TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – The Kansas Democratic State Committee has voted to allow only registered Democrats to vote in the party’s 2014 primary election.

Kansas Democratic Party spokesman Dakota Loomis says that the Democratic State Committee voted 86-61 on Saturday in favor of the change. That allows Democrats to identify voters more easily to urge them to vote in the general election.

The move reverses the party’s prior primary-ballot rule that allowed unaffiliated voters to cast ballots to pick Democratic candidates to advance to the general election.

Republicans for years have had closed primary elections that require unaffiliated voters to sign on with the party to vote on Republican candidates.