the first time in recent memory, a bill to open up Pennsylvania’s primary elections to unaffiliated voters has passed the state House.
The bill still faces tough odds of becoming law, particularly since there are only two months left in the 2025-2026 legislative session. But the bill’s passage in the lower chamber represents a milestone for advocates.
“There’s nothing more foundational to our democracy, to build institutional accountability, than ensuring everyone has a right to vote and a voice in the democratic process,” state Rep. Jared Solomon (D., Philadelphia), the bill’s prime sponsor, said. He said the bill would “open up the process, get new voices in, lower the political temperature, lower the extremism we see in our politics, and make sure that these voices have a stake and a say in the democratic process in Pennsylvania.”
House Bill 280 passed 115-88, with most Democrats voting in favor as well as some Republicans.
The bill would allow registered voters with no political party affiliation to select which party’s primary election they would like to vote in. However, it would not allow them to vote in a party’s internal elections, such as for committee seats, which had been one of opponents’ chief concerns.
Pennsylvania has had closed primaries for nearly 100 years and is one of the last states in the nation to bar unaffiliated voters from participating in them. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, only seven other states have closed primaries.
“For too long, independent Pennsylvanians have helped pay for primary elections while being denied the opportunity to participate in them,” David Thornburgh, a longtime open primaries advocate and chair of Ballot PA Action, said in a statement. “Today’s bipartisan vote moves Pennsylvania closer to a more fair and more representative election system — one where all voters matter and all votes count.”
Solomon’s bill would transition the state to a “semi-open” system in which unaffiliated voters could participate in the primary of their choice, but a Democrat could not choose to vote in a Republican primary or vice versa.
Unaffiliated voters are the fastest-growing segment of Pennsylvania’s electorate. Since the 2024 election, both the Democratic and Republican parties have lost voters, but the share of voters registered with no party has increased by 7 percentage points; they now make up more than 13% of the state’s electorate.
Proponents of open primaries have argued that it’s unfair for unaffiliated voters to be locked out of primaries when their tax dollars pay for them. Plus, in many areas of the state, the primary election is effectively the actual election, because one-party dominance makes victory in the primary a near-certain path to victory in November.
Opponents, on the other hand, have argued opening up participation to non-party members would dilute the purpose of a primary and is unnecessary.
“Every voter already has an option to vote in the primary if they choose,” said state Rep. Wendy Fink (R., York), referring to the option for a voter to switch their registration to affiliate with a party. She also argued that primaries are not elections in the strictest sense, but rather nominating contests for parties.
The change would also create a new administrative burden for election officials. It would require them to create multiple new ballot types for certain elections, which would take additional staff resources to proofread and could potentially increase the risk of errors.
For example, in a primary in which Democratic candidates are on the ballot for local offices as well as for party committee positions, two types of ballots would be required: one for Democratic voters who can vote for the committee candidates and one for unaffiliated voters who cannot.
Sean Drasher, the Lebanon County election director, said it would require more training for poll workers.
“It will absolutely increase the risk of error,” he said. “We’re working so, so hard to eliminate any mistakes to begin with. … So it’s frustrating, but we’ll do our best to train around it, and I’m sure with time we’ll get it under control.”
The bill faces long odds in the state Senate. Republicans, who control the upper chamber, have been adamant that any election legislation be paired with expanded voter ID requirements, preferably in the form of a constitutional amendment. They repeated that sentiment after Tuesday’s vote.
“House Democrats’ continual unwillingness to include advancement of commonsense Voter ID is an impediment to the discussion of additional voting reforms,” Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana), said in an emailed statement.
Solomon, however, expressed optimism that the bill could still pass the upper chamber, noting that state Senate Republicans passed a similar bill by a wide margin in 2019.
A representative for Gov. Josh Shapiro declined to comment on whether he was supportive of the bill.
Carter Walker is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with Spotlight PA. Contact Carter at cwalker@votebeat.org.
