The Independent Voter Project (IVP) is a

501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)). Such organizations are exempt from some Taxation in the Un ...

United States nonprofit organization. It launched in 2006 with a $1 million grant from John Moores. IVP seeks to re-engage nonpartisan voters and promote nonpartisan election reform through initiatives, litigation, and voter education. The Independent Voter Project has a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

sister organization called the Foundation for Independent Voter Education (FIVE). All IVP Board Members serve as volunteers. IVP and FIVE are co-publishers of IVN.us, an open news site that caters to independent voters and focuses on election reform issues. IVP was founded by former California State Senator and Assemblymember

Steve Peace James Stephen Peace (born March 30, 1953) is an American writer, actor, and producer, best known for the '' Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!'' film series. A politician belonging to the Democratic Party, Peace served in the California State Assem ...

, a registered

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, former California Assemblymember Jeff Marston, a Republican, and Dan Howle. Howle and Marston are the current co-chairs. Peace is no longer a board member but is still a financial contributor.

Activities

IVP is best known for authoring California's

nonpartisan blanket primary A nonpartisan primary, top-two primary, or jungle primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of political party. This distinguishes them from partisan primaries, w ...

(top-two primary), which was enacted through Proposition 14 in 2010. Along with other political reforms, the top-two primary was credited with easing gridlock in state government. IVP authored Measure K to bring top-two elections to the city of

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

; the measure passed in November 2016. In 2014, IVP was one of a group of plaintiffs (including IndependentVoting.org and seven individual plaintiffs who were unaffiliated with either major political party) who filed a complaint in federal court alleging that New Jersey's current closed primary election process violated the federal and state constitutions. The plaintiffs specifically claimed that closed primaries violated their

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

right not to associate with a political party, and also claimed that the state constitution barred the state government from allocating money for the administration of primary elections. The IVP was unsuccessful; the complaint was dismissed in 2014 by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, and in 2015 this decision was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In 2016 and 2017, the IVP filed two

amicus brief An amicus curiae (; ) is an individual or organization that is not a party to a legal case, but that is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. Whether an ''amic ...

s in support of the plaintiffs in the case ''Level the Playing Field, et al. v. Federal Election Commission''. The plaintiffs (the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

Libertarian Party Libertarian Party may refer to: *Libertarian Party (Argentina) * Liberal Libertarian Party * Libertarian Party of Australia * Libertarian Party of Canada ** British Columbia Libertarian Party **Libertarian Party of Manitoba (now Freedom Party of Ma ...

, and others) allege that the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency of the United States government that enforces U.S. campaign finance laws and oversees U.S. federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign ...

violated the

Administrative Procedure Act The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), , is the United States federal statute that governs the way in which administrative agencies of the federal government of the United States may propose and establish regulations, and it grants U.S. fede ...

in dismissing two administrative complaints regarding the

Commission on Presidential Debates The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is a nonprofit corporation established in 1987 under the joint sponsorship of the Democratic and Republican political parties in the United States. The CPD sponsors and produces debates for U.S. pre ...

and "in denying a petition to engage in rulemaking to change the FEC's regulations regarding debate staging organizations."

References

{{reflist Electoral reform groups in the United States 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations Political organizations established in 2006