September 30, 2026 · New York City
New York shuts millions of independent voters out of the primaries that decide its elections. Veterans among them. We are going to change that.
New York shuts millions of independent voters out of the primaries that decide its elections. Veterans among them. We are going to change that.
Independent Veterans of America and the Independent Voter Project are bringing together democracy-reform, independent-movement and veteran-advocacy leadership for one evening in New York — and using the room to announce a lawsuit challenging New York’s closed-primary system, with IVA and founder Paul Rieckhoff as lead plaintiffs.
Veterans swore an oath to defend the Constitution. Then they came home to a state that will not let them vote in the elections that actually decide who represents them — unless they join a party first. That is the fight.
New York runs a closed primary. In most of the state’s 26 congressional districts one party holds a decisive registration and turnout advantage, so the general election is not competitive and the primary is what actually determines who holds the seat. Excluding independent voters from that primary excludes them from the decision.
The question is simple: does the right to vote at a decisive, publicly funded stage of an election come from citizenship, or from joining a political party?
The argument is anchored in United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299 (1941), which holds that the right to vote reaches the primary where the primary is an integral part of choosing who governs, and in the associational logic of California Democratic Party v. Jones, 530 U.S. 567 (2000). IVP has taken the question to the U.S. Supreme Court as amicus in Polelle v. Byrd (No. 25-147).
This event is free. RSVP to join us in New York, and add your name to the petition demanding that New York open its primaries to every voter — including the veterans who served for them.
The event is free. The litigation is not. Your contribution funds the legal challenge to New York’s closed primaries and the organizing behind it.
Contributions to Independent Veterans of America Action are not tax deductible.
Organizations standing behind the petition and the case.
Additional organizations will appear here as they sign on.
Attorney and legal strategist for the Independent Voter Project. Has led IVP’s litigation to open closed primaries for over a decade, including cases in New Jersey, California, and Florida, and helped author and defend California’s nonpartisan top-two primary.
New York attorney with more than three decades of trial and civil-rights experience, serving as local counsel admitted to practice in New York.
The Independent Voter Project is a nonpartisan organization that has spent fifteen years working to open primary elections to every voter. IVP authored California’s nonpartisan top-two primary (Proposition 14, 2010) and defended it in court, has brought closed-primary challenges in New Jersey, California, and Florida, and is backing a California constitutional amendment to protect every voter’s right to participate in publicly funded elections. Let Vets Vote brings that fight to New York.
Registration figures from the L2 voter file, New York, extracted August 2026: 3,121,557 enrolled with no party and 551,704 in minor parties, of 12,321,179 registered voters — 3,673,261 barred from a Democratic or Republican primary. Veteran population 550,582 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 1-Year, Table S2101); the independent-veteran figure applies IVA’s 49% identity estimate and is a modeled estimate of political identity, not a registration count. Full sourcing in the New York Closed Primary fact sheet.