I’ll never forget the night of the 2000 presidential election. I was deployed to the Persian Gulf, watching the results come in from my squadron’s ready room aboard the USS George Washington. At first, over 20 of us were gathered around the TV. But as the night dragged on and Florida flipped from red to blue and back again, the room emptied out. By 3 a.m., I was still there — watching, waiting, wondering who my next commander in chief would be.

That moment left a mark. It reminded me how much trust we place in fair, transparent elections and how vital it is that every American, especially those in uniform, have a say in who leads them.

That’s why I’m writing today in support of the Let America Vote Act (LAVA), a bipartisan bill that would finally put an end to one of the most overlooked forms of voter suppression in our country. Right now, in 15 states and Washington, D.C., independent voters — including hundreds of thousands of veterans — are shut out of primary elections. These elections are publicly funded, but millions of taxpayers have no say in the candidates who appear on the general election ballot. For many races, especially in deeply partisan districts, the primary is the election. And yet, because we don’t belong to a political party, veterans like me are told we don’t get to vote.

That’s taxation without representation. And it’s not what we fought for.

LAVA would change that. The bill, introduced by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, with bipartisan co-sponsors including Reps. Jared Golden, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Andrew Garbarino, would ensure that all federal primaries are open to independent voters. It uses Congress’ constitutional authority over federal elections and provides incentives to states to do the same for state and local elections. It does not change presidential primaries, and it does not eliminate party primaries. It simply restores voting rights to those who have been excluded, many of them veterans.

I’ve been an independent, split-ticket voter my entire adult life. Like many of the 55% of post-9/11 veterans who also identify as independent, I’ve been told to just “pick a team” or “join a party.” But that ignores the reasons why many veterans choose to stay unaffiliated: because we put country over party, because we believe in nonpartisan service, or because neither party fully reflects our values. Whatever the reason, no veteran should lose their voice for refusing to play political games.

In Pennsylvania alone, over 600,000 veterans would be affected. More than half are independent. That’s over 300,000 veterans who would immediately be re-enfranchised under this bill.

Recognizing the importance of this issue, Veterans for All Voters made LAVA one of our top priorities for 2025. We called on our members — veterans in legacy organizations like the VFW — to introduce resolutions at the local and state levels. Some made significant progress. But one veteran stood out: David Oclander. David’s work is helping bring this issue where it belongs, to the heart of the veteran community.

David, a West Point graduate and Army veteran, introduced a resolution in support of LAVA at his VFW post in East Helena, Mont. He didn’t stop there. He took the fight to the Montana State VFW Convention, where he made the case clearly and respectfully for why this legislation matters to veterans. David’s resolution passed overwhelmingly.

Thanks to David’s leadership, Resolution #304 will be considered at the national VFW convention this August in Columbus, Ohio. And because of support from bipartisan members of Congress — including Marine veteran Rep. Jared Golden, who sent a letter backing the effort — this resolution has a real chance of passing.

Some may say that voting rights don’t fall within the VFW’s mission — that the organization should focus solely on veterans’ benefits and the VA. But this issue goes to the heart of what it means to be a citizen-soldier. Our service didn’t end with our DD-214s. It was rooted in defending the freedoms that make this country worth serving, including the right to vote.

We often say freedom isn’t free. That’s true. And neither is silence.

How can we advocate for better care at the Department of Veterans Affairs if we don’t have a voice in choosing the leaders who run it? How can we speak with moral authority about civic duty if we ignore the fact that millions of veterans are being denied access to the ballot?

Supporting LAVA isn’t a partisan act. It’s a patriotic one. It’s a way of saying that service doesn’t end when the uniform comes off. It continues in how we show up for our republic and in how we fight to make it more fair, more inclusive, and more reflective of the people it’s meant to serve.

This August, I hope the VFW does what it has done for more than a century: lead.

Eric H. Bronner is a Navy veteran, attorney and the founder of Veterans for All Voters -- a national, nonpartisan mission to make politics less polarizing and government more responsible through open and competitive elections.