Anyone can make a super PAC - even prisoners and kids who can’t vote

Since a landmark 2010 federal court decision on campaign finance rules, super PACs have been dominating the campaign finance world.

These independent expenditure-only committees are able to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money for or against any political candidate — as long as they aren’t directly donating that money to a campaign or coordinating spending with candidates. These super PACs wield massive financial power and influence in elections. Just this cycle alone, super PACs registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) have received over $1.3 billion and have spent $695 million.

“The FEC has not kept pace with the change in modern campaigns,” said Corey Goldstone from the Campaign Legal Center. “This is due to vague rules that are the result of a bitter partisan divide among its commissioners that make it hard to agree to investigate even the most obvious crimes.” While these super PACs don’t appear to wield the power that other, more wealthy super PACs have, they illustrate how little regulation or oversight is involved in monitoring these committees.

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