Washington, D.C. - Following a guilty plea by Rep. George Santos’s 2022 campaign treasurer Nancy Marks to charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, Erin Chlopak, Senior Director for Campaign Finance at Campaign Legal Center issued the following statement: 
 
"While information regarding Nancy Marks’s guilty plea is still unfolding, there is one thing we can say with certainty – it’s encouraging to see real accountability for those who knowingly make false statements to conceal election spending from voters. Every voter has a right to know who is spending to influence our elections and our government and they have a right to know how the candidates competing for their vote are spending those funds.  

As this case continues to unfold, we hope that voters in New York’s 3rd congressional district – and across the country – are given the insight they deserve into how the Santos campaign raised and spent donors’ money. Of course, voters were entitled to this information when they were deciding how to vote in 2022, and it’s imperative that they have it now, as Congressman George Santos seeks their vote once more.”
     

On January 9, 2023, Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that recently elected Rep. George Santos, his 2022 campaign committee, Devolder-Santos for Congress, and treasurer Nancy Marks violated federal campaign finance laws. The following day, CLC referred the complaint to the Department of Justice.  

CLC’s complaint alleged, among other things, that Santos’s campaign falsely reported $705,000 in “personal loans” from Santos, and the information underlying Marks’s guilty plea appears to support that allegation: Prosecutors in Marks’s case have reportedly indicated that Marks and Santos conspired to fabricate $500,000 in loans made to the campaign in order to meet fundraising benchmarks.  

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) previously filed a complaint against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for failing to disclose gifts of travel he received from a nonprofit as required by Florida’s ethics laws. Since then, CLC has learned of more undisclosed plane travel that Governor DeSantis took from wealthy special interests going as far back as 2018. CLC’s Kedric Payne—Vice President, General Counsel, and Senior Director of Ethics—released the following statement in response to this new development:  

“Floridians have a right to know and be assured that their elected officials are acting in the public’s best interest. Government officials complying with the state’s transparency laws is essential for maintaining public trust in these institutions, and with our democracy as a whole.  

Building upon our previous action from July, Campaign Legal Center has filed a supplemental complaint against Governor Ron DeSantis for failing to report at least eight previously undisclosed plane trips in 2018. Under Florida law, state government officials like Gov. DeSantis are required to report travel gifts costing over $100 to the Florida Ethics Commission by the last day of each calendar quarter.  

Despite Gov. DeSantis’s political ambitions at the national level, he is still bound by state ethics laws in Florida. His failure to report these trips, paid for by wealthy special interests, is a clear violation of the law and risks eroding public trust. We urge the Florida Commission on Ethics to investigate past and present omissions by Gov. DeSantis to report plane trips he received as gifts.”  

Yesterday, in a win for the voters of Georgia, a federal district court allowed a lawsuit challenging anti-voter provisions in Georgia’s S.B. 202 to proceed to trial. The U.S. District Court ruled that elements of the S.B. 202 law could violate nonpartisan civic engagement groups’ right to free speech. The case can now head to trial. 

The Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information filed suit in April 2021 to block enforcement of parts of Georgia’s anti-voter law, S.B. 202, that restrict the distribution of vote-by-mail applications to voters. The lawsuit alleges that S.B. 202 violates nonpartisan civic engagement groups’ First Amendment right to core political speech by restricting their ability to engage with voters. In so doing, these provisions create deliberate barriers to voting, primarily in communities of color, restricting Georgians’ freedom to vote. Campaign Legal Center (CLC), Smith Gambrell Russell and Councill, and Gunnemann & Chally represented the non-profits in their lawsuit.

“All of the work that we have done is aimed at one mission: to make sure that underrepresented voters are able to have their voice heard in their democracy. We are optimistic that this trial will give Georgia voters their day in court, and show that the provisions in S.B. 202 would make it more difficult to vote, especially for the New American Majority – people of color, young people and unmarried women,” said Tom Lopach, president and CEO of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Voter Participation Center (VPC) and Center for Voter Information (CVI). “This law makes it virtually impossible to run vote-by-mail application programs that have been proven time and time again to help Georgians cast their ballots. That’s why we fought back – to protect programs that we know help eligible Georgia voters. We reject this assault on democracy and will keep working to ensure every eligible American can make their voice heard.” 

“Georgia’s election experience has demonstrated the overwhelming need for election laws that allow voters to cast their ballot safely and freely, so that every voice is heard and elections reflect the will of the voters,” said Danielle Lang, senior director of voting rights at Campaign Legal Center (CLC). “S.B. 202 limits core political speech protected by the First Amendment, and we are glad to have the opportunity to prove that in court. At the end of the day, S.B. 202's effort to restrict civic engagement groups ultimately punishes voters, who otherwise might not be able to make their voice heard in our democracy.”   

“Voting rights are civil rights,” said Kadie D’Ambrosio, counsel at Councill, Gunnemann & Chally. “This case presents important issues affecting Georgia voters, and we’re pleased to participate in this effort to protect the democratic process.”

S.B. 202, a massive anti-voter bill passed in March 2021, made numerous changes to Georgia’s election system that, among other things, prohibited civic engagement groups from effectively distributing vote-by-mail applications. Specifically, S.B. 202 required all such applications to bear a false and misleading disclaimer, banned the personalization of vote-by-mail applications, and imposed administrative burdens that would have made it nearly impossible for nonpartisan civic engagement groups to distribute vote-by-mail applications to voters. 

Many Georgia voters rely on third-party groups to provide them with prefilled and preprinted absentee ballot applications that they can easily review and submit to their county elections official without need for a broadband internet connection or access to a printer or scanner at home. This was particularly true during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but remains the case for Black and brown voters, voters in rural areas, and young voters who are more likely to lack the means or opportunity to obtain and prepare vote-by-mail ballot applications on their own. 

This lawsuit has already spurred a legislative change to fix and remove the false and misleading disclaimers that S.B. 202 required all vote-by-mail applications to include. The remaining elements of the lawsuit will be heard at trial in 2024. 

The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every American’s rights to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process.

The Voter Participation Center and Center for Voter Information are non-profit, non-partisan organizations founded in 2003 to help members of the New American Majority – unmarried women, people of color and young people – register and vote. Since then, the organizations have helped over 6 million people register and cast ballots.