Independent Voter Project

The Independent Voter Project (“IVP”) is a 501(c)4 nonprofit. 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 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, a registered Democrat, former California Assemblymember Jeff Marson, 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.

IVP is best known for authoring California's nonpartisan top-two primary ("Proposition 14"), which was opposed by both major political parties—as well as the third parties.

In March 2014, a coalition led by the Independent Voter Project (IVP) including IndependentVoting.org and 7 individual plaintiffs, filed a complaint in federal court arguing that the current closed primary election process in New Jersey gives political parties and their members a decided advantage in the election process at the expense of individual voters, including the 47 percent who choose not to affiliate with either major political party.

In April 2016, the Independent Voter Project (IVP) filed a brief of amicus curiae with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. in the case Level the Playing Field, et al. v. Federal Election Commission. Level the Playing Field, along with the national Green and Libertarian parties, are challenging the legality of a presidential debate rule that prevents candidates outside the Republican and Democratic parties from being competitive in presidential elections.

The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in June 2015, charging that the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) and certain of its directors have violated federal election law, including an FEC regulation that requires organizations like the debates commission to be “nonpartisan” and to use “objective criteria” to determine who can be in their debates.

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