Prospective officeholders increasingly seek to evade campaign finance laws by fundraising and campaigning before they publicly acknowledge their candidacy, while claiming that they are still testing the waters of a potential candidacy.  

By taking advantage of the exploratory period intended for individuals looking into whether to run, these...

Embracing false narratives and relying on disinformation about the integrity of our country’s electoral system, partisan actors across the country have pushed to make hand counting the primary method of tabulating ballots this November.

Many of these claims have focused on the reliability of vote tabulators, even though evidence suggests that they...

A bipartisan coalition of members of the U.S. House of Representatives released a letter urging House leadership to introduce a STOCK Act reform bill by the end of September, a huge step toward preventing conflicts of interest and insider trading in Congress and protecting the public’s trust.

The letter comes after nearly two years of Campaign...

As we barrel toward the 2022 midterms, prospective 2024 presidential candidates are already laying the groundwork for their campaigns. Yet none of these contenders has officially declared their candidacy.

When asked if they’re running, most play coy or even deny intending to run, despite engaging in activities that strongly suggest they have such...

Federal campaign finance laws are designed to increase transparency, curtail corruption and the appearance of corruption, and prevent foreign electoral influence.

To accomplish these goals, the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits certain types of political contributions, including contributions from foreign nationals and federal...

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...

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...