“If you’re a Republican voter and I’m an Independent voter, you get two swings at the plate, right? You get a primary election and a general election, and I only get one,” said David Thornburgh, chairman of Ballot PA.

Thornburgh, a longtime advocate of open primaries, is one of five independent voters, including political commentator Michael Smerconish, to file a lawsuit asking a Pennsylvania court to allow independent voters to vote in primaries.

They are calling the current ban unconstitutional, saying it violates the right “to cast an equally weighted vote.”

“You get a primary election and a general election, and I only get one. So even from the get-go, there’s a clear advantage to being either a Republican or Democratic voter,” he said.

At 1.4 million, Independents are the state’s fastest-growing voting block. In the Lehigh Valley, independent voters make up 20%, a 7% increase since 2000.

“Independent voters are key to general elections. They have been for a long time,” said Democratic strategist TJ Rooney.

“And that’s because the margins are so tight. Especially in the seventh congressional district,” Republican strategist Sam Chen echoed.

If Thornburgh and his group win, “We’re not specifying a remedy. We’re just saying, ‘Make this unconstitutional,’ because we believe it is,” he said.

Hopes are that, like the recent Public School Funding court ruling, state legislators would make the changes, despite years of similar bills not passing.

Senator Lisa Boscola has introduced open primary legislation prior that hasn’t made it to a vote. She gave us this statement on Thursday:

“Pennsylvania’s closed primary system has shut more than a million unaffiliated voters out of critical elections for far too long, and I support the case filed on their behalf. For nearly three decades I have tried to fix this legislatively, reintroducing SB400 this session, because no voter should lose their voice simply for choosing not to join a party, yet the General Assembly has failed to act. If this lawsuit is what finally forces Pennsylvania to honor the principle of free and equal elections, then it is a necessary step. Too many elections that shape our property taxes, our courts, and our local services are decided long before independent voters ever get a chance to weigh in. They deserve the same opportunity to shape the choices on their ballot, and it is past time we open our primaries to reflect that.”