Paul Rieckhoff wears many hats. He is a veteran of the Iraq War, founded Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, national security analyst, author, producer, podcaster, and founder of Independent Veterans of America.
Last week, the Oklahoma campaign to put a nonpartisan all-voter and all-candidate nonpartisan primary initiative on the ballot was informed that it did not collect enough signatures to be certified. This means state voters won’t get a say on the matter in 2026.
James Talarico wins Texas’ Democratic Senate primary as campaigns point to unusually high independent participation in the state’s open primary system. Then Dallas County’s last-minute switch back to precinct-only voting sparks confusion, long lines, and a legal fight over ballots cast after 7 p.m.
The answer to today’s crowded field is not retreat. It is modernization. Instead of empowering party gatekeepers, we can empower voters with more choice, less vote splitting, and majority-supported outcomes.
As February wrapped up, it was reported that President Donald Trump had nominated two Republicans for the Federal Elections Commission after 10 months of the agency being unable to perform its basic functions.
On February 27, 2026, the better elections group Open Primaries released a sweeping public statement titled Declaration of Independents, framing the exclusion of independent voters from critical taxpayer-funded elections as the unfinished business of 1776.
It didn’t take long for our poll to get noticed not only in Sacramento, but all the way over on the East Coast where the New York Times featured it alongside other reputable pollsters like Emerson College and the Public Policy Institute of California.
Tune in for our independent breakdown of Trump’s record-length 2026 State of the Union: voter ID + proof of citizenship, immigration rhetoric, affordability vs “winning” messaging, a rare bipartisan beat on banning stock trading, and the moment the chamber unified around a Coast Guard rescue.
Polls consistently show that nearly all Americans across the political spectrum agree that there is too much money in politics – whether from foreign sources, corporations, or so-called “dark money” groups.
In this episode of the Independent Voter Podcast, we debate election integrity, voter suppression concerns, automatic voter registration through DMVs, and whether federalizing election rules undermines states’ rights under Article I of the Constitution.
Throughout this episode of the Independent Voter Podcast, the central theme remains clear: Americans broadly support common-sense reforms to strengthen election integrity and government accountability, but partisan strategy and fundraising incentives continue to stall meaningful change.
Candidate filings for Congress are set to begin soon in Missouri, yet the people looking to run still have no idea which districts they will be campaigning in as multiple lawsuits against Missouri’s new congressional map have yet to be settled.
Shawn Griffiths
Independent Voter Podcast
John E Palmer
Independent Voter Project
