Indiana Bill to Convert from an Open Primary State to a Closed Primary State

Posted on by January 10, 2025

On January 8, three Indiana representatives introduced HB 1029, which would change Indiana primaries from open to closed. Indiana has always been an open primary state and has never had registration by party. Here is the bill.

The bill is flawed because the authors made no provision for a primary party to tell the state that it wants independents to be able to vote in its primaries. The U.S. Supreme Court decision Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut requires that parties with primaries be given this option.

The bill says that the voter registration form would in the future enclose a blank line for a voter to register into a party. The form would not list any parties. The bill does not say if the state must keep a tally of voters who register into an unqualified party, which courts in Colorado, Iowa, Oklahoma, New York, and New Jersey have required. The bill does not even say if qualified parties that nominate by convention are entitled to a tally of their registrants.

The authors are Representatives Michelle Davis of Whiteland, J.D. Prescott of Union City, and Elizabeth Rowray of Yorktown. Two of the authors are Assistant Majority Floor Leaders.

Comments

Indiana Bill to Convert from an Open Primary State to a Closed Primary State — 18 Comments

  2. PERHAPS SEND A LETTER TO THE MORON HACKS TO CORRECT THE BILL ???
    —
    NOOO PRIMARIES

    PR
    APPV
    TOTSOP

  9. Indiana still requires 37,000 (2%) valid petition signatures in six months to run for Secretary of State, in order to appear on the ballot (with or without a party label), in which you have to get at least that many votes for the party to become qualified for the next election.

    The voter party registration deadline (to participate in a primary) would move from early April to December 31st.

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