On March 5, the Kentucky House passed HB 325 by 92-4. Existing law lets voters change parties just a few weeks before a primary, if they wish to vote in their new party’s primary. The bill says that no one can vote in a primary unless he or she had been continuously registered in that party since December 31 of the year before the primary. Voters who had not been registered on December 31 of the year before the primary are exempt, of course, but once they register in the election year, they must remain in that same party if they wish to vote in its primary that year.

Kentucky law still doesn’t acknowledge that parties are free to decide to invite independents to vote in their own primaries, per the U.S. Supreme Court decision Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut.

The only House members who voted “no” are four Democrats: Jeffrey Donohue, Cluster Howard, Dennis Keene, and Josie Raymond. Assuming this bill becmes law, Kentucky will be the second-most restrictive state in the nation, concerning when voters may switch parties and vote in their new party’s primary. Only New York will have a more severe time period.