Independent Voter Podcast: Beyond Partisan Politics

Russ Verney and David M. Walker join Deconstructed’s host, T.J. O’Hara, to discuss the political legacy of H. Ross Perot. Mr. Verney was a top advisor and spokesperson for Ross Perot’s 1992 presidential campaign in which Mr. Perot garnered 19% of the popular vote. Mr. Verney was also the first Chair of the Reform Party and Ross Perot’s campaign director during the latter’s 1996 presidential run. David M. Walker is the former Comp... Read more

We have come a long way as a country in terms of securing and protecting voting rights in the US. Still, the fight continues to give all voters, regardless of party affiliation, equal access to all stages of the taxpayer-funded election process. Touro Law Review just published a new article to educate legal scholars and the courts on where nonpartisan reform groups stand on equal voting rights in the US, especially as it pertains ... Read more

Independent Voter Project (IVP) attorney Chad Peace joined public radio host NPR's Libby Denkmann on KPCC 89.3 to discuss the confusing and unconstitutional semi-closed presidential primary in California and IVP's nonpartisan solution to fix it.

California Republican National Committee member Shawn Steel was included in the latest episode of KPCC's "AirTalk" to discuss the Independent Voter Project's (IVP) public ballot solution to California's confusing and unconstitutional presidential primaries. During the interview, Steel said he supports the proposal. IVP has made this reform proposal its top priority headed into the 2020 presidential election. Stay tuned for more u... Read more

Independent Voter Project attorney Chad Peace was featured on KPCC's "AirTalk" to discuss IVP's nonpartisan solution to California's confusing and unconstitutional presidential primary: the public ballot. Initially proposed ahead of the 2016 presidential primary, the fix would ensure the state's independent voters (registered No Party Preference) get a meaningful choice for president in future elections by letting them choose from... Read more

Level the Playing Field Chairman Peter Ackerman joined our podcast to discuss the efforts to allow more than just two-party candidates to compete for President. Ackerman noted, “Instead of 15% based on 5 inaccurate polls, if anyone collects signatures equal to 3% of those who voted in the previous election, about 4 million signatures, they would qualify for the debate stage. The top 3 signature gatherers who make it past the 4 mi... Read more

Worried about election security? Does the party-focused primary system leave you confused about your voting rights? Will we run into the same issues we saw in 2016 that disenfranchised and frustrated millions of voters in 2020? In the latest episode of "Topping The Duopoly," host Shawn Griffiths talks with Kammi Foote, the chief election administrator in Inyo County, California. Kammi took part in Homeland Security cybersecurity... Read more

NPP voters in California are likely going to be confused when their ballot arrives for the March 2020 presidential primary as they will have no option for president. Sacramento County Registrar of Voters Courtney Bailey talks about the huge effort underway to educate and inform NPP voters in her district.

Is it time to dump hybrid voting machines? A new nonpartisan election integrity watch guard group, SMART Elections, wants to make sure the election security issues that continue to come up nationwide in elections don't happen again. "Deconstructed" host TJ O'Hara talks with Emmy award-winning journalist and filmmaker Lulu Friesdat about this new organizations, which is dedicated to working cooperatively across the political spectr... Read more

California is headed for a disastrous presidential primary in 2020. Nearly 6 million registered citizens are denied a meaningful vote. Half a million voters have no idea they are registered with a third party, meaning they cannot cast a ballot for any candidate outside that party. Many voters will be confused. Millions more will be disenfranchised. It happened in 2016. It will happen again in 2020, unless something changes. Indep... Read more

San Diego Union Tribune Columnist Michael Smolens joined us on the IVN Podcast to discuss City Councilman Mark Kersey going independent, the battle to expand the convention center, and the need to reform the CA primary ballot so NPP voters can select the Presidential candidate they want.

US voters have overwhelmingly said they want a third candidate in presidential debates. As we look ahead to 2020, it seems the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates will deny them the opportunity once again.. IVN Editor Shawn Griffiths and contributor Wes Messamore go into the history of the debate commission, which has made it all but impossible for candidates outside the Republican and Democratic Parties to appear on th... Read more

Kitty Kurth joins T.J. O'Hara to discuss Joe Biden's potential presidential run, how he might be challenged, and by whom. They also discuss a few political issues that are specific to Chicago but that have national implications: Jussie Smollett's prosecution (or lack thereof) and the mayoral race that was the first ever contested between two black women, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle.

IVN Editor Shawn Griffiths talks with RepresentUs Co-Founder Joshua Graham Lynn about the 2019 Unrig Summit, which celebrated a historic year in political and election reforms during the 2018 midterms. Shawn and Josh break down the 3-day event, the key takeaways, the biggest speakers, and what this gathering of nonpartisan reformers, activists, organizations, and concerned citizens means for the future of unrigging the political d... Read more

In this special episode of "Toppling the Duopoly," we air the one-on-one interview Independent Voter News Editor Shawn Griffiths had with former Starbucks CEO and potential independent presidential candidate Howard Schultz. It's an interview you won't get anywhere else as Shawn asks Howard about many of the obstacles in place that rig elections in favor of the Republican and Democratic Parties -- from the presidential debates to... Read more

IVN Editor Shawn Griffiths talks with Center for Election Science Executive Director Aaron Hamlin about a new voting method that he says would ensure no candidate is ever a spoiler and every vote counts. It's called approval voting, and it was adopted for the first time in US history by the city of Fargo in 2018. When city officials refused to take it up, reformers kept the fight going and rallied voter support to pass the histori... Read more

Tim Canova joins T.J. O’Hara to discuss election integrity and the threat it faces in today’s environment of big money, political power, and electronic voting. Tim is a law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, who twice challenged the most powerful political figure in Florida: Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Representative Wasserman Schultz was not only a six-term member of the United States House of Representat... Read more

"If we don't band together to unrig the system, there will not be a country passed to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren..." The largest gathering of nonpartisan activists, organizations, reformers, mixed with plenty of entertainment, is happening in Nashville, Tennessee on March 29-31: the Unrig The System Summit. IVN Editor Shawn Griffiths and RepresentUs Director Josh Silver discuss everything that is going to happen a... Read more

Pat Benjamin, author of "The Perot Legacy: A New Political Path," discusses Ross Perot’s two presidential campaigns with T.J. O’Hara and what elements might apply to Howard Schultz’s potential presidential bid. Pat was a member of Ross Perot’s “inner circle” during his 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns and later served as the Vice Chair of the Reform Part. A long-time political activist, Pat touches upon how the major parties u... Read more