South Carolina Republican Party v. Bolchoz

South Carolina has used a semi-open primary system for decades, allowing any registered voter to vote in the party primary of their choice, so long as they vote in only one party’s primary per election cycle. Because the state has a Republican supermajority and gerrymandered districts, the primary is frequently the only election that determines who holds office—making primary access especially critical for independent-minded voters, including the many veterans who don’t affiliate with either major party.

The South Carolina Republican Party has tried for over a decade to close its primaries, first through litigation in 2010 (which it lost and later abandoned), then through failed legislation, and now through a new lawsuit combined with amended party rules restricting primary participation to registered Republicans. The Party then sued in July 2026, arguing that the current open-primary system unconstitutionally forces it to associate with non-members and violates equal protection.

Veterans for All Voters (VAV) and The Chamberlain Network (TCN)—membership organizations representing veterans across South Carolina, many of whom are politically independent—moved to intervene as defendants. They argue that state election officials, who must represent all citizens, cannot adequately protect the narrower interests of independent voters, particularly given the risk that the state could settle by consent judgment in the Party’s favor. VAV and TCN also argue that the Party’s claimed burden on its associational rights is far outweighed by the State’s interest in open elections and the intervenors’ members’ fundamental right to vote.