Attorney · Digital media · independent

Creator, publisher, attorney, and father.

S. Chad Peace is an attorney and digital media executive in San Diego. His work runs across election law, election reform, and political communications. He has built firms, publishes independent journalism, and has led voting-rights litigation from California's courts to the U.S. Supreme Court. Born and raised in San Diego, he lives there today with his wife and two children.

University of San Diego School of Law, J.D.
UCLA, B.A. Economics (minor Philosophy)
Portrait of S. Chad Peace

Creator

The firms and organizations he has built.

Founder, partner, and board member across media, law, and the movement for nonpartisan election reform.

IVC Media

Founder & President · 2011

IVC Media

A full-service digital media and public affairs firm in San Diego, serving political, governmental, nonprofit, and corporate clients with digital strategy, voter outreach, and communications. Its Tijuana-based creative subsidiary, IVC Mexico, founded with partner Juan Hernandez, employs more than two dozen creatives.

ivc.media ↗
Peace & Shea LLPAttorneys at Law · San Diego

Partner

Peace & Shea LLP

An election-law and public-affairs practice advising campaigns, organizations, and individuals on ballot measures, voter participation, and political association.

Also involved

EtereoAn IVC Media company↗Olas MediaAn IVC Media company↗National Association of Nonpartisan ReformersCo-founder↗Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic IntelligenceProducer↗

Author and Host

What he writes, and the platforms that carry it.

Commentary, independent journalism, and a podcast on elections and the independent voter.

Selected Commentary

Commentary on election reform and political participation, published across national and regional outlets.

ABC News ↗CalMatters ↗Independent Voter News ↗

Independent Voter News

ivn.us ↗

The independent journalism platform he helps publish, with reporting and analysis on elections, reform, and the independent-voter movement.

Olas Media

Listen ↗

Co-host of the Independent Voter Podcast, produced by Olas Media: conversations on elections, reform, and the structural problems in American politics.

Media coverage

Selected interviews, features, and press mentions across national and regional outlets.

Attorney

Election law, ballot access, and the independent voter.

Partner at Peace & Shea LLP, admitted in California. He has led voting-rights litigation on behalf of independent voters from the trial courts to the U.S. Supreme Court, and argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Voting Rights01

Defending the unaffiliated voter.

Counsel and brief-writer in litigation defending independent and unaffiliated voters: challenges to California's presidential primary and New Jersey's closed primary, and a 2025 Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of Open Primaries and the Forward Party. Principal author of San Diego's Measure K (2016).

CaliforniaNew JerseyFlorida
Arbitration02

Advocacy, taught and coached.

President of the International Arbitration Team at the University of San Diego School of Law, where he continues to serve as a volunteer coach.

USD School of LawTeam PresidentVolunteer coach
Accreditation03

Admitted and in good standing.

Admitted to the State Bar of California (#290274). His appellate work includes argument before the Third Circuit and briefs before the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.

CaliforniaThird CircuitD.C. CircuitU.S. Supreme Court

Litigation

As counsel and strategist for the Independent Voter Project, Peace wrote the briefs in these constitutional challenges to closed and semi-closed primaries, from the federal trial courts to the Supreme Court of the United States, and argued before the Third Circuit.

Polelle v. Florida
Amicus · 2025Supreme Court · No. 25-147

Polelle v. Florida

Amicus co-filed with Open Primaries, the Forward Party, and the Florida Forward Party, challenging Florida's closed primaries for some 4.5 million independents. Certiorari pending.

Read the case ↗
Boydston v. Padilla
SCOTUS writCalifornia · 2019

Boydston v. Padilla

Challenge to the exclusion of independent voters from California’s taxpayer-funded presidential primary. The Supreme Court denied certiorari in 2023.

Read the case ↗
Balsam v. Guadagno
3rd CircuitNew Jersey · 2014

Balsam v. Guadagno

Coalition challenge to New Jersey’s closed primary, which shut 2.6 million unaffiliated voters out of taxpayer-funded elections. Petitioned to the Supreme Court.

Read the case ↗
Level the Playing Field v. FEC
AmiciD.C. Circuit · 2016–19

Level the Playing Field v. FEC

Three amicus briefs supporting the challenge to the presidential-debate polling threshold that keeps independent candidates off the stage.

Read the case ↗

Recognition

Honors received.

Recognition for political communications, and continued service to the cause of nonpartisan reform.

American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC)

  • 40 Under 40
  • Pollie Award (Digital / Ballot Initiative)
  • Campaign of Excellence
  • Ballot Measure Campaign of the Year
  • Best Digital Creative (Full Set)
  • Best Ballot Initiative Website
  • Best Use of Social Media

New York Independence Clubs

  • Anti-Corruption Award

REED Awards

  • Best Creative Fundraising Email for a Presidential Campaign

CIVVY Awards

  • Best Campaign for Civic Engagement and Collaboration

Home

The Peace Family

Chad lives in El Cajon, California, with his wife, Arieli Peace; his son, S. Angelo Peace (4); and his daughter, Isabelle (“Belle”) Peace (3).

The family travels regularly to their second home in Camboriú, Brazil, to stay with Arieli's family. Arieli, Angelo, and Belle are dual citizens and bilingual in Portuguese and English.

Chad speaks portuñol, a form of gringo that allows for conversational-level communication anywhere south of the United States border.

Chad Peace with his wife, Arieli, and their children, Angelo and Belle.