Closed primaries are unconstitutional and
we are taking Maryland to court
OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: Maryland's constitution says that every qualified Maryland citizen is entitled to vote in all elections to be held in this State in their ward or election district (Article I, Section 1).
VOTER SUPPRESSION: Almost 1 out of every 4 registered voters in Maryland are excluded from exercising their constitutional right to vote in state primary elections because they do not choose to affiliate with one of the two state-sanctioned political parties.
TAKING ACTION: We have tried for years to convince the state legislature to address this concern (most of the pictures on our home page are from these efforts), but nothing has come of it.
Maryland does not allow citizens to put these kinds of issues on the ballot for a vote, so . . .
LAWSUIT: On May 28, 2025, working through Open Primaries' Education Fund, attorney and former Maryland Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford and his law firm Davis, Agnor, Rapaport and Skalny filed a lawsuit against the Maryland Board of Elections on our behalf.
The case asserts that while political parties have the right to exclude citizens from their primary elections,
it is unconstitutional for the state of Maryland to organize and pay for those elections if they prohibit any qualified citizens from voting in them.
The only way that the parties can constitutionally have the state conduct and fund their primary elections is if the parties will allow all qualified citizens, regardless of their affilation, to vote in them, as is done in many states such as our neighbor Virginia.
Click here to read the complaint that was filed.
UPDATES
- At the end of July, the State filed a Motion to Dismiss our complaint.
- At the end of August our attorneys filed our Opposition.
It is now in the hands of the Court. We expect to get some news later this month -- we’ll keep you posted here.
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SUPPORTING THIS EFFORT: There are lots of ways to get involved if you want to help make this happen! To find out more, please go to our Let Us Vote Maryland website. Thank you in advance!
VOICING YOUR SUPPORT: If you share our concern about excluding so many Maryland citizens from the polls and would like to voice your support of efforts to do something about it, please sign our petition below to let folks know that Maryland citizens want open primaries.
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