Maryland Lawsuit Seeks Open Primaries for 1M Voters

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A new lawsuit filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court challenges Maryland’s closed primary system, aiming to grant nearly 1 million unaffiliated voters the right to participate in primary elections. Filed on May 28, 2025, by five unaffiliated voters and backed by the Open Primaries Education Fund, the suit claims the taxpayer-funded primaries violate the state constitution by excluding independents.

“This lawsuit is meant to address a situation where publicly funded and administered elections — which primaries are — are shutting out American citizens,” said Jeremy Gruber, senior vice president of the Open Primaries Education Fund and a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “We cannot continue to call ourselves a democracy when we allow that to continue to happen.”

Maryland’s partially closed primary system, one of 15 in the U.S., requires voters to register as Democrats or Republicans to vote in party primaries, barring the state’s 957,228 unaffiliated voters as of April 2025. The plaintiffs—Serena Bryson, Kimberle Fields, Amber Ivey, Robert Sartwell, and Dona Sauerburger—argue this violates Article 1, Section 1 of the Maryland Constitution, which guarantees all qualified citizens the right to vote in state elections, as well as Articles 7 and 24 of the Declaration of Rights, covering free elections and equal protection.

Represented by former Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, now with Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, the plaintiffs seek to halt state funding for closed primaries, which they liken to “taxpayers funding the selection of officers to private clubs.” Rutherford emphasized the voting rights issue, stating, “It’s ultimately a question of suffrage. The state’s endorsement and funding of partisan primary elections unconstitutionally denies over 950,000 duly registered Maryland citizens their right to vote in state elections.”

The lawsuit highlights Maryland’s growing unaffiliated voter base, up from 788,812 in 2020 to nearly 25% of the electorate in 2025. In jurisdictions like Baltimore City and Prince George’s County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans significantly, primaries often determine general election outcomes, leaving unaffiliated voters without a voice. A Bipartisan Policy Center report noted that open primary states see nearly 20% higher voter turnout than closed primary states, supporting the plaintiffs’ call for reform.

Supporters of closed primaries, like John Willis, a University of Baltimore professor and former secretary of state, argue that primaries are for parties to select nominees, not for all voters. “Primary elections are for political parties. They’re not for 4 million individual voters,” Willis said. He suggested legislative changes, not lawsuits, are the appropriate solution, though Rutherford countered that the legislature is unlikely to act due to partisan interests.

Recent trends show states like Colorado, Alaska, and New Mexico adopting open or semi-open primaries, with New Mexico’s 2025 reform granting 330,000 independents primary access starting in 2026. The Maryland lawsuit, filed amid similar legal challenges in states like New Jersey and California, could reshape the state’s electoral process if successful, potentially empowering nearly 1 million voters. For more information, visit the Open Primaries website.

Read Here