The Republican Party of Texas filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to end the state’s open primary system, alleging it violates free speech protections. 

The open primary system allows any voter to cast a ballot in the election, regardless of party registration, while the closed system, which the Texas GOP is battling to use, would only allow Republicans to vote in the Republican primary.  

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The lawsuit, filed in federal court against Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, argued that possible crossover voting permitted under the open primary is unconstitutional, partly because it allegedly gives nonparty members unfair influence. The lawsuit came after the party’s executive committee initially hired a law firm to bring the legal challenge in June to “protect the integrity of our elections and defend the voice of our conservative base.”

​​“The First Amendment entitles political parties to determine who they associate with to select their nominees for public office,” the lawsuit reads. 

The Texas GOP argued the open system “results in substantial crossover voting” that sways Republican primary elections. It cited state Rep. Dade Phelan’s close 2024 primary runoff win, which he won by a handful of votes, as an example of how Democratic and independent-leaning voters allegedly helped “alter” the course of the election. 

“This is not fanciful. A Democrat or an independent may decide to vote in the Republican primary for multiple, different strategic reasons,” the RPT’s lawsuit reads. “Recent elections and historical data show how Texas’s open primary system fosters crossover voting in Republican primaries in the State, and how, given the Party’s dominance in Texas politics, that system is primed to encourage and facilitate crossover voting. 

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The Texas GOP said it would prefer that the state legislature tackle the issue but warned it could not afford to wait for lawmakers to take action. 

“Given the steps necessary to transition to a fully closed primary in an orderly fashion, the Party cannot continue to wait and risk further political inaction and delay that could lead to open primaries (or even a bridge election) in 2028 as well,” the lawsuit reads.