For roughly three-quarter of a million voters in Pennsylvania who are not affiliated with either major political party — I am one of them — there is a ray of hope that we might be able to vote in coming primary elections.

As it is now, Pennsylvania is a “closed primary” state. This means that generally just registered Democrats and Republicans can vote in primary elections. If one of the third parties is able to get a ballot position, its voters are able to vote, but only for that party’s candidate or candidates.

For those of us who are registered nonpartisan (no party), independent or a member of a third party which has no ballot position, we are locked out of primary voting.

In the primaries, only registered Republicans can vote for Republican candidates, while those registered as Democrats must vote only for Democratic candidates. A Republican can’t vote for a Democrat or vice versa in the primaries. It’s a different story in the general election; every registered voter can cast a ballot, and he or she can vote for whomever he or she wishes, regardless of party affiliation.

An open primary is where voters either do not have to affiliate formally with a political party in order to vote in a state’s primary or can declare their affiliation with a party at the polls on the day of the primary even if the voters were previously affiliated with a different party.

In the waning days of the current legislative session in Harrisburg, legislation that would allow unaffiliated voters to cast primary ballots is scheduled to receive consideration in the state Senate thanks to a bill introduced by Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, R-Jefferson.

According to Ballotpedia, in 22 states at least one political party conducts open primaries for congressional and state-level offices. In 20 of these states, all political parties conduct open primaries. In the 2016 presidential election cycle, political parties in 23 states had open primaries and/or caucuses as part of the presidential nominating process.

Scarnati believes broadening primary participation would enormously increase voter turnout in the state. Turnout in primaries has been notoriously low, especially when there are few high-profile races. Even with this year’s gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races, primary turnout was weak — a paltry 18 percent of registered voters.

“This bill is a bipartisan piece of legislation introduced with the goal of giving registered unaffiliated Pennsylvania voters the right to participate in the primary election process,” Scarnati said. “Specifically,” he added, “on the day of the primary election, it will allow these voters to choose to cast their vote on either the Republican or Democrat ballot. Voters who are registered with either the Republican or Democratic Party will continue to be required to vote on their respective ballots,” he said.

I agree with Scarnati, who said that many voters feel disenfranchised from the electoral process. “Allowing more people the opportunity to have a voice in their representation is an important step,” he said.

Common Cause of Pennsylvania strongly supports the bill and has fought for this change for years. It wonders: If taxpayers are paying for the primaries, shouldn’t they be open to all registered voters?

Although Scarnati’s bill has been sent to the Senate State Government Committee for consideration this fall, there may not be enough time to enact it during the time remaining in the current legislative session. If this is the case, Scarnati said he will reintroduce the bill in January when the next session opens.

Pennsylvania’s next primaries will be held on May 21.

Common Cause has been lobbying House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, to support the concept of open primaries, and Reed said he is interested. “Giving independent voters that opportunity could help reform the electoral process, get more people involved and, hopefully, get a more diverse set of opinions in the primary process,” Reed said.

In an opinion piece for The Hill, writer John Opdycke said that open primaries is an effective counter to partisan gridlock. Andrew Gripp disagrees. Writing for Independent Voter Network, Gripp said that forcing political parties to open their primaries to unaffiliated voters infringes upon the rights of the two major parties.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com