North Carolina Legislature Passes Bill to Let Independent Voters Vote in Primaries Regardless of Party Wishes

On October 10, the North Caorlina legislature approved SB 747, an omnibus election bill. Among other changes, it amends the law concerning who can vote in partisan primaries. The old law said independents could vote in primaries if the party consented. The new law removes the procedure for a party to inform the state of its wishes about independent voters. Instead, it is now automatic for independents to choose a primary ballot if they wish, and there is no provision for a party to express its wishes about that.

The new law makes no concrete difference because in recent past elections, all parties with primaries have informed the state that they want independents to be able to vote in their primaries. Here is the text of the new law. See section 163-119.

The bill had been vetoed on August 24, 2023, but the legislature overrode the veto on October 10. The Governor’s veto message complained about other provisions in the bill; the Governor did not express any disapproval for the provision on who can vote in primaries. Thanks to Mike Drucker for this news.


Comments

North Carolina Legislature Passes Bill to Let Independent Voters Vote in Primaries Regardless of Party Wishes — 8 Comments

  1. HOW MANY CLOSED / OPEN PRIMARIES IN 50 STATES ???

    PREZ ???

    OTHER OFFICES ???

    STATE / PARTY ACTION ???

    NOW – HOW MANY ELECTION AVTION/TIME VARIABLES ???

    ONLY BAN SUPER-DATABASE KNOWS FOR SURE ???

  2. Here’s an idea:

    1. Let each qualified party decide on its own whether to let independents vote in their primaries.

    2. Hold a parallel, open primary, with ALL candidates or ALL parties listed. Independents could vote either in any partisan primary that would allow them, or in the open primary.

    3. If a partisan candidates wins the open primary, but not the partisan primary, they could advance to the final election, BUT without a party label.

    4. Any independent who wins the open primary would advance to the final election, in any case.

  3. FACTIONS OF PUBLIC ELECTORS ARE NOT INDEPENDENT EMPIRES FOR NOMINATIONS OF PUBLIC CANDIDATES FOR PUBLIC OFFICES.

    SCOTUS– BRAIN DEAD ON THE POINT.

    SEE 2000 DONKEY CASE.

  4. Parties should pay for and select their nominees through a process of their choosing. The max plan is even better: standing count by party, and the winning party chooses officeholders after the election.

  5. Ranked voting solves so many problems that we want to solve but the current elected officials benefit from the status quo.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.