FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Press@IndependentVeteransOfAmerica.org
A new lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan asks whether the right to vote in a decisive primary comes from citizenship or from party membership. National Let Vets Vote campaign kicks off in NY, with Oregon, Kansas and Louisiana next.
NEW YORK, September 30, 2026: Independent Veterans of America (IVA) Founder Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq veteran, 9/11 first responder and independent New York voter, and the Independent Voter Project (IVP) will announce today a lawsuit challenging New York’s closed primary system, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, with IVA and Rieckhoff as lead plaintiffs. The case will be announced at a noon press conference outside the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan.
The lawsuit is the first action of Let Vets Vote, a national campaign by IVA and IVP to open closed primaries to every voter nationwide. It starts in New York today. Oregon, Kansas and Louisiana are next, with more states to follow in the coming months.
New York runs a closed primary. Voters enrolled with no party (3.1 million New Yorkers, or 25.3 percent of total registered voters) cannot vote in either major party’s primary. Counting minor-party members, 3,673,261 New Yorkers (29.8 percent of the electorate) are barred from the closed Democratic or Republican primaries. Separately, an estimated 270,000 New York veterans identify as independent.
“We have honorably served our country, our state, and our cities and towns in combat, yet when we return home, we’re told we can’t vote like other New Yorkers simply because we refuse to lie about who we are and join a private party. The state uses public funds, public schools, public election machines and countless public resources to run private elections that are not open to us — and all New Yorkers. This system is antiquated, it’s designed for parties, not the people, and it’s wrong. New York’s closed primaries are unfair, un-American, and we believe, unlawful. We look forward to making our case in court and to the people of New York statewide. We independents are the largest group of voters in the state — and we veterans especially will not stop fighting for our equal rights until we get them. We’re used to fighting, we will never quit, and we are prepared to go all the way to the Supreme Court,” said IVA Founder and CEO Paul Rieckhoff, a lifelong New Yorker who lives and votes in Lower Manhattan, blocks away from where he also served as a 9/11 first responder.
In most of New York’s 26 congressional districts, one party holds a decisive registration and turnout advantage, so the primary is the election that decides the seat. In New York City the pattern is starker: in the 2025 general election, 47 of the 51 City Council seats were decided by 20 points or more, and 17 had only one name on the November ballot.
The case asks a simple question: does the right to vote at a decisive, publicly funded stage of an election come from citizenship, or from membership in a political party? The argument is anchored in United States v. Classic (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 (2000). IVP has taken the question to the U.S. Supreme Court as amicus in Polelle v. Byrd (No. 25-147).
Lead counsel is S. Chad Peace, attorney and legal strategist for IVP, who has led IVP’s litigation to open closed primaries for more than a decade, including cases in New Jersey, California and Florida. Samuel Gregory, a New York attorney with more than three decades of trial and civil-rights experience, serves as New York counsel.
Veterans for All Voters has joined the campaign as a co-signatory.
“We served our country to defend the Constitution and the fundamental democratic rights of every American. Our families stood beside us, and some of our brothers and sisters in arms paid the ultimate sacrifice. Yet veterans who return home to New York and remain unaffiliated with a political party are barred from voting in taxpayer-funded party primaries.”
Alberto Ramos, Navy veteran and CEO of Veterans for All Voters
Independent veteran leaders from all backgrounds are stepping up to join this effort.
Kristen Rouse of Brooklyn is a widely respected veterans advocate who has served in uniform for over 30 years, including multiple combat tours, and is the founder of the NYC Veterans Alliance. She will join the press event in NYC today and added: “I have never wanted to be part of a political party. Signing on to a party in order to vote in primaries felt like a certain level of coercion to me. To serve in the military for any period of time — or to spend any time seeking veterans care and benefits — is to feel let down or even betrayed by both major political parties. Veterans and servicemembers skew independent because we consistently bear the brunt of clashes and bad ideas in Washington. We serve because we love America, not because of what political party leaders are deciding for us in back rooms. It has always felt wrong to me to ask us to sign on to political parties’ failures as members.”
Tireak Tulloch is a decorated Marine Corps combat veteran from Long Island who has advocated for veterans for decades and been featured at events at City Hall and the White House. He has also signed on to support the campaign.
This evening, IVA and IVP will mark the campaign’s launch by convening leaders from the independent movement, democracy reform and the veteran community at historic Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan, where George Washington, our last independent president, and an independent veteran himself, said farewell to his officers in 1783.
New Yorkers can sign the petition to open the state’s primaries to every voter, and New York veterans can sign up to join the case, at LetVetsVote.org.
About Independent Veterans of America
IVA is the first and only organization focused specifically on recruiting, supporting and electing independent and unaffiliated veteran candidates and incumbents. After launching on Independence Day (July 4th) 2024, generating strong membership growth and national media coverage, and historically endorsing 11 candidates last election cycle (including 4 winners), IVA’s 50-state outreach plan has succeeded in galvanizing an outstanding movement of independent veterans who are stepping up to serve at the local, state and federal level, driving independent reform and inspiring communities nationwide to come together and put country over party. Learn more at IndependentVeteransOfAmerica.org.
About the Independent Voter Project
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.
About Veterans for All Voters
VAV offers a platform for all veteran and/or veteran-affiliated individuals to get involved, regardless of their political leanings, to pursue a more perfect union by increasing voter choice, voter power, and voter enfranchisement. Founded in 2021 by Navy veterans Eric Bronner and Todd Connor, who both came to the realization that America’s political system is fundamentally broken and were driven to find real solutions.
Every dollar goes straight into the fight — helping independent vets be seen, get traction, and win.
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