An advocacy organization called for opening up New York's primary elections to voters who are not registered in either major party after Tuesday's elections in which 7.9 million people were eligible to cast ballots. 

The total number of people who voted on Tuesday accounted for less than 16% of the active enrolled voters. But even in closely watched races like the 19th congressional district special election, in which any registered voter in the district could cast a ballot, only 28% of voters turned out. 

The analysis by the group Unite New York comes as turnout has lagged in the state behind the rest of the country. At the same time, the number of voters choosing to not enroll in party has only grown. Independent or "blank" voters in the state outnumber registered Republican voters. 

California, a state that has an open primary system, had a turnout twice as high as New York. 

"Unite has been chronicling our state’s broken system for the last 18 months, including how New York’s electoral processes lag reforms found in other states," said Martin Babinec, the group's founder. "The current election cycle highlights just how broken our system has become, with court mandated district lines and a confusing set of two primary elections with abysmally low turnout delivering the candidates we’ll have to choose from in the November general election."

Turnout can be affected by a variety of factors. Not every area of the state had a primary or a competitive election on Tuesday. The state also split its primaries, with campaigns for the gubernatorial and state Assembly nominations happening in June and the state Senate and U.S. House races moving to August after New York's top court tossed redistricting maps and new ones were drawn.