Pennsylvania still tells voters with no party affiliation to sit out one of the biggest rounds of voting on the calendar. That could change, at least on paper, after the state House approved a bill this week that would open primary ballots to unaffiliated voters. Bucks County’s delegation did not line up together.
How Bucks County House members voted on HB 280
According to a Bucks County Beacon report based on reporting by Votebeat, House Bill 280 passed the Pennsylvania House by a 115-88 vote. The bill would let voters registered with no party affiliation choose either a Democratic or Republican primary ballot.
Beacon reported that Bucks County Reps. Tim Brennan, Tina Davis, Joe Hogan, Brian Munroe, Jim Prokopiak, KC Tomlinson and Perry Warren voted yes. Reps. Shelby Labs, Kristin Marcell and Craig Staats voted no.
The local split was not just Democrats on one side and Republicans on the other. Hogan and Tomlinson, both Republicans, voted yes. Labs, Marcell and Staats voted no. In other words, Bucks County sent Harrisburg a mixed signal.
The Pennsylvania General Assembly lists HB 280 as part of the 2025-26 session. Under current rules posted at Vote.PA.gov, only voters registered with a party can vote in that party’s primary in Pennsylvania. If HB 280 becomes law, unaffiliated voters would get into one primary, not both. That detail tends to get lost when people hear the phrase open primaries.
Bucks County has a large bloc of voters with no party affiliation
State registration data published through Vote.PA.gov show more than 70,000 Bucks County voters are registered with no party affiliation. That is not a tiny slice of the electorate. It is a voting bloc bigger than plenty of local municipalities.
Those voters can cast ballots in November, but they are shut out of the spring nominating contests that shape the fall ballot. In Bucks County, that can affect county row offices, state House seats, township and borough races, and school board contests. In some places, the primary is where the hard part gets decided.
Background helps here. Pennsylvania is one of the states that still runs closed primaries, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Supporters of HB 280 argue that taxpayers already fund those elections through county election offices, including the systems run through Bucks County government, so voters who do not join a party should not be locked out.
What This Means for Bucks County Residents
If you are a registered Democrat or Republican, HB 280 would not change much about the way you vote in a primary. You would still pick one party ballot, vote in that party’s races, and move on.
If you are registered with no party affiliation, the bill would give you a choice you do not have now. You could request either the Democratic or Republican ballot for the primary and help choose nominees for offices that affect everyday life here, from school board seats to Harrisburg races.
That is the practical argument behind the bill. Supporters see it as a simple expansion of access. Opponents argue political parties should choose their own nominees without outside participation. Harrisburg has been arguing over that point for years, and nobody is pretending the fight is settled.
Readers who want the nuts and bolts of local voting rules can also check our Bucks County voting guide and follow our Bucks County news coverage for election updates closer to home.
The bill now heads to a Senate where open primaries have stalled before
According to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the House vote sends HB 280 to the Senate. That is where bills like this have tended to get stuck.
There is also a clock on this. The 2025-26 legislative session ends this year, and bills that do not clear both chambers before the session expires die and have to start over in the next session. That gives supporters only a short runway if they want this bill on the governor’s desk.
Bucks County residents are represented in the Senate by a mix of lawmakers depending on municipality, including Sens. Steve Santarsiero, Frank Farry, Jarrett Coleman and Tracy Pennycuick. Whether any of them can help move HB 280 before session end is still unclear. As of Wednesday, the publicly visible next step was simply Senate consideration.
State election rules live at the Capitol, but the effects land locally. A voter in Bristol, Doylestown, Bensalem or Newtown either gets a primary ballot or gets turned away because of party registration. That is the whole argument in one sentence.
The next thing to watch is whether Senate leaders schedule HB 280 for a committee hearing before the 2025-26 session runs out. If you have been shut out of a Bucks County primary because of your voter registration, comment below or contact Bucks County Blog.
Sources and Further Reading
- Bucks County Beacon – local report on the House vote and how Bucks County lawmakers split.
- Votebeat – election-focused newsroom cited by the Beacon.
- Pennsylvania General Assembly – official legislative website for HB 280 and session status.
- Vote.PA.gov – Pennsylvania voter information and primary voting rules.
- National Conference of State Legislatures – background on state primary systems.
- Bucks County government – county homepage for local government and election information.
