Press
KUSI News, CALMatters Feature IVP Lawsuit Against CA Secretary of State
San Diego’s KUSI News interviewed IVP attorney Chad Peace on the lawsuit against the California secretary of state. Peace discusses not only the lawsuit, but the solution that IVP proposed years ago that would have prevented the need for legal action.
ICYMI: We're Suing the CA Secretary of State
“How do we have a taxpayer-funded, a taxpayer-administered system, the most important political dialogue we have with the voters of this state, and then tell a class of voters … that you somehow have a less right to participate in that taxpayer-funded primary?” - Chad Peace
By Ben Christopher, CALMatters
Great coverage from CALMatters. There are a couple of misconceptions, but we continue to work with the media on the purpose and importance of our lawsuit against the California secretary of state.
For instance, the article says: "Plaintiffs in the suit will include six political independents in California." The lawsuit includes six individual plaintiffs and the Independent Voter Project. Three of the individual plaintiffs are registered No Party Preference. There is also a registered Republican, a registered Democrat, and a registered Green Party member.
The article also says: "The Independent Voter Project has advocated for a “public ballot” for nonpartisan voters, allowing them to pick from a list of all the major party candidates —though parties would not be obligated to count those votes." The public ballot option, which the Independent Voter Project originally proposed in 2015, would list all qualified candidates running for president. This includes major party candidates, but it would also include third party and independent candidates as well.
The taxpayer-funded election process should serve the public, and therefore, if the parties want to have their own private primary, then the state has the obligation to provide an alternative way to participate, such as the public ballot option IVP has proposed.
