Marginal Independence and Partial Set Partitions

We establish a bijection between marginal independence models on n random variables and split closed order ideals in the poset of partial set partitions. We also establish that every discrete marginal independence model is toric in cdf coordinates. This generalizes results of Boege, Petrovic, and Sturmfels and Drton and Richardson, and provides a unified framework for discussing marginal independence models.