Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
Just the Facts: Canadian Tariffs - June Update

Just the Facts: Canadian Tariffs - June Update

Raining on Trump’s Military Parade

Raining on Trump’s Military Parade

Meet the change leaders: Eric Bronner, veteran and political reformer

Eric Bronner
Courtesy Veterans for All Vets
David L. Nevins
By David L. NevinsFeb 20, 2024
David L. Nevins
David L. Nevins serves as co-publisher of The Fulcrum. Additionally, Nevins serves as co-founder and Board Chairman of the Bridge Alliance. Nevins brings business acumen, vision and a tireless this-must-and-can-be-done zeal to the burgeoning movement to bridge divides to transform the political process. As a business leader, Nevins excels at building bridges between people and organizations from the right, left and center for civilized conversation and then action. He co-founded the Bridge Alliance because, as he says, “No matter how well managed and how well funded anyone organization is, significant political reform will not happen without an alliance to further collaborative interactions. Together we can and will raise the collective impact of all.” He is a member of the Aspen Institute Society of Fellows, with a focus on the Aspen Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership, he established and continues to work with The Nevins Democracy Leaders program at Penn State University. Nevins graduated with honors in economics from Penn State in 1969 and received an M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971.
See More Writings by author

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Eric Bronner on Jan. 18 for the CityBiz “Meet the Change Leaders” series.

Bronner is the founder and chief operating officer of Veterans for All Voters – a veteran-led, cross-partisan community that is mobilizing military veterans to be advocates for election innovations that unlock competition, make our politics less toxic and encourage the government to be more responsible.

Bronner graduated with honors from the United States Naval Academy in 1997 and served on active duty for eight years as a naval flight officer. Before discovering his passion for election reforms, Bronner was a successful real estate broker and attorney in St. Louis, Mo. For three years, Bronner was a board leader with Show Me Integrity, a cross-partisan democracy reform organization that in 2020 helped bring an innovative, nonpartisan approval voting system to St. Louis.

After the 2020 election, a fellow veteran saw Bronner’s passion for political reforms and recommended getting more veterans involved. Early in 2021, he put together an informal advisory board of veterans from across the country and political spectrum to investigate this opportunity. They discovered a true “white space” between the 40,000-plus veteran service organizations and thousands of civic health, bridge building and reform organizations.

As such, Veterans for All Voters launched publicly, in Wisconsin, in October 2021. Since then, VAV has mobilized over 3,200 veterans and supporters in all 50 states. In 2022, VAV was a coalition partner with the successful “ Yes on 3! ” ballot amendment campaign to bring “final-five voting” to Nevada. Now, in 2024, VAV’s 300-plus veteran leaders are supporting over 20 different active reform campaigns in cities and states across the country. These efforts are opposed by both major political parties.

Watch the interview to learn the full extent of Bronner’s remarkable work and perhaps you’ll become more civically engaged as well.

Eric Bronner- Veterans for All Votersyoutu.be

Latest news

Expanding Deportations: Trump’s Hardline Agenda May Cost the GOP
News

Expanding Deportations: Trump’s Hardline Agenda May Cost the GOP

Poetry, Democracy, and the Vineyard of Renewal
Democracy

Poetry, Democracy, and the Vineyard of Renewal

NextGen Initiatives: Fulcrum Fellowship
News

NextGen Initiatives: Fulcrum Fellowship

Read More

Voter registration

In April 2025, the SAVE Act has been reintroduced in the 119th Congress and passed the House, with a much stronger chance of becoming law given the current political landscape.

SDI Productions

The SAVE Act: Addressing a Non-Existent Problem at the Cost of Voter Access?

In July 2024, I wrote about the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act when it was first introduced in Congress. And Sarah and I discussed it in an episode of Beyond the Bill Number which you can still listen to. Now, in April 2025, the SAVE Act has been reintroduced in the 119th Congress and passed the House, with a much stronger chance of becoming law given the current political landscape. It's time to revisit this legislation and examine its implications for American voters.

Read the IssueVoter analysis of the bill here for further insight and commentary.

Keep ReadingShow less
Independent Voters Gain Ground As New Mexico Opens Primaries
person in blue denim jeans and white sneakers standing on gray concrete floor
Photo by Phil Scroggs on Unsplash

Independent Voters Gain Ground As New Mexico Opens Primaries

With the stroke of a pen, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham enfranchised almost 350,000 independent voters recently by signing a bill for open primaries. Just a few years ago, bills to open the primaries were languishing in the state legislature, as they have historically across the country. But as more and more voters leave both parties and declare their independence, the political system is buckling. And as independents begin to organize and speak out, it’s going to continue to buckle in their direction.

In 2004, there were 120,000 independent voters in New Mexico. A little over 10 years later, when the first open primary bill was introduced, that number had more than doubled. That bill never even got a hearing. But today the number of independents in New Mexico and across the country is too big to ignore. Independents are the largest group of voters in ten states and the second-largest in most others. That’s putting tremendous pressure on a system that wasn’t designed with them in mind.

Keep ReadingShow less
"Voter Here" sign outside of a polling location.

"Voter Here" sign outside of a polling location.

Getty Images, Grace Cary

Stopping the Descent Toward Banana Republic Elections

President Trump’s election-related executive order begins by pointing out practices in Canada, Sweden, Brazil, and elsewhere that outperform the U.S. But it is Trump’s order itself that really demonstrates how far we’ve fallen behind. In none of the countries mentioned, or any other major democracy in the world, would the head of government change election rules by decree, as Trump has tried to do.

Trump is the leader of a political party that will fight for control of Congress in 2026, an election sure to be close, and important to his presidency. The leader of one side in such a competition has no business unilaterally changing its rules—that’s why executive decrees changing elections only happen in tinpot dictatorships, not democracies.

Keep ReadingShow less
"Vote" pin.
Getty Images, William Whitehurst

Most Americans’ Votes Don’t Matter in Deciding Elections

New research from the Unite America Institute confirms a stark reality: Most ballots cast in American elections don’t matter in deciding the outcome. In 2024, just 14% of eligible voters cast a meaningful vote that actually influenced the outcome of a U.S. House race. For state house races, on average across all 50 states, just 13% cast meaningful votes.

“Too many Americans have no real say in their democracy,” said Unite America Executive Director Nick Troiano. “Every voter deserves a ballot that not only counts, but that truly matters. We should demand better than ‘elections in name only.’”

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025