Bucks County, PA—Today, Brian Fitzpatrick released the following statement after Bob Harvie publicly opposed open primaries and voting rights for Independent voters at yesterday’s League of Women Voters of Bucks County Democratic primary forum:
“For the past twelve months, I have refused to respond to the bombardment of negativity and hyper-partisan hatred coming from the Harvie campaign. But last night, Bob Harvie crossed a line that cannot be ignored.
At the LWVBC Candidate Forum, Bob Harvie was asked a simple question: Do you support open primaries?
His answer: “No.”
With one word, Bob Harvie told the over 80,000 independent voters in our community, just months before we celebrate 250 years of our independence, that their voices do not matter.
Taxpayers. Veterans. First Responders. Small Business Owners. Citizens who carry every responsibility of democracy—but, according to Bob Harvie, should be denied a full voice in it.
That is the arrogance of the political partisan machine — arrogance of the highest degree.
The irony is impossible to miss: as a member of the Bucks County Board of Elections, Bob Harvie is entrusted with safeguarding faith in our elections. Instead, he gave voters another reason to believe the system is built for partisan insiders, not citizens.
Even his own Democratic opponent, Lucia Simonelli, understood how extreme his position is, stating instead that she “a big fan of open primaries” and correctly pointed to the blind allegiance to political parties as one of the root causes of our dysfunction.
She was right, and I applaud her.
In the immediate aftermath of yet another act of political violence this past weekend at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, his stance is even more despicable. America needs leaders to lower the temperature. Bob Harvie’s insult to Independent voters does the complete opposite, pouring gasoline on the distrust, division, and violence tearing our nation apart.
Anyone who is in public service for the right reasons should support the basic principle behind open primaries: democracy is stronger when more citizens have a voice—not when party machines decide who gets one.
I reject party bosses and any partisan system that disenfranchises and treats independent voters like second-class citizens in their own democracy. That kind of politics is offensive, dangerous to democracy, and pushes Americans further apart at the very moment our country needs leaders who bring people back together.”