The Independent Voter Project, founded as the California Independent Voter Project in 2006, is a left-of-center advocacy group promoting nonpartisan primaries and other changes to the primary and general election process that weaken the influence of the major parties over their nominating processes. The group is best known for authoring the California nonpartisan top-two primary system which was adopted by voters by ballot measure in 2010, as well as a similar local referendum in San Diego that passed in 2016. The group has also been engaged in legal advocacy against other primary systems, notably bringing a challenge to New Jersey’s primary system to the U.S. Supreme Court. The group also has an educational arm, the Foundation for Independent Voter Education. ^{1 2 3}

Background and History

The Independent Voter Project was founded in 2006 by Steve Peace, a former California state lawmaker and film producer, with the assistance of a $1 million gift from John Moores, the former owner of the San Diego Padres. Peace founded the group after noting an increased polarization of public policy debates. The group was initially only active in California and was known as the California Independent Voter Project. At that time, it focused on “ensuring that independent voters know their rights under California’s complex primary laws which allowed them to vote in most partisan primaries only upon requesting a ‘Party’ (e.g. Democratic or Republican) ballot. ”¹

California Top-Two Primary

The Independent Voter Project was instrumental in enacting California’s top-two primary system, which was approved by voters as Proposition 14 in 2010. The system directs that the top two candidates in an all-party primary shall advance to the general election, regardless of their party designations or percentage of votes received in the primary election. The group had been working on drafting such a constitutional amendment for years and was emboldened to formally launch the effort after the Supreme Court upheld a similar system in Washington state. IVP assembled a legal team and included attorneys for investor Charlie Munger, attorneys from Lathan and Watkins, and former California House Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco). IVP paid over $700,000 in legal fees to draft the proposal. ⁴

IVP noted that the proposal had a “very narrow path of constitutionality and California had already had its 1998 open primary system struck down by the Court on a challenge brought by the Democratic Party.” ⁴

After additional political and legal wrangling, the proposal was on the 2010 ballot as Proposition 14, and passed by a 400,000-vote margin with 54 percent of the vote. ⁵

San Diego County

In San Diego, the Independent Voter Project pushed several measures in the 2016 election to end the “50%+1” rule that allowed candidates who received over 50 percent of the vote in primaries to bypass the general election and win the election outright. Such measures were adopted by city voters in 2016 and by San Diego County voters in 2018. ⁶

Legal Work

In 2014, the Independent Voter Project launched a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of New Jersey’s closed primary system. The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case. ⁷

The group has also engaged in challenges to the Commission on Presidential Debates’ rules on presidential debate participation and the “semi-closed” presidential primary system in California. ¹

1. “About IVP.” Independent Voter Project. Accessed December 14, 2024. https://independentvoterproject.org/about/about-ivp
2. “Independent Voter Project.” ProPublica. Accessed December 14, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/204842091
3. Isherwood, Darryl. “Group sues the state to open primary elections to all voters.” NJ.com. March 21, 2014. Accessed December 14, 2024.  https://www.nj.com/politics/2014/03/group_sues_the_state_to_open_primary_elections_to_all_voters.html
4. “The Real History: California’s Top-Two Nonpartisan Primary Electoral Reform.” Independent Voter News. April 27, 2018. Accessed December 14, 2024. https://ivn.us/posts/the-real-history-californias-top-two-nonpartisan-primary-electoral-reform
5. “California Proposition 14, Top-Two Primaries Amendment (June 2010).” Ballotpedia. Accessed December 14, 2024. https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_14,_Top-Two_Primaries_Amendment_(June_2010).
6. “San Diego Measures.” Independent Voter Project. Accessed December 14, 2024. https://independentvoterproject.org/work/san-diego-measures
7. “Opening New Jersey’s Primary.” Independent Voter Project. Accessed December 14, 2024. https://independentvoterproject.org/work/opening-new-jerseys-primary