I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2655 

To require all candidates for election for the office of Senator or Member 

of the House of Representatives to run in an open primary regardless 

of political party preference or lack thereof, to limit the ensuing general 

election for such office to the two candidates receiving the greatest 

number of votes in such open primary, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2015 

Mr. DELANEY (for himself, Mr. POLIS, and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and Government 

Reform, the Judiciary, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require all candidates for election for the office of Senator 

or Member of the House of Representatives to run in 

an open primary regardless of political party preference 

or lack thereof, to limit the ensuing general election 

for such office to the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes in such open primary, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Open Our Democracy 

3 Act of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS THROUGH 

5 OPEN PRIMARIES. 

6 (a) RULES FOR ELECTION OF MEMBERS.—A can7 didate for election for the office of Senator or Member 

8 of the House of Representatives shall be elected to such 

9 office pursuant to the following elections held by the State 

10 in which the candidate seeks election: 

11 (1) An open primary election for such office 

12 held in accordance with subsection (b). 

13 (2) A general election for such office held in ac14 cordance with subsection (c). 

15 (b) OPEN PRIMARIES.—Each State shall hold an 

16 open primary election for each office of Senator or Mem17 ber of the House of Representatives in the State under 

18 which— 

19 (1) each candidate for such office, regardless of 

20 the candidate’s political party preference or lack 

21 thereof, shall appear on a single ballot; and 

22 (2) each voter in the State who is eligible to 

23 vote in elections for Federal office in the State (in 

24 the case of an election for the office of Senator) or 

25 in the Congressional district involved (in the case of 

26 an election for the office of Member of the House of 


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1 Representatives) may cast a ballot in the election, 

2 regardless of the voter’s political party preference or 

3 lack thereof. 

4 (c) GENERAL ELECTION.—Each State shall hold a 

5 general election for each office of Senator or Member of 

6 the House of Representatives in the State under which 

7 the 2 candidates receiving the greatest number of votes 

8 in the open primary election for such office (as described 

9 in subsection (b)), without regard to the political party 

10 preference or lack thereof of such candidates, shall be the 

11 only candidates appearing on the ballot. 

12 SEC. 3. ABILITY OF CANDIDATES TO DISCLOSE POLITICAL 

13 PARTY PREFERENCES. 

14 (a) OPTION OF CANDIDATES TO DECLARE POLIT15 ICAL PARTY PREFERENCE.—At the time a candidate for 

16 the office of Senator or Member of the House of Rep17 resentatives files to run for such office, the candidate shall 

18 have the option of declaring a political party preference, 

19 and the preference chosen (if any) shall accompany the 

20 candidate’s name on the ballot for the election for such 

21 office. 

22 (b) DESIGNATION FOR CANDIDATES NOT DECLAR23 ING PREFERENCE.—If a candidate does not declare a po24 litical party preference under subsection (a), the designaVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Jun 06, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2655.IH H2655

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1 tion ‘‘No Party Preference’’ shall accompany the can2 didate’s name on the ballot for the election for such office. 

3 (c) NO PARTY ENDORSEMENT IMPLIED.—The selec4 tion of a party preference by a candidate under subsection 

5 (a) shall not constitute or imply endorsement of the can6 didate by the party designated, and no candidate in a gen7 eral election shall be deemed the official candidate of any 

8 party by virtue of his or her selection in the primary. 

9 SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF RIGHTS OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 

10 Nothing in this Act shall restrict the right of individ11 uals to join or organize into political parties or in any way 

12 restrict the right of private association of political parties. 

13 Nothing in this Act shall restrict a party’s right to con14 tribute to, endorse, or otherwise support a candidate for 

15 the office of Senator or Member of the House of Rep16 resentatives. Nothing in this Act may be construed to pre17 vent a political party from establishing such procedures 

18 as it sees fit to endorse or support candidates or otherwise 

19 participate in all elections, or from informally designating 

20 candidates for election to such an office at a party conven21 tion or by whatever lawful mechanism the party may 

22 choose, other than pursuant to a primary election held by 

23 a State. Nothing in this Act may be construed to prevent 

24 a political party from adopting such rules as it sees fit 

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1 mittee members, presidential electors, and party officers), 

2 including rules restricting participation in elections for 

3 party officials to those who disclose a preference for that 

4 party at the time of registering to vote. 

5 SEC. 5. TREATMENT OF ELECTION DAY IN SAME MANNER 

6 AS LEGAL PUBLIC HOLIDAY FOR PURPOSES 

7 OF FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of any law relating 

9 to Federal employment, the Tuesday next after the first 

10 Monday in November in 2016 and each even-numbered 

11 year thereafter shall be treated in the same manner as 

12 a legal public holiday described in section 6103 of title 

13 5, United States Code. 

14 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING TREATMENT

15 OF DAY BY PRIVATE EMPLOYERS.—It is the sense of Con16 gress that private employers in the United States should 

17 give their employees a day off on the Tuesday next after 

18 the first Monday in November in 2016 and each even19 numbered year thereafter to enable the employees to cast 

20 votes in the elections held on that day. 

21 (c) NO EFFECT ON EARLY OR ABSENTEE VOTING.— 

22 Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the 

23 authority of States to permit individuals to cast ballots 

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1 tion (including the casting of ballots by mail) or to cast 

2 absentee ballots in the election. 

3 SEC. 6. STUDY OF STATE CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING 

4 PROCESSES; RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ES5 TABLISHMENT OF INDEPENDENT REDIS6 TRICTING COMMISSIONS BY STATES. 

7 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General shall conduct 

8 a study of the procedures used by States to conduct Con9 gressional redistricting, and shall include in the study the 

10 following: 

11 (1) An analysis of the impact that different 

12 procedures for redistricting have had on the ability 

13 of minority voters to participate in the political proc14 ess and to elect representatives of their choice. 

15 (2) An analysis of the impact that different 

16 procedures for redistricting have had on the ability 

17 of local communities, represented within the political 

18 boundaries of counties, cities, towns, and wards, to 

19 participate in the political process and to elect rep20 resentatives of their choice. 

21 (3) An analysis of the benefits of requiring each 

22 State to conduct Congressional redistricting through 

23 the use of an independent redistricting commission 

24 and the best practices for the administration of inde25 pendent redistricting commissions. 


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1 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

2 (1) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

4 General shall submit a report to Congress on the 

5 study conducted under subsection (a), and shall in6 clude in the report recommendations for proposed 

7 legislation or other measures to require States to 

8 conduct Congressional redistricting through inde9 pendent commissions, on the basis of national stand10 ards enacted by Congress. 

11 (2) LEGISLATION TO CARRY OUT RECOMMENDA12 TIONS.—For recommendations for proposed legisla13 tion in the report submitted under paragraph (1), 

14 the Comptroller General shall include the text of 

15 such proposed legislation in the report. 

16 (c) CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLA17 TION INCLUDED IN REPORT.— 

18 (1) LEGISLATION DESCRIBED.—A bill described 

19 in this paragraph is a bill meeting the following re20 quirements: 

21 (A) The bill is introduced not later than 90 

22 days after the date on which the Comptroller 

23 General submits the report to Congress under 

24 subsection (b). 


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1 (B) The text of the bill consists of the text 

2 of the proposed legislation included in the re3 port submitted by the Comptroller General 

4 under subsection (b). 

5 (C) The title of the bill is as follows: ‘‘A 

6 bill to implement the recommendations of the 

7 Comptroller General to require States to con8 duct Congressional redistricting through inde9 pendent commissions, as submitted to Congress 

10 under section 6(b) of the Open Our Democracy 

11 Act of 2015.’’. 

12 (2) REFERRAL.—A bill described in paragraph 

13 (1) that is introduced in the House of Representa14 tives shall be referred to the Committee on the Judi15 ciary of the House of Representatives. A bill de16 scribed in paragraph (1) introduced in the Senate 

17 shall be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

18 of the Senate. 

19 (3) DISCHARGE.—If the committee to which a 

20 bill described in paragraph (1) is referred has not 

21 reported such bill (or an identical bill) by the end of 

22 the 60-day period beginning on the date on which 

23 the bill is introduced, such committee shall be, at the 

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1 eration of such bill, and such bill shall be placed on 

2 the appropriate calendar of the House involved. 

3 (4) CONSIDERATION.—(A) On or after the third 

4 day after the date on which the committee to which 

5 such a bill is referred has reported or has been dis6 charged (under paragraph (3)) from further consid7 eration of such a bill, it is in order (even though a 

8 previous motion to the same effect has been dis9 agreed to) for any Member of the respective House 

10 to move to proceed to the consideration of the bill. 

11 A Member may make the motion only on the day 

12 after the calendar day on which the Member an13 nounces to the House concerned the Member’s inten14 tion to make the motion, except that, in the case of 

15 the House of Representatives, the motion may be 

16 made without such prior announcement if the mo17 tion is made by direction of the committee to which 

18 the bill was referred. All points of order against the 

19 bill (and against consideration of the bill) are 

20 waived. The motion is highly privileged in the House 

21 of Representatives and is privileged in the Senate 

22 and is not debatable. The motion is not subject to 

23 amendment, or to a motion to postpone, or to a mo24 tion to proceed to the consideration of other busi25 ness. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the 


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1 motion is agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in 

2 order. If a motion to proceed to the consideration of 

3 the bill is agreed to, the respective House shall im4 mediately proceed to consideration of the joint bill 

5 without intervening motion, order, or other business, 

6 and the bill shall remain the unfinished business of 

7 the respective House until disposed of. 

8 (B) Debate on the bill, and on all debatable mo9 tions and appeals in connection therewith, shall be 

10 limited to not more than 10 hours, which shall be 

11 divided equally between those favoring and those op12 posing the bill. An amendment to the bill is not in 

13 order, except that a single amendment which is en14 tirely clerical in nature may be offered by a Member 

15 favoring the bill. A motion further to limit debate is 

16 in order and not debatable. A motion to postpone, 

17 or a motion to proceed to the consideration of other 

18 business, or a motion to recommit the bill is not in 

19 order. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the 

20 bill is agreed to or disagreed to is not in order. 

21 (C) Immediately following the conclusion of the 

22 debate on a bill described in paragraph (1) and a 

23 single quorum call at the conclusion of the debate if 

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1 priate House, the vote on final passage of the bill 

2 shall occur. 

3 (D) Appeals from the decisions of the Chair re4 lating to the application of the rules of the Senate 

5 or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, 

6 to the procedure relating to a bill described in para7 graph (1) shall be decided without debate. 

8 (5) CONSIDERATION BY OTHER HOUSE.—(A) If, 

9 before the passage by one House of a bill of that 

10 House described in paragraph (1), that House re11 ceives from the other House a bill described in para12 graph (1), then the following procedures shall apply: 

13 (i) The bill of the other House shall not be 

14 referred to a committee and may not be consid15 ered in the House receiving it except in the case 

16 of final passage as provided in clause (ii)(II). 

17 (ii) With respect to a bill described in 

18 paragraph (1) of the House receiving the bill— 

19 (I) the procedure in that House shall 

20 be the same as if no bill had been received 

21 from the other House; but 

22 (II) the vote on final passage shall be 

23 on the bill of the other House. 

24 (B) Upon disposition of the bill received from 

25 the other House, it shall no longer be in order to 


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1 consider the bill that originated in the receiving 

2 House. 

3 (6) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.— 

4 This subsection is enacted by Congress— 

5 (A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power 

6 of the Senate and House of Representatives, re7 spectively, and as such it is deemed a part of 

8 the rules of each House, respectively, but appli9 cable only with respect to the procedure to be 

10 followed in that House in the case of a bill de11 scribed in paragraph (1), and it supersedes 

12 other rules only to the extent that it is incon13 sistent with such rules; and 

14 (B) with full recognition of the constitu15 tional right of either House to change the rules 

16 (so far as relating to the procedure of that 

17 House) at any time, in the same manner, and 

18 to the same extent as in the case of any other 

19 rule of that House. 

20 SEC. 7. MEMBER OF THE HOUSE DEFINED. 

21 In this Act, the term ‘‘Member of the House of Rep22 resentatives’’ included a Delegate or Resident Commis23 sioner to the Congress. 


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1 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 Except as provided in sections 5(a) and 6, this Act 

3 shall apply with respect to elections occurring during 2016 

4 or any succeeding year. 

Æ 


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