Pennsylvania lawmakers are weighing a bill that would let voters who aren't affiliated with a political party vote in primaries. 

Former elected officials and government experts told the House State Government Committee in a hearing on Tuesday that Pennsylvania’s current closed primary system is disenfranchising 1.3 million people.

Two bills with bipartisan support are currently awaiting consideration in the General Assembly. Each would change the rules and allow independent voters to choose one party's primary to participate in. 

Currently, voters unaffiliated with either of the two major parties can only vote on ballot questions that coincide with primary elections. 

Read Spotlight PA's full rundown here.

THE CONTEXT: Some critics of open primaries worry about "party raiding," wherein unaffiliated voters strategically use their vote to pick an unelectable candidate or one who doesn't represent a party's values. Evidence shows the practice is neither widespread nor particularly likely to succeed.

Open primary critics also argue, like state Rep. Paul Schemel (R., Franklin) did at Tuesday's hearing, that primaries are an internal party activity and should exclude anyone who isn't registered accordingly.

But David Thornburgh — chair of Ballot PA, a project of the good-government group Committee of 70 — said the constitutional right to vote overshadows any justification to exclude independents (many of whom have their officials chosen for them when general elections are uncontested).

Pennsylvania is one of nine states that has closed primary elections, meaning only registered Democrats and Republicans can vote for candidates from those parties and choose who will advance to the ballot in November.

GROCERY-GATE: Months after GOP U.S. Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz walked into a "Wegners" to make a point about inflation, video of the visit has gone viral — and not for the reasons he'd hoped. New York magazine has 11 questions about the crudités clip, mostly who signed off on it. 

DEBATE CLUB: Doug Mastriano has challenged Democrat Josh Shapiro to two 90-minute gubernatorial debates in the month of October. Each would have two moderators, one picked by each campaign. Shapiro quickly dismissed the offer as an "obvious stunt to avoid real questions."

TRIPLE DIGITS: Peggy Koller, 99, of Blue Bell, has welcomed her 100th great-grandchild into the world. Koller has 11 children of her own, 56 grandchildren, and now great-grandkids in the triple digits. "I wanted to have a big family," Koller, a one-time aspiring nun, told 6ABC.

HUB TOWN: What might be Pennsylvania's first Honduran restaurant outside of Philadelphia is now open in a "sleepy river town" called Coraopolis, a hub for Pittsburgh’s growing Latino population, per City Paper.

TAKE FIVE: Take a few minutes today to chase an invisible cow across your laptop, tablet, or cellphone screen with Find the Invisible Cow. Or, if you're feeling pent up, type your feelings out and Scream Into the Void.