Democrats were encouraged to vote Republican in the primary. This bill would prevent that.

During Indiana's historically competitive gubernatorial Republican primary election this spring, a bipartisan group of centrists emerged to encourage Democrats to vote for a moderate candidate in that Republican primary. They even erected billboards with the head-turning message, "Even Democrats can vote in the Republican primary."

The people behind it, a group called ReCenter Indiana, were not surprised to see a bill filed for the upcoming legislative session, which starts Wednesday, that would put the kibosh on that.

"We were absolutely expecting it," said Adrianne Slash, president of the group's PAC.

House Bill 1029, written by Whiteland Republican Rep. Michelle Davis, would make Indiana a "closed primary" state by establishing a formal process for Hoosiers to affiliate with a specific party and allowing only those who've followed that process to vote in that party's primary. Should the bill proceed, Indiana would join a national trend of Republican-led states seeking to close their primaries in the interest of wresting more control over ideological alignment within their elections.

"Primary elections should reflect the true will of a political party's members," Davis said in a statement to IndyStar. "By moving to a closed primary system, Indiana can ensure that the nominees selected by each party represent the values and priorities of its supporters."

Continued at: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2025/01/06/indiana-gop-lawmaker-proposes-closed-primaries-formal-party-registration/77430141007/