Transparency in elections is vitally important for voters to meaningfully participate in the democratic process. Wealthy special interests often run election ads aimed at influencing voters, particularly at key junctures like the weeks leading up to a primary or runoff election.  

Voters need to know who is funding these ads so they can weigh...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Arizona Supreme Court to try to ensure that Arizonans’ voices are heard when it comes to the issues that will directly impact their lives. The brief aims to protect the First Amendment rights of those who gather and sign petitions to place an initiative on the ballot. 

The...

This week, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is representing Utah voters in court to oppose the Utah Legislature’s attempt to prevent the plaintiffs’ lawsuit challenging Utah’s gerrymandered congressional map from moving forward.  

In 2018, Utah voters passed a bipartisan citizen initiative called Proposition 4 (Prop 4), also known as Better Boundaries...

Two nonpartisan civic engagement organizations, the League of Women Voters of Missouri (LWVMO) and Missouri State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Missouri NAACP), filed a lawsuit challenging several parts of a new anti-voter law in Missouri.  

The plaintiffs are represented by the Campaign Legal Center...

Americans across the political spectrum consistently support greater transparency in our democratic process. But lawmakers and wealthy special interests in New Hampshire and across the country have been quietly working to block the public from knowing who is funding groups that spend money to influence their vote and their government.

New...

The five authors of this blog are all former FEC employees

To reduce political corruption, we need real transparency about who is spending big money on elections. Voters need to know who is funding election messaging, so they can properly weigh the credibility of that messaging and cast an informed vote. 

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is...

The U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration held a hearing on the urgent need to update the Electoral Count Act (ECA), an outdated law from 1887 that outlines procedures for casting and counting Electoral College votes in presidential elections. 

This hearing follows last month’s introduction of bipartisan legislation – the Electoral Count...

By Matthew Peljovich, a Summer 2022 CLC intern

The freedom to vote is one of our most fundamental rights, and our democracy is strongest when every voter can freely participate in it — including those who are serving time in jail.  

Two out of every three people currently in U.S. jails, or roughly half a million people, are being held in jail...

It costs money to run an organization or business, particularly one that processes financial transactions. On top of the basic administrative overhead — like salary, benefits, rent and taxes — any organization that handles other people’s money must keep precise records and comply with the relevant laws; handling money involves significant legal...

On July 25, 2022, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) President Trevor Potter gave an address for the Chautauqua Lecture Series at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York.  

His speech, entitled, “The Crisis Facing American Democracy,” focused on some of the greatest threats to democracy today yet also highlighted potential solutions while...

Every year, the federal government spends billions of taxpayer dollars on federal contracts with companies that provide the government with essential goods and services.  

Elected officials should make these contracting decisions solely with an eye on keeping the government operating effectively and efficiently — not on whether companies seeking...

The voting maps we draw today will shape people’s lives for the next decade. If we want a fair and inclusive democracy where every voice is heard and every vote is counted equally, then we can’t let politicians carve up communities of color for political gain.

The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is a national law that protects communities of color against...

This week, Congress is holding an important hearing on a proposed law that would significantly improve transparency in our elections: the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act (DISCLOSE Act). 

Transparency in elections is a central pillar of a vibrant, inclusive democracy. Voters have a fundamental right to know...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has released a new analysis discussing how the current Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John Roberts, otherwise known as the Roberts Court, has a record for being consistently anti-democratic when deciding cases that affect American democracy.

The analysis shows how the Roberts Court has reversed decades of work by...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has filed a lawsuit in District of Columbia federal court, challenging the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) recent dismissal of an administrative complaint that CLC filed against the campaign committees of then-President Donald Trump in July 2020 and later supplemented in January 2021. 

The underlying administrative...

By Sally Marsh, a Summer 2022 CLC intern

Federal campaign finance law contains a commonsense prohibition: companies cannot contribute to any political committee — including candidates’ campaigns, PACs or super PACs — while they are negotiating or performing a contract with the federal government.

The federal contractor contribution ban is an...

A bipartisan, select committee in the U.S. House of Representatives continued a series of hearings this month about the January 6th attack on our country. The third hearing shined a light on the need for Congress to update the Electoral Count Act of 1887 (ECA), which provides the primary legal framework for how presidential votes are cast and...

Voters deserve to have an equal opportunity to cast their ballots safely and effectively. In-person voting is the most popular method for voting in U.S. elections, and in some states, the only method of voting for the majority of voters. Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, over half of voters — 54% — voted in person during the 2020 general election.

By Lica Porcile, a Summer 2022 CLC intern

Wealthy special interests use secret money, sometimes called dark money, to elect candidates that support their private agenda over the interests of everyday Americans. Voters have a right to know who is spending big money to influence their vote.

One way in which special interests keep their political...

In an op-ed for The Hill last week, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) President and Founder Trevor Potter spoke of the ongoing issues stemming from inaction by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), an agency he previously led as commissioner and chair, as well as the need for other parts of our government to step up where the agency is letting voters...

The New York State Senate and New York State Assembly have passed the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of New York (NYVRA), which Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed into law, making it the most comprehensive state Voting Rights Act in the country.

The NYVRA protects communities of color from attacks on their freedom to vote by preventing...