John Opdycke is the President of Open Primaries. He is an activist and strategist with 25 years of experience working in independent, alternative and reform politics. Formerly Director of Development for Independent Voting, he is one of the country’s most visible and vocal advocates for primary reform.

Opdycke began his career as a fundraiser and researcher for the Rainbow Lobby, which advocated for ballot access and debate reform in the United States and supported the pro-democracy movement in the Congo (Zaire). In 1992, he joined Dr. Lenora Fulani’s independent campaign for president as a regional fundraising director, and in 1994 assisted Dr. Fulani in her campaign against Mario Cuomo in the New York Democratic Party gubernatorial primary. That same year, he participated in the founding of the New York State Independence Party, a state affiliate of the National Reform Party. In 1998, became the director of development of Independentvoting.org, and between 1999 and 2014 expanded Independentvoting.org’s fundraising from $50,000 to $1 million annually.

He has appeared on Fox News, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, Cheddar TV, PBS, and NBC and his written commentary on the subject of independent politics and electoral reform has appeared in USA Today, Newsweek, The Hill, and dozens of local publications.

Opdycke grew up in Evanston, Illinois and attended the University of Michigan. He lives in New York City.

“Independent voters can provide a bridge to close the partisan gap.”

As Director of the Morrison Institute of Public Policy, Thom Reilly has led the Institute’s groundbreaking studies on the attitudes and sensibilities of independent voters in Arizona – now the largest bloc of voters in the state. A vital research arm of Arizona State University, Morrison Institute is building unmatched policy and academic expertise in understanding the social and cultural impact of independent voters on America’s body politic. IndependentVoting.org was proud to co-sponsor ASU/Morrison’s annual State of our State conference in December, where Jackie Salit was a keynote speaker.

In addition to leading Morrison Institute, Dr. Reilly is a professor in the Arizona State University School of Public Affairs. Previously, Dr. Reilly was a professor and director of the School of Social Work at San Diego State University. He served as County Manager and CEO of Clark County, Nevada’s most populated county with 1.8 million people. As chief executive officer of Clark County, he was responsible for a $5.8 billion budget and 12,000 employees.

Katie Fahey is a Michigan-based activist and an independent and currently Executive Director of The People, a nonprofit that aims to unite citizens from across the country and across the political spectrum in altering the status quo. Fahey leads The People in its mission to empower individuals to get involved in the political process. As the Founder and Executive Director of the grassroots, nonpartisan campaign Voters Not Politicians, Fahey ignited a political movement in 2016 that took on gerrymandering in Michigan by amending the State Constitution via an initiative with 61 percent of the vote in 2018. Fahey graduated from Aquinas College in 2011 with degrees in Sustainable Business and Community Leadership. She began her career with the grocery chain SpartanNash, creating their first sustainability program. Before that, she worked for Michigan Recycling Coalition. Katie lives in East Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“I can see that South Carolina is at a political tipping point. There’s a lot of reasons for that, but one is because young people don’t want to affiliate with the two parties. They want to be independent. This is true across all communities, but I see it especially in the African-American community. I talk to my own daughters and they tell me that the Democrats and Republicans don’t speak to them or for them. So, a change is going to come. And it’s going to shake up the powers that be, I can guarantee that.”

Wayne is State chair of SC Independence Party and a member of Greer City Council. He has been involved in independent politics for over 20 years. He owns and operates Griffin Brothers Insurance Agency in Greenville SC.

In 2008 Wayne started Independents for Obama. He played a crucial role in helping the president win the South Carolina Democratic primary, doing a series of radio ads encouraging Independents to support Obama. He fought back a number of legislative attempts by the state’s Republican Party to close the primaries (pulling together a left-center-right coalition that filed suit to intervene and succeeded) and to end Fusion (the latter effort which ultimately failed in the state). Wayne has been instrumental in bringing together a diverse coalition of leaders and organizations to support democracy and the

“The party structure does not work for the Latino community the way it used to work. Forty years ago, you couldn’t get anything done in the Latino community without the Democratic Party. But that’s not the case today. Over 60% of Latino millennials are registering as independents and 43% of Latinos in this state are registered as independents.”

Daniel (“Danny”) Ortega, Jr. is an outspoken advocate for open primaries who served as a co-chair of Arizona’s Open and Honest Election Coalition. Ortega joined with the state’s top political reformers – an unusual coalition of Republicans, Democrats and independents – to back an initiative for open nonpartisan primaries. Independent Voting played a key role in assembling the coalition. While the initiative did not secure a spot on the ballot in 2016, Ortega—a lifelong Democrat—remains committed to the principle that every voter should be allowed to participate in the primary process, regardless of their affiliation.

An attorney in private practice, Ortega is a member of the Arizona State Bar, American Trial Lawyers Association, American Bar Association, Maricopa County Bar Association and Los Abogados Hispanic Bar Association. Ortega serves on the Board of Directors of the Cesar Chavez Foundation and as chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Council of La Raza. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Los Abogados Hispanic Bar Association and Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc.

“…the problems with the American electoral system are not just endemic—they are structural… Change is going to take hold and last only if we come together around structural solutions…”

Doug Schoen, a widely respected political analyst, author, and commentator, began partnering with independents during the 2004 re-election campaign of NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg who ran as a fusion candidate on the Republican Party and Independence Party (IP) lines. Bloomberg received his margin of victory in two of his three mayoral campaigns via votes cast on the IP line.

In collaboration with two Independent Voting leaders—Jackie Salit and Cathy Stewart—Schoen developed a “deep-dive” poll to discover the unique attributes shaping independent political sensibilities. He tested the strength of their support for nonpartisan governance and their willingness to become active to open up the political process. These findings helped to cement Mayor Bloomberg’s support for independent voters and political reform.
Schoen has been one of the country’s most influential Democratic campaign consultants for over thirty years and currently serves on the Advisory Council of Represent.Us, a nonpartisan anti-corruption organization. In addition to his work with Bloomberg, Schoen’s clients have included Indiana Governor Evan Bayh, AOL Time Warner, Procter & Gamble and AT&T. Internationally, he has worked for the heads of states of over 15 countries, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and three Israeli Prime Ministers.

Schoen is the author of multiple books, including, The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House (2010); Declaring Independence: The Beginning of the End of the Two-Party System (2008); and The Power of the Vote: Electing Presidents, Overthrowing Dictators, and Promoting Democracy Around the World (2007).

“Our partisan political system is failing South Dakota and our country. Today 45% of Americans identify as independents but have little voice. Even worse is that we’re locking out the next generation of leaders, as well over 50% of millennials identify as independents.”

Rick Knobe chaired the effort that brought Amendment V (V for voter) to the South Dakota ballot in 2016. A constitutional amendment, it would have enacted nonpartisan top two primaries allowing all voters to participate in taxpayer funded elections. Rick worked to bring together a cross-partisan coalition that bucked the political establishment to win equal voting rights for all the state’s voters and won the endorsement of the League of Women Voters of South Dakota and AARP South Dakota.

The coalition travelled the rural and urban byways. Their message was one of fairness, inclusion and accountability, and they nearly made it over the finish line. Knobe hosted a visit by IndependentVoting.org’s President, Jackie Salit, to bring attention to the potential power of the state’s independent voters. Though this initiative did not pass, it broke through to a new threshold, polling 44.5% of the vote, and created a roadmap for winning in the future.

Born in Chicago, Rick arrived in Sioux Falls in 1971 via Sioux City, Kansas City, and Carbondale, Illinois. In 1974, at the age of 27, he entered the mayor’s race in Sioux Falls. To the surprise of almost everyone, he defeated a well-known incumbent. Rick attributes many reasons for the upset: Watergate was in full swing, the Vietnam War still had the country reeling, incumbents were in trouble, and Rick didn’t know that he wasn’t supposed to win.

Rick became an independent after seeing the Republican Party devolve into something he no longer recognized and after realizing that “both major parties are a major part of the problem.”

“When government is defined as two parties, then you have to begin to look at the structural issues there and say, what is happening, and how come people are not allowed to participate?”

Attorney Michael Hardy has been active in civil and voting rights for decades. The Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network, Attorney Hardy has been at the forefront of the nation’s fight for social justice. Among Hardy’s many high-profile legal battles was his representation of Sean Bell’s fiancée and two wounded survivors who were with Mr. Bell during his fatal 2006 shooting by New York City police officers.

A longtime supporter of the rights of all voters, Hardy has repeatedly voiced his support for open primaries. At the request of Independent Voting, Hardy submitted testimony to the Democratic National Committee in 2016, placing the voting rights of independents in the context of the Civil Rights Movement. In his remarks, he called for “full participation in the presidential primary process for all citizens regardless of race, gender or formal political affiliation.” Hardy is an outspoken proponent for political mobility for all voters, including African American voters who, Hardy believes, are too often taken for granted by the major parties.

“We do things that may make no sense for a company to do. But they’re no-brainers for a community to do.”

In 2016 Kent Thiry served as chairman of Let Colorado Vote (LCV), which sponsored and passed a pair of initiatives that altered the state’s primary elections. Our Colorado affiliate, Coalition of Independent Voters in Colorado (CIVIC), was proud to campaign for LCV’s initiatives.

With 63.7% of the vote, Colorado passed Proposition 107 to create an open presidential primary system that allows all voters to participate, including the 35% of voters in the state who are registered independent. Proposition 108 passed with 52.5% of the vote. It leveled the playing field for independents in Colorado, allowing them to cast ballots in state and local primaries.
Kent Thiry is chairman and CEO of DaVita HealthCare Partners, Inc., one of the leading providers of kidney care in the United States. The company’s dedication to teammate engagement and empowerment has helped it become a FORTUNE 500® company with approximately $14 billion in annual revenue.

The Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy at Arizona State University is fostering and supporting thoughtful, innovative research, policy briefs and forums around the state of American Democracy. The Center is exploring nonpartisan reforms and redesigns of federal, state and local governance of electoral structures, and conducting new, innovative research on the independent voter. The launch of Arizona State University’s new Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy and the publication of The Independent Voter co-authored by Dr. Thom Reilly, Jacqueline Salit, and Dr. Omar H. Ali was held in Washington DC at ASU’s Barrett and O’Connor Center on October 19, 2022.

You can watch the launch here.

Open Primaries is a movement of diverse Americans who believe in a simple, yet radical idea: No American should be required to join a political party to exercise their right to vote. The mission of Open Primaries is to advocate for open and nonpartisan primary systems, counter efforts to impose closed primaries, educate voters and policymakers, advance litigation, train spokespeople, conduct and support research, and participate in the building of local, state and national open primaries coalitions. Open Primaries provides information to the public about open and nonpartisan primaries and engages all sectors—voters, policy makers, good government and civic organizations, business leaders, community activists—to educate, build bridges and develop the primary reform movement.

The People is a non profit organization that seeks to address the root causes of government ineffectiveness, not just symptoms. The People works to produce truly non-partisan solutions and aims to reduce the unproductive effects of the current two-party political system. The organization entrusts and empowers the people of the country to lead government reform efforts and support their agency in all they do and strives to (re)build relationships and a sense of community across the country through our work together.

Learn about some of our core initiatives here.

Independent Voting is a proud member of the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers. NANR includes individuals and and election reform organizations dedicated to increasing electoral competition and voter choice.

The Bridge Alliance exists to upgrade our democratic republic. We do so by serving organizations and citizens who are uniting Americans across the political divides to increase civility and collaboration. Our members include pioneering organizations that have collectively spent hundreds of years connecting Americans who disagree with each other yet are working together to make the best decisions for their communities and our nation.