“Why do I have to pick a party?” the older gentleman asked.
“Well, Virginia law says you cannot vote in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. It’s just how it is,” I replied.
I had the above interaction while volunteering as a poll worker during Virginia’s Jun. 17, 2025, dual-party primary, an election in which all voters can only vote in the same party’s primary for every office. At first, this gentleman’s concern seems rather benign, but there is much more to the story upon further consideration.
For most voters across the state, this was the day of the Democratic primary for the Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General races. In select parts of the state, however, there were also Republican primaries for offices like the state House of Delegates, county Sheriff, or the county Board of Supervisors. Additionally, for reasons that are largely historical, Virginia’s state and local elections are grouped together in odd years; a quirk that has certain benefits like preventing up-ballot interference in local and state elections. In my home of Carroll County, we had one of these local Republican primaries. Local voters wanting to participate in the Republican primary for the Board of Supervisors were prohibited from voting for Democratic Lieutenant Governor or Attorney General candidates.
While open primaries do not require voters to be registered with a political party, in states like Virginia, Ohio, and New Mexico which allow voters this greater flexibility at the ballot box, everyday citizens are still actively disenfranchised by a rigid dual-party primary system. It is only by allowing voters to elect candidates of different parties by office that all of the electorate can be truly represented.
To provide some background, the Republican Party dominates the political landscape of Carroll County. Of all our local and state elected officials, there is a single independent amongst a sea of Republicans. This monoparty environment effectively means that the winner of the Republican primary is almost always the winner of the general election, as they run unopposed most of the time. This political stability is true not only of Carroll County, but of the vast majority of districts across the country. Approaching the 2026 midterms, only 69 of the 435 House districts have been identified as contenders for parties to flip. The rest are considered party strongholds.
The aforementioned disgruntled gentleman, as well as countless other individuals throughout the day, wanted to vote in both the local Republican race for the Board of Supervisors and in the statewide Democratic races. These voters felt that it was important to vote in a potentially impactful local race that could determine the future of new policies like zoning and cigarette taxes, but they also wanted their voices to be heard in the statewide race that would define the trajectory of the state for the next four years. Unfortunately, these voters could not participate in both elections, as Virginia law dictates that “[n]o person shall vote for the candidates of more than one party” in a primary election. This effectively disenfranchises voters across the state, but especially in rural areas like mine, where local Republican candidates run unopposed most of the time.
Why should voters care?
The increasing group of independent voters arguably loses out most under the status quo in Virginia. These voters with nuanced political views who are not confined to any particular party may be more likely to vote for different parties depending on the level of government. They may favor Republicans on a national level but prefer Democrats on a local level, or vice versa. Having the flexibility to choose is immensely important for independents. The same principle applies to members of third parties like the Green Party or the new America Party, without established candidates across all levels of government.
While there are not many Democrats in rural Southwest Virginia, the few who exist are forced to make an uncomfortable decision on election day: Do they vote in the local Republican race that has very real and very immediate impacts on their lives? Or do they vote in their party’s primary for the statewide races?
The Republicans face a similar dilemma, as they too have a vested interest in the statewide Democratic races. While the Republican voters would ideally have their party’s candidates win in November, the reality is that sometimes they do not. Virginia tends to vacillate between Republican and Democratic governors, especially in the last 30 years.
In years like 2025, when there is not a Republican primary due to only one candidate running for each statewide office, the Democratic primaries allow Republican voters across the state to take advantage of Virginia’s open primaries and vote for the Democratic candidate they feel represents their values the most, or offends their values the least. It is their chance to be more represented in the event that their party’s candidate loses. In fact, open primaries are shown to be associated with more moderate and less politically extreme legislators. Having participated in the Democratic primary, a Republican voter may feel more represented if their preferred Republican candidate ultimately loses than if they had not participated. Unfortunately, that feeling of representation at the statewide level comes at the expense of a vote in their own party’s local primary.
What’s the solution?
Virginia is not the only state that disenfranchises voters wanting to be represented across all levels of government in the same election. Other states with open primaries such as Texas, Georgia, and Michigan, also disallow their voters from voting in multiple primaries.
To be fair, having open primaries is a blessing that not all voters enjoy. It affords voters the freedom to choose who they want to vote for without being confined to the boundaries of a political party. Nonetheless, the current system in many open primary states is still flawed. Opening up the elections more can bring us a step closer to true representation for all voters.
Now, let me be clear, I am not advocating for a free-for-all of primary voting. It makes sense that voters should only be able to vote for one candidate per office, like gubernatorial or presidential primaries. That being said, when there are two primaries for completely separate offices, there is little reason why an individual should not be able to participate in both.
Critics may contend that the party primaries are just that — party primaries, with participation reserved only to the members of said party, or independents who have chosen to vote in its primary. While this is an understandable perspective in areas with competitive candidates from each party, the reality is that in areas of monoparty dominance, the line between party primary and general election becomes quite blurred. This undermines the picturesque competition envisioned in dual-party primaries, which survives in only a handful of swing districts.
Of course, allowing voters to vote in multiple parties’ primaries by office would require changing the current implementation of separate ballots for each party. Under current Virginia law, voters are asked which party’s primary they would like to participate in and are then given the respective ballot. If voters were allowed to vote in both parties’ primaries, the choices could be consolidated into one ballot, providing the ancillary benefit of simplifying the process for poll workers.
Voters would then be instructed to cast one vote per office, regardless of the party to which their candidate of choice belongs. Ballots with more than one vote per office would be invalidated or rejected at the machine. While the layout of the ballot would be similar to a “top-four” system in that all candidates would be listed on one ballot, only one candidate per party would win to appear on the ballot in November.
Another potential solution that removes the need for party specific-ballots would be implementing a “top-two” or “top-four” primary system where the top candidates for each office, regardless of party affiliation, are on the ballot in November with voters casting a single vote for their preferred candidate. This, however, is highly unfamiliar to the vast majority of Americans, and few states implement it. The most well-known is California, where it is common for two Democrats to be on the ballot in November instead of both a Democrat and a Republican.
Lastly, states could implement a party-agnostic ranked choice general primary for each office, similar to the “top-two” or “top-four” primaries. Ranked choice voting is not untested — Alaska, Maine, and several local governments use it — but it is very uncommon. Candidates for an office are all listed together with their party affiliations present, and voters rank them according to their choice without any restriction on how they do so. The prevailing candidates then proceed to the general election.
With greater flexibility in primaries in Virginia and other states, voters — especially rural voters in monoparty environments — would enjoy more opportunities for representation at the local and state levels of government, where the real election often occurs during the heated party primary. After all, democracy and the elections integral to it are ultimately proven not on paper, but in the real experience of real citizens at the ballot box.
