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TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jaidev Phadke, Member of the Public, on the benefits of open primaries for voter perception
3:07:40
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160 sec
Jaidev Phadke, a Queens resident, testifies in support of open primaries, arguing they would change how voters view candidates and themselves within the political process.
He feels that registering for a party makes one feel part of a
Jaidev Phadke
3:07:40
I'm Jaydev.
3:07:41
I live in Queens.
3:07:42
Thank you for putting the report together.
3:07:45
It's a lot, and it's also very good.
3:07:49
What the report does well is cover how open primaries would make candidates see voters with more nuance and see the wider swath of their electorate.
3:08:00
I don't think what it covers, and that's why I wanna talk about it, is how voters would themselves view their candidates.
3:08:09
Just to illustrate something.
3:08:10
So how it feels for me to register.
3:08:13
Right?
3:08:13
I feel that when I register for a party, I'm essentially registering for a team.
3:08:19
In order to have a meaningful vote and really have any sense that I'm participating, I need to sign up to be a Democrat and view myself in some, at least, subliminal way as a Democrat.
3:08:30
That is something that some some testifiers said is a choice.
3:08:35
It's a choice to register in a particular party, and I could just not.
3:08:39
But, also, I think that's an illusion of choice, so it influences how I you know, I ultimately need to pick a team.
3:08:45
And there are only two teams, and there only ever been two teams.
3:08:48
Sometimes in the past, there are other sets of two teams like the Whig party, but that's irrelevant, I guess.
3:08:54
So I guess it it I'm saying that it influences how voters view themselves.
3:08:57
I also think it influences how I see candidates.
3:09:01
I associate candidates with their teams, with the parties that they're part of.
3:09:07
And I think that I'd rather see them as people with diverse sets of proposals and ideas to share, and I think putting them all in one ballot would help.
3:09:16
I even think it could influence some Republicans to vote for Democrats or at least rank them and vice versa, though that's not necessarily very likely.
3:09:26
I think I guess in other words, I think open primaries would influence voters and their hearts and minds in the way that they view the voting process.
3:09:36
It would make them see people in more nuanced ways, and that that's not covered in the report, but I think it's an implication.
3:09:43
Also, I think people are asking for data.
3:09:46
I'm not one of the experts who's written a book that you guys invited to speak, but I did read, something interesting from the Bipartisan Policy Center in 2024 saying that open primaries reduce representational disparities by getting more young voters involved, essentially.
3:10:02
The mean age of primary voters drops by about one point five years and increasing participation of minority voters.
3:10:09
Turnout disparities for Asian voters went down by 4.54.3% for Latino voters.
3:10:16
So in other words, it helps make the electorate more representative.