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Paul Smith

Updates

Updates

 

 

Since 2019, Campaign Legal Center’s (CLC) Restore Your Vote program has provided over $300,000 in support to grassroots and state-based organizations to conduct voting rights restoration services in their communities.

Nationwide, more than 23 million Americans have been convicted of felonies. The vast majority of those people can vote or restore...

Since the Inspector General Act of 1978, almost every federal agency has an inspector general to prevent and detect waste, fraud and abuse and to promote economic efficiency, and effectiveness in the agency’s operations and programs.

Currently, there are over a dozen of inspectors general vacancies that need to be filled, including for major...

Issues

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is representing a coalition of civic participation groups that filed a lawsuit on April 7, 2021 in federal district court in Georgia to block a new state law, S.B. 202, which, among many other problems, restricts the distribution of vote-by-mail applications to voters.

VoteAmerica, the Voter Participation Center and the...

Ted Cruz for Senate spent up to $18,000 on Facebook advertisements exclusively promoting Cruz’s book that urged viewers to “order your copy today,” with a link to purchase the book from online booksellers like Amazon.

This action led to Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filing two complaints against Sen. Ted Cruz and his campaign committee for...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Duke University Center on Science and Technology Policy hosted a panel discussion on the regulations that govern federal reporting of political sub-vendor spending.

The panel featured Brendan Fisher, CLC Director of Federal Reform, Shana Broussard, Chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Jordan Lieberman...

The Texas Senate passed S.B. 7, a bill that severely restricts the right of Texans to vote, on March 7, 2021. If signed into law, this proposal would erect more deliberate barriers to voting, prohibiting local efforts to expand voting access and silencing Texans in the process.

S.B. 7 makes it harder for people to vote by cutting early voting hours...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is organizing a social media testimonial campaign on April 30—#OurFairMaps Day—to raise awareness about fair redistricting in 2021. 

Maps will be redrawn this year, and CLC wants to encourage people to get talking on social media on about why redistricting and Fair Maps matter to them. 

CLC’s goal: to ask people and...

Issues

Campaign Legal Center (CLC), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Common Cause and League of Women Voters of California (LWV) submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra.

The brief urges the Court to uphold California’s law that requires charitable groups...

On March 31, 2021, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed into law the Voting Rights Act of Virginia, H.B. 1890, establishing Virginia as a national leader in protecting voting rights for communities of color.

The federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965, which prohibited discrimination in voting based on race, color or membership in a language...

On March 31, 2021, a federal court declared Virginia Beach, Virginia’s method of conducting elections illegal because it dilutes the voting power of the minority community.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) served as counsel for plaintiffs Latasha Holloway and Georgia Allen and proved at trial that the election system for city council did not comply...

Campaign Legal Center Action (CLCA) and Common Cause Georgia filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that during the lead up to the Georgia Senate runoff election the Georgia Republican Party illegally coordinated with True the Vote.

In December 2020, the Georgia Republican Party requested the assistance of True the...

Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center (CLC), first appeared on the “Colbert Report” to educate the public about political action committees (PAC) on March 30, 2011. One of the issues brought to light in his series of appearances was how easy it is for candidates and super PACs to illegally coordinate campaign spending.

A decade later...

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed an omnibus bill into law on March 25, 2021 that will make sweeping changes to the state’s election procedures, making it significantly harder to vote following record turnout in the 2020 elections.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is among the co-counsel representing FairFight Action in FairFight Action v. Raffensperger, a...

Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration in support of the For the People Act (S.1) on March 24, 2021.

The hearing on S.1, a sweeping legislative package that will crack down on political...

The For the People Act (H.R.1/S. 1) is a once-in-a-generation transformative legislative package. If passed, it will move the country’s political system closer to the American ideal of an inclusive democracy.

The sweeping bill would fix our elections by reducing the influence of wealthy special interests in our politics and ensuring Americans have...

Citizen-led state ballot initiatives play an important role in making democracy more accountable, transparent and inclusive. By establishing independent redistricting commissions (IRC), strengthening donor disclosure laws and creating independent ethics commissions, voters have ensured that their government works for them rather than politicians or...

Congress proposed the 26th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to lower the voting age to 18 for all local, state, and federal elections on March 23, 1971. This victory affirmed the right of all legal adults to participate in the democratic process.

The 26th Amendment was borne of youth activism. At the height of the Vietnam War, young people...

Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) will testify before the United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration on Wednesday, March 24th. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. EDT.

The hearing on the For the People Act, legislation that will strengthen our...

For decades, federal law has prohibited foreign interference in federal, state, and local elections. Despite this general federal ban, the law has significant loopholes that have been exploited by foreign interests as recently as the 2020 elections.

The federal ban has not been updated since the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit will hear arguments in Daunt v Benson on March 17, 2021. This case challenges the constitutionality of voter-approved reforms designed to end gerrymandering in Michigan.

The decision could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and would impact the movement to adopt independent redistricting...

Issues

For the first time in a generation, sweeping campaign finance reforms are on the verge of passing Congress. To reduce political corruption, we need real transparency about who is spending big money on elections.

Many of the provisions in the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1) are designed to crackdown on corruption in both parties.

Specifically...