HB 437: Requires advance political party registration to vote in primary

March 12, 2024

Two Republican state House lawmakers have introduced another bill to make Ohio a “closed primary” state, which would require voters to declare a party affiliation while banning them from voting or running for office in another party’s primary election. House Bill 437 is in response to a state appeals court judge who previously ran and voted in Democratic primaries, but is now seeking re-election as a Republican. Gee. Sounds like a local county commissioner can identify with this judge. Ohio has had 111 years of open primaries. Now Republicans want to have closed primaries that only elevate extremists and party machines over the power and freedom of voters.

What is a Closed Primary?

In a closed primary, only voters registered with a given party can vote in that party’s primary. States with closed primaries include party affiliation on voter registration forms so that the state has an official record of what party each voter is registered as.

Closed primaries preserve a party’s freedom of association by better ensuring that only members of the party influence that party’s nominees, but critics claim that closed primaries can exacerbate the radicalization that often occurs at the primary stage, when candidates must cater to their party’s “base” rather than the political center.

Ohio currently permits unaffiliated registered voters to switch their registration at the polls to vote in another party’s primary on Election Day. However, they must remain registered with that party until they change their affiliation again at the next Primary.

This concept has been introduced in the House for the past several years and has not gotten out of the committee.

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