COLUMBIA, S.C. — JULY 29, 2026 — Veterans for All Voters, a nonpartisan, veteran-led organization, today filed a motion to intervene alongside The Chamberlain Network in South Carolina Republican Party v. Bolchoz, a federal case challenging South Carolina’s semi-open primary system. 

The organizations are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of South Carolina and seek to defend current state law.

At stake is a simple principle: affiliating with a private political party should be a choice, not the price of admission to a taxpayer-funded election.

South Carolina does not register voters by party. Under current law, any eligible voter may choose to participate in one major party’s primary during an election cycle, but may not vote in both. State and county election officials administer those elections with public funds.

“Political parties have important constitutional interests, and their claims deserve a fair hearing. South Carolinians who fund and participate in these elections deserve to be heard, too,” said Eric H. Bronner, Navy veteran and Founder of Veterans for All Voters. “South Carolina established this system through its own laws. We are seeking to join the case to make sure any decision about its future considers both the rights of political parties and the freedom of voters to remain independent.” 

The lawsuit itself underscores why this is not a conventional partisan fight. The South Carolina Republican Party is challenging state law by suing election officials led by Robert Bolchoz, who previously sought the Republican nomination for attorney general and was appointed by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to chair the State Election Commission in January. 

This case is not about helping one party or hurting another. It is about whether eligible voters can continue participating in publicly funded elections without affiliating with a political party. 

“My first duty station was in South Carolina, and I called the state home for my first two years on active duty,” said Alberto Ramos, Navy veteran and Chief Executive Officer of Veterans for All Voters. “My brothers and sisters in arms who live there today should not have to choose between their political independence and a meaningful vote in the taxpayer-funded primaries that often decide who represents them. Veterans served our country, not a political party. South Carolina’s elections belong to South Carolina voters, and we are stepping into court to defend their voice.”

In many South Carolina races, the primary is the election that matters most. South Carolina Election Commission data identifies dozens of contests in the 2026 cycle in which the primary is the only contested election. In those races, exclusion from the primary can leave voters without a meaningful say in who represents them. 

“I spent 30 years in the Army, completed six combat deployments, and now call Columbia home,” said retired Army Col. Christopher Himsl, South Carolina state leader for Veterans for All Voters. “As an intelligence officer, it was my duty to speak truth to power. The truth is simple: closing South Carolina’s primaries would give party insiders more control and independent-minded veterans and other South Carolinians less of a voice.”

Veterans for All Voters is proud to pursue this effort with The Chamberlain Network, one of its closest partners, and is grateful to the ACLU and the ACLU of South Carolina for helping ensure veteran and independent voices are represented before the court.