Frequently Asked Questions

Veterans for All Voters is a 501c3 non-profit organization with a vision of a healthy and truly representative American democracy, facilitated by competitive elections, where all citizens are both incentivized and excited to participate.

 

We’re comprised of nearly 500 volunteers, all military-connected, in all 50 states who advocate for democracy reforms that increase competition, reduce polarization, allow registered independents to participate, and make our government more responsive to voters. 

 

In addition to our volunteers, we have a national team comprised of five employees, all of whom are military. 

Yes, VAV is truly nonpartisan and our coalition of volunteers represents Republicans, Democrats, and Independent voters. We rigidly hold ourselves to operating above the political fray, without allegiance or leanings towards any political party.

 

We educate about electoral reforms that will increase civic participation, increase competition in our elections, and increase government responsiveness and efficiency – we have no affiliation or loyalty to any political party nor are we interested in seeing any party or any candidate advantaged.

 

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.

As a 501c3 nonprofit organization, all of our funding is public record. We submit an annual Form 990 to the IRS that notes our funders. You can find our 2022 990 information here. We will provide the 2023 990 as soon as it is submitted to the IRS. For reference, our current foundational funders include:

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• Unite America

• Arnold Ventures

• Ford Foundation

• Democracy Funders Network

• The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation

• Toolbox Foundation

• UpMobility Foundation

• Lightspark Foundation

Election reform is a passion project for co-founders Todd Connor and Eric Bronner who both served as US Naval officers and have a great admiration, respect, and love for our country. As the US political landscape deteriorated throughout the 2010s and resulted in one of the most polarized points in US history, Todd and Eric both felt compelled to look at structural solutions that can restore some semblance of normalcy, responsiveness, and civility to American political life. 

 

Eric was convicted after listening to a Freakonomics podcast [hyperlink] on Final Five Elections and Todd after reading The Politics Industry [hyperlink] and gained a deep conviction that the only way to truly fix our dysfunctional system of government was to change the incentives for politicians by focusing on low-turnout closed primary elections that render both major parties beholden to the most ideologically extreme voters. Eric is a lawyer and Todd previously started Bunker Labs, a non-profit organization that helps military veterans and spouses start and grow businesses.

 

Since its founding in 2021, VAV has been an integral partner to the pro-democracy, nonpartisan election reform movement. Just as reformers intervened against political insider interests in previous generations, so too do we see a need for reformers from outside the system to reclaim power for everyday people and voters in this country.

There are many good and urgently needed political reforms to deal with money in politics, gerrymandering, revolving doors, how Congress functions, and other issues.  Veterans for All Voters (VAV) is primarily focused on three reforms including Open Primaries, Majority Winner Elections (sometimes called Ranked Choice Voting or Instant Run-Off Elections), and Final Five Voting, which is a combination of those two and we believe most powerful as a reform.  While we have a point of view about the reforms themselves, it’s really the principles that drive us. 

We believe:

1)    Every voter should have the freedom to vote for any candidate, regardless of party, in every taxpayer funded elections.  Importantly, registered independents who represent 51% of military veteran voters, should also have access to vote in elections. 

2)    A candidate should be required to earn a majority of the vote in order to win.

3)    Voters should have real choices, and elected officials should face real competition.  The vast majority of elections in this country are not competitive – incumbents routinely go unchallenged.
 

VAV is focused on these three innovations because they give voters more power, and they allow all voters to fully participate in all elections, regardless of party affiliation.  These reforms address the bad incentives and limited choices (“lesser of two evils”) created by our current partisan primary elections. They are also the most achievable and least partisan reforms.

 

Because the Citizens’ Initiative Process (aka, the “ballot initiative”) is integral to passing these reforms, Veterans for All Voters also supports efforts to defend the Initiative Process from attack, in states where it is allowed, and to expand its use in other states.  VAV is part of the Respect Voters Coalition.  

Veterans are uniquely positioned to be trusted messengers in their community. Veterans represent a group of people who truly put country above self and who were willing to risk their livelihoods in order to continue to safeguard freedom, democracy, and the American dream. Veterans are public servants, and the public understands that veterans sacrifice themselves to serve the public interests, not their own. To this end, the public trusts veterans to look out for their best interest, so veterans are well-positioned to help educate the public on the power of electoral reform. To help illuminate this point:

 

• As many as 59% of veterans, august 18-49, identify as independent or unaffiliated voters.  (see, Slide # 6, HERE; cite = Pew Research Center, April 2017 Survey)

• 32% of veterans work in public service or with charitable organizations compared to 22% of non-veterans. Veterans are service oriented and ready for a meaningful mission.

• A 2021 Gallup Poll found that 69% of the public still has “quite a lot, or a great deal” of trust in Veterans.  Whereas, only 12% of those polled had “quite a lot or a great deal of trust” in Congress.

No, absolutely not. The reforms VAV champions are not about picking winners or losers and they will not specifically benefit (or hurt) either party.  Generally speaking, unpopular, extreme or performative politicians as well as entrenched interests stand to lose when the moderate majority of voters are fully enfranchised in election systems.  These reforms will infuse our elections with healthy competition, giving voters more choices and more power; elevating more candidate voices and making sure every single voter can fully participate.  In states that are supermajority for one party, this does give the minor parties more of a chance to compete.  For that reason, the Democratic Party often opposes these reforms in states where they have super-majority control, as does the Republican Party in states where they have super-majority control.
 

Political parties (both major and minor parties) will continue to play an important role in the new Final-Five Voting, election model that VAV champions.  Our reforms will help strengthen parties to serve their primary purpose:  organizing voters and nominating candidates.