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 fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administra-
tion, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and Government 
Reform, the Judiciary, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined 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 great-
est number of votes in such open primary, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Open Our Democracy 
Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS THROUGH 
OPEN PRIMARIES. 
(a) RULES FOR ELECTION OF MEMBERS.—A can-
didate for election for the office of Senator or Member 
of the House of Representatives shall be elected to such 
office pursuant to the following elections held by the State 
in which the candidate seeks election: 
(1) An open primary election for such office 
held in accordance with subsection (b). 
(2) A general election for such office held in ac-
cordance with subsection (c). 
(b) OPEN PRIMARIES.—Each State shall hold an 
open primary election for each office of Senator or Mem-
ber of the House of Representatives in the State under 
which— 
(1) each candidate for such office, regardless of 
the candidate’s political party preference or lack 
thereof, shall appear on a single ballot; and 
(2) each voter in the State who is eligible to 
vote in elections for Federal office in the State (in 
the case of an election for the office of Senator) or 
in the Congressional district involved (in the case of 
an election for the office of Member of the House of 
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Representatives) may cast a ballot in the election, 
regardless of the voter’s political party preference or 
lack thereof. 
(c) GENERAL ELECTION.—Each State shall hold a 
general election for each office of Senator or Member of 
the House of Representatives in the State under which 
the 2 candidates receiving the greatest number of votes 
in the open primary election for such office (as described 
in subsection (b)), without regard to the political party 
preference or lack thereof of such candidates, shall be the 
only candidates appearing on the ballot. 
SEC. 3. ABILITY OF CANDIDATES TO DISCLOSE POLITICAL 
PARTY PREFERENCES. 
(a) OPTION OF CANDIDATES TO DECLARE POLIT-
ICAL PARTY PREFERENCE.—At the time a candidate for 
the office of Senator or Member of the House of Rep-
resentatives files to run for such office, the candidate shall 
have the option of declaring a political party preference, 
and the preference chosen (if any) shall accompany the 
candidate’s name on the ballot for the election for such 
office. 
(b) DESIGNATION FOR CANDIDATES NOT DECLAR-
ING PREFERENCE.—If a candidate does not declare a po-
litical party preference under subsection (a), the designa-
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tion ‘‘No Party Preference’’ shall accompany the can-
didate’s name on the ballot for the election for such office. 
(c) NO PARTY ENDORSEMENT IMPLIED.—The selec-
tion of a party preference by a candidate under subsection 
(a) shall not constitute or imply endorsement of the can-
didate by the party designated, and no candidate in a gen-
eral election shall be deemed the official candidate of any 
party by virtue of his or her selection in the primary. 
SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF RIGHTS OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 
Nothing in this Act shall restrict the right of individ-
uals to join or organize into political parties or in any way 
restrict the right of private association of political parties. 
Nothing in this Act shall restrict a party’s right to con-
tribute to, endorse, or otherwise support a candidate for 
the office of Senator or Member of the House of Rep-
resentatives. Nothing in this Act may be construed to pre-
vent a political party from establishing such procedures 
as it sees fit to endorse or support candidates or otherwise 
participate in all elections, or from informally designating 
candidates for election to such an office at a party conven-
tion or by whatever lawful mechanism the party may 
choose, other than pursuant to a primary election held by 
a State. Nothing in this Act may be construed to prevent 
a political party from adopting such rules as it sees fit 
for the selection of party officials (including central com-
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mittee members, presidential electors, and party officers), 
including rules restricting participation in elections for 
party officials to those who disclose a preference for that 
party at the time of registering to vote. 
SEC. 5. TREATMENT OF ELECTION DAY IN SAME MANNER 
AS LEGAL PUBLIC HOLIDAY FOR PURPOSES 
OF FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of any law relating 
to Federal employment, the Tuesday next after the first 
Monday in November in 2016 and each even-numbered 
year thereafter shall be treated in the same manner as 
a legal public holiday described in section 6103 of title 
5, United States Code. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING TREATMENT 
OF DAY BY PRIVATE EMPLOYERS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that private employers in the United States should 
give their employees a day off on the Tuesday next after 
the first Monday in November in 2016 and each even- 
numbered year thereafter to enable the employees to cast 
votes in the elections held on that day. 
(c) NO EFFECT ON EARLY OR ABSENTEE VOTING.— 
Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the 
authority of States to permit individuals to cast ballots 
in elections for Federal office prior to the date of the elec-
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tion (including the casting of ballots by mail) or to cast 
absentee ballots in the election. 
SEC. 6. STUDY OF STATE CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING 
PROCESSES; RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ES-
TABLISHMENT 
OF 
INDEPENDENT 
REDIS-
TRICTING COMMISSIONS BY STATES. 
(a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General shall conduct 
a study of the procedures used by States to conduct Con-
gressional redistricting, and shall include in the study the 
following: 
(1) An analysis of the impact that different 
procedures for redistricting have had on the ability 
of minority voters to participate in the political proc-
ess and to elect representatives of their choice. 
(2) An analysis of the impact that different 
procedures for redistricting have had on the ability 
of local communities, represented within the political 
boundaries of counties, cities, towns, and wards, to 
participate in the political process and to elect rep-
resentatives of their choice. 
(3) An analysis of the benefits of requiring each 
State to conduct Congressional redistricting through 
the use of an independent redistricting commission 
and the best practices for the administration of inde-
pendent redistricting commissions. 
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(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 
(1) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 
General shall submit a report to Congress on the 
study conducted under subsection (a), and shall in-
clude in the report recommendations for proposed 
legislation or other measures to require States to 
conduct Congressional redistricting through inde-
pendent commissions, on the basis of national stand-
ards enacted by Congress. 
(2) LEGISLATION TO CARRY OUT RECOMMENDA-
TIONS.—For recommendations for proposed legisla-
tion in the report submitted under paragraph (1), 
the Comptroller General shall include the text of 
such proposed legislation in the report. 
(c) CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLA-
TION INCLUDED IN REPORT.— 
(1) LEGISLATION DESCRIBED.—A bill described 
in this paragraph is a bill meeting the following re-
quirements: 
(A) The bill is introduced not later than 90 
days after the date on which the Comptroller 
General submits the report to Congress under 
subsection (b). 
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(B) The text of the bill consists of the text 
of the proposed legislation included in the re-
port submitted by the Comptroller General 
under subsection (b). 
(C) The title of the bill is as follows: ‘‘A 
bill to implement the recommendations of the 
Comptroller General to require States to con-
duct Congressional redistricting through inde-
pendent commissions, as submitted to Congress 
under section 6(b) of the Open Our Democracy 
Act of 2015.’’. 
(2) REFERRAL.—A bill described in paragraph 
(1) that is introduced in the House of Representa-
tives shall be referred to the Committee on the Judi-
ciary of the House of Representatives. A bill de-
scribed in paragraph (1) introduced in the Senate 
shall be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
of the Senate. 
(3) DISCHARGE.—If the committee to which a 
bill described in paragraph (1) is referred has not 
reported such bill (or an identical bill) by the end of 
the 60-day period beginning on the date on which 
the bill is introduced, such committee shall be, at the 
end of such period, discharged from further consid-
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