A Frederick City citizen believes that every registered voter should have a voice in the 2013 city primary election.

Katie Nash, who is considering a run for city office, said only voters who are registered as Republican or Democrat are allowed to vote in the primary election. She hopes the Board of Alderman considers a semi-closed primary election and allows unaffiliated voters to cast their ballots. Nash believes it is important that everyone is included in the election process to help improve voter turn out.

"If we open it up to independents, you open it up to all of those voters who for whatever reason decided to not be republican or democrat, that's a huge margin in Maryland and in Frederick City you can draw in those voters who would otherwise not be able to vote," Nash said.

She believes that we could be less concerned with the political party and more concerned with getting people to the polls. In the 2009 primary election, about 18% of registered voters participated.

"We can do much, much better. I think folks at the local level need to be engaged and they need to realize what an impact they make when they go out to the polls. Things as simple as the budget and more people involved means a lot more eyes and ears at City Hall and that is always a good thing," Nash said.

The request to allow unaffiliated voters must first go through the Board of Alderman and any change to the election process must be changed through the charter.