Kentucky voters are headed to the polls to pick party nominees in several big federal and state primary races. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday(Ryan Van Velzer / KPR )Registered independents grew at a faster rate in Kentucky in July than Democrats and Republicans combined. That’s a bout four years after Republicans officially overtook Democrats in the voter tally.But independent voters can’t cast a ballot in closed primaries. Jeremy Gruber, senior vice president of Open Primaries, spoke with LPM’s Bill Burton about what his group is doing to advocate for that to change.This transcript was edited for clarity and length.Bill Burton: 11% of registered voters in Kentucky are independent. Louisville and Lexington have nonpartisan primary voting, but the rest of the state does not. Why should an independent be allowed to vote in a Democratic or Republican primary?Jeremy Gruber: To even call them Democratic and Republican primaries is a bit of an exaggeration. These are taxpayer-funded public elections. The parties don't run them. The parties don't pay for them. We all do as taxpayers, and yet the fastest-growing group of voters in the state of Kentucky and the fastest-growing group of voters in this country as a whole, independent voters, are not allowed to participate.That matters because primaries increasingly are the elections that matter. Our general elections in the state of Kentucky and across the country have become so uncompetitive that it's oftentimes the primary where the candidates are really decided, and yet the fastest growing group of voters in Kentucky can't participate in, even though they're paying for them.BB: Kentucky Senate President, Republican Robert Stivers, said, “Kentucky's current system is intended to preserve the integrity of each party's nomination process, while still allowing voters the freedom to decide how they'll vote in the general election.” That doesn't sound like he's too interested in allowing just anyone to vote in a primary.JG: Well, no, no one wants to change the system that they benefit from, and that's the unjustness of the system as it currently stands.Let's just talk about that “party integrity” because it's actually the closed primary in Kentucky that creates a lack of integrity because voters are forced to join the parties in order to have a meaningful vote. If the parties want to actually have party integrity, they should have open primaries. Then the only people joining the parties would be people who genuinely want to be a member of that party and aren't forced by their government in order to have a vote.BB: Independent voters are increasing in the state. The League of Women Voters of Kentucky in 2024 released a statement saying independent voters should be allowed to vote in primaries. Is there a tipping point that will allow independent voters to vote in the primaries in the commonwealth?JG: I think it's going to be really up to independents in the state of Kentucky to organize, to speak out, to become more active on this issue, and that's starting to happen. There's a new group, Let Us Vote Kentucky, that's working to organize independent voters. We've seen some legislation be introduced to start some new conversations. It's actually the parties themselves that could unilaterally decide to do this, too. We don't have to pass legislation to open the primaries in the state of Kentucky. Either party, Republican or Democrat, could on their own, decide to open their primaries. The Supreme Court has actually ruled they can do that; that they have a right of association and they can open their primary voluntarily. Neither party has chosen to do that, but they could tomorrow.BB: What's the process needed to allow independents to vote in a primary?JG: There are various ways. There have been bills introduced, and there will likely be more bills introduced in the state legislature to open the primaries. Truth is, this is a conversation that's not going away. Independents are the fastest growing group of voters in Kentucky. That is the case across the country as a whole, and it's only going to increase. This is not a problem that's going to go away, and it's a problem that's going to need to be addressed. ...read more read less