Litigation

Left to right: Matt Fontana, Partner at Faegre Drinker; Shanin Specter, Founding Partner at Kline & Specter; David Thornburgh, Chair of Ballot PA Action; Michael Smerconish, Radio and Television Host and Political Commentator; and Jeremy Gruber, Senior Vice President at Open Primaries

In December 2025 Ballot PA Action organized a petition in Commonwealth Court asking the Court to rule Pennsylvania's closed primary system unconstitutional since it violates Article 1 Section 5 of the state Constitution: that all elections shall be "free and equal". Journalist and political commentator Michael Smerconish is the named plaintiff in the case, and David Thornburgh, Chair of Ballot PA Action and four other Pennsylvania independent voters, is also a plaintiff.

This filing followed on a July 15, 2025 legal challenge to petition directly to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (a "King’s Bench" case), challenging Pennsylvania’s closed primary law. The Court declined to hear the case on an expedited basis on August 25, 2025. However, the Court order was not a ruling on the "merits" of the issue of closed primaries, and so the case was re-filed in Commonwealth Court.

Key Legal Filings