The US is a three party country with a two-party election system. 

The most popular political party in America is no party at all.  47% of voters identify as independents.  25% are Republican, 27% are Democrat. 

As the number of independent voters grows, our partisan election systems actually make it harder for them to be heard. If independents make up the majority of voters, you’d expect many of our elected leaders to be independents too, or at least accountable to them. But that’s not how the system works.

US elections do not do a good job of representing the will of the voters.  Instead, they have been co-opted by the two major parties to keep partisan politicians in power.  This is how the duopoly operates: two major parties effectively control the entire market of U.S. voters. They divide that market between themselves, split the benefits, and shut out meaningful competition. The more divided the electorate is, the more demand they generate — and the higher the financial returns. It’s no surprise partisan fundraising is at an all-time high.

But this can’t go on forever.  As voters defect from the two party system, the response of the duopoly has been to exert more, not less, control over election rules.  A growing number of states are closing their primaries and gerrymandering congressional districts, disenfranchising millions of voters.  Being an independent should not mean having to sacrifice your right to vote in a primary election, yet this is the case for the over 30 million independent voters in the 13 states with closed primaries.  Turnout continues to drop.  Elections become a spectator sport, something everyone watches but few participate in.

1. The problems with our current primary and general election systems:

Partisan primaries and plurality voting are the biggest tools the two major parties use to control elections and shut out independents. Today, 27 million independent voters are barred from participating in closed, taxpayer-funded primaries across 13 states. Meanwhile, plurality voting in 44 states make it easy for extremist candidates to win by appealing only to their base. Combine this with the realities of gerrymandering which have carved up the country into nearly equal numbers of solid red and blue districts, and the picture becomes obvious: our elections function as partisan pipelines designed to keep independents out. And the most egregious part? Independents are forced to pay for primary elections they’re not even allowed to vote in.

Partisan primaries do a very good job of ensuring that only one Republican and one Democrat appear on a general election ballot.  Most districts are heavily titled one way or another, to the right or the left, so general elections are typically uncompetitive affairs.

This leads to low turnout and a lack of competition.  Look no further than the fact that only 9% of congressional races were decided by less than 5% in 2024 and 95% of incumbents were reelected.  

The party primary system automatically defaults to two major party general election candidates.  However in most districts, two candidates from the same party would produce a more competitive election and more accurately reflect the will of the voters.  

Plurality voting takes all the power out of an independent vote.  Plurality voting is voter suppression by another name. Since candidates don’t need to reach 50% to win, major party candidates can win by simply relying on their base.

44 states hold plurality voting general elections, while only 6 hold majority general elections.  Plurality voting simply means winning without a 50% majority.  A majority voting system means the winner has to get over 50%, or a simple majority.

2. The Solution:

Breaking the two-party system starts with changing the incentive structures in US elections.   In politics, systems shape outcomes and behavior follows incentives. If you reward division, you’ll get division.  If you reward majority support, candidates will do the work to earn it.  When we talk about designing an election system that truly reflects the will of the people, a few core principles matter most. Every voter should be able to participate in all taxpayer funded elections. Every candidate should compete on the same ballot and the winner should have genuine majority support. That’s the foundation of a representative government.

The solution is twofold:

• Nonpartisan primary elections: Nonpartisan elections take power back from the extremes and make the voices of independent voters count by opening elections up to all voters and candidates, regardless of party, increasing turnout and restoring competition.

• Majority voting in general elections: Majority voting requires candidates to win over 50% of the vote, forcing candidates to appeal to a broad coalition of voters rather than just their base.  In most districts, independent voters outnumber both registered Democrats and registered Republicans meaning rarely does one party have enough votes alone to deliver a majority.  Candidates must compromise and move to the middle to reach the 50% threshold.  Plurality voting, on the other hand, does not require winning candidates to reach 50%.  Instead, the most votes wins, as long as it’s more than any other candidate.  In a 3 candidate election, plurality voting makes it possible to win with as little as 34%.  The bar is even lower in elections with more than 3 candidates.  Lowering the number of votes needed to win lets politicians appeal only to their base, meaning only a minority of voters determine the winner.  Majority voting is the better choice.   It’s time to raise the bar to 50%.

Nonpartisan primaries increase turnout and candidate selection and lead to more competitive general elections when paired with majority voting.  More candidates and majority voting in general elections is the best way to get politicians to compromise.

Unsurprisingly, these two election systems are used in very few states:

• Only 3 states hold nonpartisan primaries
• Only 6 states use some form of majority voting in general elections.

All candidates appear on a single ballot and any registered voter can participate – boosting turnout and increasing competition. These primaries are open to candidates from any party, including independents. While nonpartisan systems vary in how many candidates advance (sometimes 2, sometimes 4 or 5), the core benefit is the same: those who move on are the ones voters choose, not the ones party insiders hand-pick.

Because most districts lean heavily left or right, it’s entirely possible that candidates from the same party will face each other in the general election. In a Top Five nonpartisan primary, for example, all five finalists could theoretically come from the same party.

Only 3 states hold nonpartisan primaries – AK, CA, and WA – and the results are promising.  Turnout is higher, elections are more competitive and candidates tend to be more moderate.

In the other 47 states, party primaries lead to uncompetitive general elections featuring 2 major party candidates – one R and one D.  Faced with these general election options, independent voters either vote for someone they don’t actually support or sit on the sidelines.  But if on the off chance that a third party option appears on a general election ballot, plurality voting is a second layer of partisan election-rigging that all but guarantees that independent votes won’t affect the outcome.

Primary Elections By the Numbers: 

Presidential Primaries:

• In 23 states, they’re barred from presidential primaries. 
• In 5 states, they can’t vote in one of the party’s presidential primaries.
• 30 states hold congressional and presidential primaries on separate days.

Primary elections are going in wrong direction:

• LA, who introduced the jungle primary system in the 1970s, just switched to semi-closed primaries.
• 5 other states are considering closing their primaries.
• IN is considering closing their open primaries.
• TX is currently trying to close their open primaries.
• Ohio, South Carolina, and Missouri all have open primaries and are floating proposals to limit who can vote in publicly-funded elections.

Why Nonpartisan Primaries are the Solution

27 million Americans registered as unaffiliated/independent voters can’t vote in any primary elections because they live in one of 13 states with completely closed primaries.  Nonpartisan primaries would break the vise-grip of the two parties and make elections fairer and more representative.

Opening primaries to more voters leads to higher voter participation rates and the selection of more moderate candidates.

Final Five / Four Instant Runoff General Elections are a nonpartisan majority voting system that guarantees a candidate will win by majority rule in a general election with the top five or four finishers from a nonpartisan primary. Unlike a typical ballot where voters get to select only one candidate, Final Five / Four Instant Runoff General Election ballots let voters rank all candidates.

Alaska is the only state that uses Final Four Instant Runoff shown below. 

You have to look really hard to find a competitive election in America today.  Incumbents have so many built-in advantages they almost never lose. In 2022, 84% of congressional races were landslides or uncontested. In 2024, only 40 congressional races out of 435, were decided by 5% or less of the total votes.

Independent Commissions should decide congressional districts to prevent partisan gerrymandering and create more competitive and representative districts.

8 states use Independent Commissions to draw congressional maps shown below.