A House committee has voted down a bill that would allow registered independents to vote in Republican and Democratic primaries in Kentucky.

The measure failed Tuesday in the House Committee on Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Republican Sen. Jimmy Higdon of Lebanon said the legislation would have allowed more Kentucky voters to participate in primary elections plagued by low turnout.

Democrats worried that the bill would give the state's 185,000 independents the potential to sway the outcomes of the major party primaries.