As a combat veteran of the United States Marine Corps, I feel that I have more than earned the right to vote. But I am an Independent and, as a result, denied the right to vote in Idaho’s closed primary elections.

There are 160,000 veterans in Idaho. Many are Independents. A large segment of our state’s voting population has no voice in our primaries.

What can solve this? Open primaries, where all registered voters get to vote in one primary for candidates of any party affiliation. Democrats, Republicans … the party wouldn’t matter.

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