Here's why closed primaries must go

Voting is foundational in a democratic republic. Yet in New York, hundreds of thousands of residents are barred from one of the most consequential stages of our elections: the primary.

As an unaffiliated voter, what New York State calls a "blank" voter, I pay the same taxes as my Democratic and Republican neighbors. My tax dollars fund state-administered primaries. But on primary day, I am locked out. Unless I enroll in a political party months in advance, I cannot cast a ballot.

That is exclusion by design.

There are 616,967 actively enrolled blank voters on Long Island, according to Newsday Opinion's analysis of New York State Board of Elections data. That is 30% of the electorate. Nearly 49,000 voters have registered as independent on the Island since February 2024.

Democrats still claim the biggest proportion of voters, with 35%, but it's declining. Republican enrollment, making up 31%, has also dipped, though not as much. Even so, in Suffolk, there are only 6,000 more registered Republicans now than unaffiliated voters.

The fastest-growing political bloc on Long Island is neither Democratic nor Republican. It is unaffiliated.

Nationally, the trend is even more pronounced. Gallup reports that a record 45% of American adults identified as independent in 2025. Almost half the country chooses not to join a party.

Yet in New York, those voters are shut out of primaries unless they enroll.

Defenders argue primaries are party affairs and that parties have a right to choose their nominees. That argument might carry weight if parties privately funded their contests. They do not. The government administers primaries, pays poll workers, prints ballots and covers the costs with taxpayer dollars, including those of the 30% of Long Islanders barred from participating.

We are told this is tradition. But shouldn’t democracy protect voter participation, not party structures?

Closed primaries force a false choice: Join a party or lose your voice. Many of us remain unaffiliated to preserve independence, leaning one way in some elections and another in others. Independence is not apathy — it is discernment.

In many districts, the primary is the real election. In heavily Democratic or Republican areas, the nominee chosen in June is almost certain to win in November. Excluding independent voters from that decision effectively disenfranchises them.

If nearly one-third of Long Island voters, and nearly half of American voters, reject party affiliation, why should they accept exclusion?

The growing bloc of unaffiliated voters should unite around a simple principle: If taxpayers fund primaries, they should be open to all taxpayers.

Other states offer models. Some allow voters to choose which party’s ballot they want on primary day without prior enrollment. Others use nonpartisan "top two" systems in which all candidates appear on the same ballot and the top two advance. New York could consider similar reforms.

This is not an attack on Democrats or Republicans. It is a structural critique. The electorate is changing, and the rules should reflect that reality.

When 616,000 Long Islanders are told they cannot participate in a publicly funded election unless they pledge allegiance to a party, that is not civic inclusion — it is gatekeeping.

This guest essay reflects the views of Nick Antonucci, of Southold, a social studies teacher at Sachem High School North and an adjunct professor of history at Suffolk County Community College.