After 35 years as a registered voter, I may finally get a chance to cast my ballot this year in a primary election.

As a voter who has chosen not to affiliate with any political party because of my profession, I must confess I'm tickled pink at the idea.

I'm not alone. There are 210,000 of us who live in Suffolk, another 170,00 in Nassau. Statewide, it potentially means 2.2-million new primary voters.

The prospect that unaligned voters might be heard in a primary comes compliments of New York's Independence Party. That's the splinter party founded by upstate payroll billionaire Thomas Golisano and run by political alchemist Frank MacKay, the state and Suffolk party leader, who spins political gold from a membership of nearly 300,000, most of whom don't even know they belong to an organized party.

Casting his eye at the even larger ranks of unaffiliated voters, MacKay got his executive committee to change its rules last year to allow unaligned voters to cast ballots in Independence Party primaries for statewide office. "We'd rather have a little say and be part of a large movement than have a lot to say in a small process," MacKay said.

But others say the impact may not be limited to the minor party. "It's important to the Independence Party ... and a smart way for them to build interest in their organization," said Blair Horner, a lobbyist for the New York State Public Interest Research Group. "Whether it turns out to be a big thing or a small thing depends on whether it changes the way Republicans and Democrats do primaries. If that happens, it's seismic on the Richter scale."

Up to now, the state Board of Elections, controlled by the major parties, has opposed MacKay's bid to open up the primaries, claiming among other things that many of the state's antiquated election machines cannot accommodate such voting.

But the State Supreme Court in Albany in September, and just last week U.S. District Court in Manhattan, each ruled that the minor party is within its rights to allow nonparty members to vote.

Both courts relied on a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld Connecticut Republicans' right to open up their primaries in the same way. The state Board of Elections has filed notice to appeal the state case but has not reacted to the federal ruling.

Board spokesman Lee Daghlian said those decisions will have no impact on the upcoming March 2 presidential primary because the State Legislature has enacted laws that limit the presidential primary to political parties that hold national conventions.

But MacKay, whose Row C ballot line is crucial to many candidates, says he plans to ask legislative leaders for a bill to allow an Independence Party presidential primary, even though their party has no national convention.

"It would be a great exercise in democracy for all the independents out there," MacKay said. "I don't think presidential primaries should be exclusive to Republicans and Democratic parties."

John McArdle, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick), said no one has approached them yet, but added, "We're wide open to the idea."

Skip Carrier, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), said, "We'll look at it as well."

However, Independence Party sources fear Assembly Democrats may balk at having a half-dozen party contenders splitting votes among themselves, which could allow President George W. Bush to capture the line with as little as 20 percent to 25 percent of the vote.

But Horner said that Silver also has to be concerned with his own majority and its interest in having the Independence line for their individual races. "If it's a big issue to his members, then it has to be a big issue to him," Horner said.

If the 2004 presidential primary goes by the board, the next chance for the Independence Party's open-door primary would come in September, in a U.S. Senate primary.

The only problem is the race is shaping up as a lopsided event in which Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, with $18 million in hand, will be seeking re-election. A string of high-profile Republicans already have declined, and the only Republican currently running is little-known securities trader Michael Benjamin, 34, of Manhattan, who has raised only $500,000.

Yet Benjamin sees an open Independence Party primary as a great chance to vault his candidacy forward. Benjamin, who has engaged in grassroots campaigning since last February among Republican and minor party activists, says he sees no difficulty in getting 25 percent of the Independence Party convention vote to qualify for the primary.

"It provides a great opportunity for a candidate who isn't a career politician, or a Hollywood celebrity and doesn't have a million dollars to run a competitive race," Benjamin said.