New York City is a one-party town. Apart from the Giuliani and Bloomberg years, the Democratic primary victor usually wins the general election by a significant margin. So, in practice, the real election is the closed Democratic primary, in which only enrolled Democrats can vote.
As a result, more than one million independent New Yorkers are shut out of the contest that decides the leadership of our city government, even though they are the second-largest voting bloc after Democrats. The result is predictable: low-turnout races that are often uncompetitive and leave millions of New Yorkers feeling their voices don’t matter.
Even with the higher turnout in last year’s mayoral election, the truth is that fewer than half of registered voters showed up at the ballot box. Clearly, a large portion of the electorate feels disinterested and disenfranchised.
The Charter Revision Commission has the power to change this, and everyone who claims to want to encourage voter participation should support that.
Thankfully, the commission created by former Mayor Eric Adams voted to approve the open primaries ballot question on May 27, just beating a legislative expiration date for its work. The current mayor issued a statement purporting to rescind the commission in favor of a new one focused on government efficiencies, even though the Legislature gave the Adams-era commission until June 1 to continue its work.
Although the courts may yet be called in to mediate this dispute, I am optimistic that New Yorkers will finally get the chance to vote on the one thing — open primaries — that could restore confidence in our elections.
As a candidate, I saw the harmful impacts of the closed primary system firsthand: moderate progressives, centrists, and conservatives had no meaningful path to influence the outcome of a contest that would have a direct impact on their lives. Had an open primary system existed in 2025, those votes would have counted and may well have changed the result by empowering broader coalitions more representative of the city.
Open primaries restore genuine competition. Instead of the general election becoming a formality, the primary becomes the decisive contest where ideas are tested against the broadest possible electorate. Research from the Bipartisan Policy Center shows that opening primaries to unaffiliated voters increases turnout and produces more representative primary electorates.
Equally important, open primaries favor more moderate and centrist candidates. In closed primaries, the incentive is to appeal to the most energized base — often the ideological extremes.
Ranked-choice voting in an open field rewards candidates who build broader coalitions. A moderate Democrat can earn second and third-choice rankings from independents and even some Republicans; a centrist independent can draw support from frustrated major party members. The candidates who advance will be those who can unify, not divide.
In a city as diverse as ours, that is exactly the leadership we need.
Those who have fought for years to make elections more accessible and railed against voter disenfranchisement should be embracing this change — not rejecting it and protecting the status quo simply because they are now on the inside looking out.
This reform does not favor one party over another. It simply opens the door so the best ideas — and the most unifying leaders — can rise, regardless of party label.
New Yorkers deserve elections that are competitive, inclusive, and focused on the center rather than the fringes. Open primaries with ranked-choice voting deliver exactly that.
Walden is chairman of NYC Common Sense, former board member of Citizens Union, and was a 2025 independent candidate for mayor of New York.