Harris County Democratic Party Chair Mike Doyle and Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth will spend much of January 8 in Commissioners’ Court.
Why? Because the Republican Party is attempting to end the county’s joint primary process.
The move has the potential of throwing the entire March 2026 primary into an expensive reorganization that could negatively impact tens of thousands of voters. Some believe ending the joint primary process could discourage political participation, particularly among older and disabled voters.
The lawsuit
The Republican Party of Texas, along with Chip Hunt, a precinct chair in Potter County, sued Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson in an attempt to force the state to close its open primary election system.
Counter to Texas law that requires county-level elections officials to conduct open primaries, Texas’s Republican Party adopted a rule in 2024 that only registered Republicans can vote in its primary elections.
“This was not done lightly or without cause,” the Republican plaintiffs wrote in their initial complaint. “It was rooted in the Party’s experience with ‘crossover voting’ – independents and Democrats strategically voting in Republican primaries to force the nomination of moderate candidates whom they prefer or the nomination of weak candidates they believe will lose the general election.”
The Republican Party rule runs counter to state law, which allows Texans to declare their party affiliation on the day of the primary election. Voters are then limited to their first-round party choice for purposes of voting in runoff elections.
Texas is one of 14 states that have open primaries.
Open primary advocates
Advocates for open primaries contend that it forces elected officials to listen to all constituents, rather than being beholden only to those of one political party.
Unite America, a philanthropic venture fund that invests in nonpartisan election reform to foster a more representative and functional government, is one such organization.
A statement on the group’s website (www.uniteamerica.org) reads: “Every eligible voter should be able to vote for any candidate, regardless of party, in every taxpayer-funded election. Period. Open, all-candidate primaries give all voters a greater voice in who represents them, forcing politicians to listen to all of their constituents and put country over party to deliver real solutions.”
State Republicans actively oppose that stance, viewing joint (open) primaries as a danger to their party’s aims.
“This system presents an ongoing violation of the Party’s First Amendment freedom of association, and this Court should declare that system unconstitutional as applied to the Party,” the plaintiffs said.
The plaintiffs argued that the court should allow the state GOP to transition to a closed Republican primary in advance of future election cycles, regardless of whether the state Legislature chose to close the state’s open primary system for all Texans.
Carroll Robinson, a Texas Southern University political science professor and former At-Large Houston City Council member, suggests open primaries offer convenience to voters.
“Joint open primaries make it easier for voters and reduce the cost of holding elections,” said Robinson.
He also hinted that any fight between open and closed primaries may be a big to-do about nothing.
“Honestly, joint open primaries are just partisan primaries in the same location. Very few so-called swing, split ticket, or independent voters vote in the primaries,” added Robinson, refuting the foundation of the Republican plaintiff’s claims.
Impacts
The state Republicans’ effort is raising concerns among disability advocates. Many fear the move to require Texans to register their political affiliation could disenfranchise older voters.
“There were bills filed in the last Legislature on this issue. None of them moved forward. And I think that’s a pretty clear sign that the party itself that’s in control did not move these through the process,” said Chase Bearden, executive director of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, to Houston Public Media.
Bearden’s organization filed a friend-of-the-court brief on Nelson’s behalf.
Bearden is convinced that closing the state’s primary system is detrimental to voters and the state of Texas.
“And when you look at the way voting goes, there’s already barriers to voting, I think, for many people with disabilities, and that could be physical barriers, transportation and access barriers,” asserted Bearden. “When you go to make major changes in a primary like this, where it would force all of our registered voters in Texas to have to re-register, that would create a huge barrier, not just for the disability community, but I think across the board.”
