Missouri voters showed up and shut down the legislature's attempt to gut citizen initiatives - and then, hours before polls closed, the Secretary of State went in front of a camera and declared their 300,000-signature people's veto unconstitutional anyway.

Cara McCormick, Ethan Handelman, and Shawn Griffiths break down what actually happened in Missouri: the legislature's repeat attempts to raise thresholds and choke off petition drives, the mid-cycle gerrymander that made Missouri the third state to redraw its maps in 2025, and the pile-on that followed — a third of signatures thrown out, an ICE referral aimed at petition circulators, a Black Friday mass text campaign, and a map that never got suspended the way the law says it should. From there it's the DNC's August 15 vote to bar ranked choice voting from the delegate process, a Maine primary where 72% of voters picked a nominee the party swapped out anyway, and the case for a mandatory retirement age that applies to everyone on the taxpayer's dime (inspired by Mitch McConnell’s 50 day Senate absence). 

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Missouri Voters Reject the Legislature's Power Grab

00:05:06 – People Not Politicians vs. Secretary Hoskins

00:09:07 – The DNC's War on Ranked Choice Voting

00:14:12 – How Parties Override Their Own Primaries

00:17:36 – Mitch McConnell, Age Limits & Term Limits

00:21:17 – Trump's Poll Numbers & Truth Social Pay-to-Play

00:25:14 – Two-Thirds of Americans Don't Trust Elections

00:28:03 – Elon Musk's $120M Super PAC Midterm Bet

00:30:32 – Maine's Question 1: Capping Super PAC Contributions

00:35:16 – Money Equals Speech? The Supreme Court's Call

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A 27-year Army officer with three deployments looked at Congress and decided the problem wasn't which party was winning - it was that both of them were. So Jason Faler is running in Oregon's 6th with no letter behind his name.

Jason walks us through the road from four-generation Oregonian to combat tours in Baghdad and the Horn of Africa to healthcare administrator and professor - and the "frog in the boiling water" moment that finally pushed him to run. He lays out the number almost nobody in Oregon knows: unaffiliated voters went from 22% of the electorate in 2012 to roughly 40% today, which means the largest voting bloc in his district belongs to no party at all. We get into why so many veterans end up in nonpartisan reform, why he won't just run in a primary and take the easy path, and what it actually costs to get on a ballot when your two opponents ran unopposed. 

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00:00 – The Parties Are the Problem

00:00:37 – Meet Jason Faler

00:03:17 – What Pulled Him Into Politics

00:07:04 – Independent by Conviction, Not by Default

00:08:28 – From Iraq to Oregon – Why He's Running

00:11:55 – Veterans, the Military & Political Independence

00:15:03 – The Barriers to Running as an Independent

00:19:03 – Clipboard Democracy in the Digital Age

00:24:29 – When Elections Become Auctions

00:27:15 – The Largest Voting Bloc Nobody Knows About

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone's calling Troy Jackson the establishment's safe replacement for Graham Platner. Here's the thing: Jackson has defied Democratic Party leadership more than Platner ever did - and he's got two decades of receipts. 

 

Cara called the whole Maine shakeup before it happened - Platner out, Troy Jackson in - and she explains why she saw it coming and why she's genuinely excited about it. Chad and Cara break down what makes Jackson different: a Senate president who bucked his own party's leadership to back ranked choice voting, outperformed other Democrats with Trump voters, and would be the first bona fide working-class U.S. Senator in a chamber of 100. 

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00:00 – First Working-Class Senator in U.S. History?

00:00:20 – Someone Robbed Our Studio

00:02:12 – Cara Predicted the Whole Maine Shakeup

00:05:14 – Troy Jackson Defied His Own Party More Than Platner Ever Did

00:06:47 – 58 Years Old, Two Decades of Receipts

00:09:59 – A Democratic Governor Just Proved Trump's Point

00:12:45 – Why the Best Idea Never Wins in American Politics

00:13:50 – California's AG Rewrote a Ballot Title Overnight

00:17:22 – Unlimited Ballots, No Relationship Required

00:19:16 – Does Voter ID Actually Fix Ballot Harvesting?

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Graham Platner won Maine's Democratic Senate primary with 71% of the vote and record turnout - and none of it matters anymore. Cara, Shawn, and Ethan break down how an obscure section of Maine election law lets 600 party delegates in Bangor erase the biggest primary win in state history.

After a barely-there vetting process collapsed under press scrutiny, Platner withdrew - and now the Maine Democratic Party has until July 27 to hand-pick his replacement, with no ranked choice voting and no input from the independents who helped elect him. The crew digs into who's really pulling the strings, why Troy Jackson ("the Johnny Cash of the Allagash") could become the only working-class senator out of 100, and what this saga says about anti-establishment energy from Obama to Trump to the DSA. Then the conversation takes a turn: the sudden death of Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell's "proof of life" photo, and whether it's finally time for an age limit on every federal job. Plus a lingering question about Graham's final trip to Ukraine that the hosts can't quite shake.

The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel! If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: https://youtube.com/@IndependentVoterPodcast

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Power, Parties, and What Your Vote Really Means

00:00:24 – Graham Platner: How a Lobsterman Search Found an Oyster Farmer

00:02:41 – The Vetting Failure That Exposed a Campaign

00:06:28 – When Your Vote Only Counts If the Party Allows It

00:07:33 – California vs. Maine – Two Elections, Two Very Different Systems

00:09:29 – Who's Running to Replace Platner — and Who's Pulling the Strings

00:11:21 – Troy Jackson – The Only Working Class Candidate in the Senate

00:21:26 – Lindsey Graham's Death and the McConnell Proof-of-Life Mystery

00:22:50 – Should There Be an Age Limit on Federal Government?

00:30:09 – Lessons from the Platner Collapse – What Democrats Should Do Next

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The same young Latino voters who swung to Donald Trump in 2024 just handed New York to Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani - and no, they haven't changed their minds about anything. Strategist Mike Madrid explains why the fastest-growing bloc in American politics is walking out on both parties at once. 

Madrid - author of The Latino Century - joins the show to blow up the way both parties read the Latino vote. His case: what looks like voters lurching right, then left, then right again is actually a dealignment - a conscious rejection of the entire two-party system, driven by class and generation far more than ethnicity. The crew digs into California's Latino turnout surge behind Becerra, why New York's closed primaries produced a dismal 9% turnout, and what really went down at the first-ever National Latino Summit in D.C. Stick around for his blunt advice on how voters can break the cycle of partisanship.

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

00:00:00 – The Latino Vote: America's Most Misunderstood Bloc
00:01:04 – Dealignment, Not Realignment: Leaving Both Parties
00:03:00 – It's Not Ethnic — Latinos Vote Their Class
00:04:44 – The Turnout Story: California Surges, New York Flatlines
00:09:32 – Inside the First-Ever National Latino Summit
00:13:24 – Conscious Disaffiliation and the Under-30 Surge
00:16:24 – Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and Starving Voters
00:18:06 – Are Latinos Really Going Socialist?
00:20:22 – Adams to Trump to Mamdani in Four Years
00:23:24 – The Fix Nobody Wants to Hear: Leave Your Party
00:30:04 – The Voting-Rights Case Headed to Court
00:34:06 – Mike's Book, Substack, and Where to Follow

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We sit down with Jeremy, Senior VP of Open Primaries, to dig into a new IVP/Open Primaries poll of registered NYC Democrats - and what it reveals is wild. Jeremy lays out "the big lie" about open vs. closed primaries, why ~40% of NYC Democrats (and two out of three Latino Democrats) don't identify with the party they're registered in, and how a 10% turnout primary ends up deciding who actually runs the city. Then Jeremy lays out why almost everyone - the media, secretaries of state, even civil rights groups - has the importance of primaries exactly backwards.

This episode is sponsored by the Independent Voter Project and produced by Olas Media. 

🎙️ The Independent Voter Podcast now has its own YouTube channel!

If you enjoy these conversations, subscribe to our dedicated channel for full episodes, interviews, and future content: 

https://youtube.com/@independentvoterpodcast?

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at:

https://ivn.us

https://independentvoterproject.org

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Independent Voters: The Largest Group Nobody Knows

00:00:49 – Introducing Jeremy Gruber & the NYC Poll

00:01:37 – The Big Lie About Open Primaries

00:02:37 – Why Democrats Register as Democrats Without Being Democrats

00:04:27 – Low Turnout and Who Actually Wins

00:07:35 – When the System Opens But Voters Still Don't Know

00:10:01 – Two-Step Reform: Policy Change and Voter Education

00:12:33 – How the System Is Stacked Against Primary Awareness

00:15:35 – Independent Organizing and What Comes Next

00:17:59 – Open Primaries' Litigation, Wins, and Where to Follow

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lisa D.T. Rice, the driving force behind DC's Initiative 83 to permit ranked choice voting and open primaries, joins the show to explain how a missing ballot turned her into one of the most relentless reformers in the country. She breaks down why closed primaries are really a voting-rights problem, how she took on two fights at once - open primaries and ranked choice voting - in the heart of a 95% one-party city, and how rooting reform in everyday issues like food deserts is what actually wins elections. Then comes the gut-punch: voters passed her initiative with 73%, and she still couldn't cast a ballot. Stick around for the protest she threw in response, the go-go song she commissioned to troll the city council, and the lawsuit threat she says she "wouldn't put past someone." 

This episode is sponsored by the Independent Voter Project and produced by Olas Media. 

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at: https://ivn.us  and https://independentvoterproject.org 

Follow and subscribe on audio platforms:
https://open.spotify.com/show/1VnqtqjZh9EbmDtVxvHF3R
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-voter-podcast/id1680559155

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Why Independent Voters Are Shut Out of Elections
00:01:07 – Meet Lisa Rice and the Fight for DC Reform
00:03:10 – Discovering the Cost of Leaving a Political Party
00:04:21 – Open Primaries as a Voting Rights Issue
00:06:10 – Taking on Washington, DC’s Political Establishment
00:07:35 – How Initiative 83 Won with 73% of the Vote
00:09:47 – Connecting Election Reform to Community Needs
00:11:20 – Court Battles, Ranked Choice Voting, and What Comes Next
00:13:24 – The “Picket at the Thicket” Protest for Voter Access
00:15:28 – Building a Movement for Independent Voters and Reform

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Chad, Shawn, and Cara break down the five-day vote count that knocked Spencer Pratt out of the LA mayoral runoff - and why "fraud" is the wrong story. Cara walks through her viral article on Tom Steyer's $216 million spend, the DSA/progressive turnout machine, and how legal ballot harvesting in high-density neighborhoods delivered the late surge for Nithya Raman. Then the crew zooms out to the California governor's race, the bad-faith attacks on top-two primaries, and the record independent (NPP) turnout nobody's covering. Plus: Maine's remarkably civil ranked-choice governor's primary, a fight over slow vote counts that even the New York Times is picking, and a court challenge that could revive open primaries in Oklahoma. 

This episode is sponsored by the Independent Voter Project and produced by Olas Media. 

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at: https://ivn.us  and https://independentvoterproject.org 

Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Ballot Harvesting, Fraud Claims & the LA Mayor's Race

00:04:38 – How Ballot Harvesting Works & the Steyer Ground Game

00:09:25 – Progressive Alliances, Nonprofits & Unreported Spending

00:13:27 – NPP Voters Surge & the Real Purpose of Top Two

00:17:34 – California Governor's Race: Becerra & Hilton Advance

00:20:14 – Party Operatives, Media Bait & the Top Two Debate

00:24:50 – Maine Ranked Choice Voting & the Governor's Race

00:29:53 – California's Ballot Counting Timeline & the Postmark Debate

00:34:46 – Election Suspicion, Transparency & the Nine-Day Window

00:36:45 – Oklahoma's Open Primary Signature Fight

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fresh off the California gubernatorial primary, Chad, Cara, and Ethan break down why the "top-two will produce two Republicans" narrative was a manufactured fear - and why it collapsed the moment voters actually voted, with Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra heading toward a traditional R-vs-D general. They dig into who was pushing that panic and why (fundraising, juicing turnout, and a quiet war on top-two itself), including the uncomfortable detail that a party chair reportedly asked a leading minority candidate to drop out. Stick around for the bigger question the reform movement keeps dodging - and a pitch for what could come after top-two. 

This episode is sponsored by the Independent Voter Project and produced by Olas Media. 

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at: https://ivn.us  and https://independentvoterproject.org 

Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Independent Voters Win the Jungle Primary

00:00:51 – California Primary Results: Hilton vs. Becerra & Steyer's $200M Loss

00:03:37 – Tom Steyer's Campaign: Ranked Choice Voting & Positive Politics

00:07:32 – What if California Had Top Four + Ranked Choice Voting?

00:09:33 – Latino Voters & the Open Primary: 80% Want to Keep It

00:11:45 – The "Two Republicans" Scare: Manufactured Fear & Biased Polling

00:14:47 – Why Both Parties Hate Top Two — and That's Exactly Why It Works

00:16:26 – Where Does the Right to Vote Come From? The Core Question of Reform

00:18:22 – Reforming the Reform: The Case for Top Four + RCV in California

00:22:13 – Republicans, Relevance & the Self-Inflicted Wound of Closing Primaries

 

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

57% of Floridians voted to open their primaries. They still lost. Chad Peace and Cara McCormick sit down with Political No Brainer host Jeff Rabinowitz to unpack how Florida's two-party system buries voting reform - and the closed-primary lawsuit now knocking on the Supreme Court's door. 

This episode is sponsored by the Independent Voter Project and produced by Olas Media. 

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at: https://ivn.us and https://independentvoterproject.org 

Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Are Political Parties Just “Make Wrong Machines”?

00:01:03 – Meet Jeff Rabinowitz and the Political No Brainer Podcast

00:02:00 – Florida’s Closed Primaries and Independent Voters

00:02:51 – Why Florida Requires 60% for Constitutional Amendments

00:04:19 – Millions of Independent Voters Locked Out

00:05:29 – Why Independent Candidates Struggle in Florida

00:06:49 – The Florida Supreme Court Challenge on Voting Rights

00:09:11 – Is Florida Really as Partisan as the Media Says?

00:11:21 – Guns, Culture, and Political Identity in Florida

00:14:07 – Jeff Rabinowitz’s Advice for Independent-Minded Voters

00:16:18 – What Does It Mean to Be “Independent Minded”?

00:18:54 – Why Voting for Independents Matters

Support the show: https://ivn.us/podcasts/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.