Washington, D.C. – The Senate has released an omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2023. It includes a bill that updates the Electoral Count Act (ECA) of 1887, an archaic law that provides the primary legal framework for casting and counting electoral votes.

The ECA has not been updated since its enactment more than 130 years ago, and it is rife with gaps and ambiguities that make it confusing. The law is important because it sets a timeline for selecting electors and transmitting their votes to Congress. The ECA also establishes procedures for how Congress counts the electoral votes.

Trevor Potter, founder and president of Campaign Legal Center and Republican Former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, issued the following statement:

“Updating the Electoral Count Act is one step closer toward becoming a reality by the end of this year. The text of the omnibus bill released by the Senate includes critical changes to the Electoral Count Act to safeguard future presidential elections. These updates have enjoyed broad bipartisan support and passing this bill would be a major accomplishment. The next presidential election could be one of the most contentious ever, which is why we urge Congress to act without delay to protect the will of the people.”

Washington, D.C. – In a win for transparency, the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia sided with Campaign Legal Center (CLC) in a case challenging the failure of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to act regarding a massive coordination scheme between the 2016 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton and Correct the Record, a super PAC.

In the December 8th opinion (linked here), the court ruled that the FEC had acted “contrary to law” in dismissing CLC’s 2016 FEC complaint against the Clinton campaign and Correct the Record, which alleged the groups had openly coordinated millions of dollars of spending in violation of federal disclosure requirements and contribution limits designed to provide transparency to voters.

“Voters have a right to know how candidates are financing their campaigns for public office. The Commission’s failure to hold the Clinton campaign and this super PAC accountable for up to $9 million in coordinated spending creates a loophole that would allow many more millions of dollars of undisclosed contributions to flow from outside groups to federal candidates across the ideological spectrum,” said Tara Malloy, senior director for campaign finance litigation and strategy at CLC. “This decision takes a crucial step to ensuring that the Federal Election Commission cracks down on coordination between purportedly independent super PACs and the campaigns they seek to subsidize.”

The original 2016 complaint (linked here) contended that Correct the Record had made, and the Clinton campaign had received, millions of dollars in illegal, unreported and excessive in-kind contributions in the form of coordinated expenditures. Despite FEC career staff attorneys concluding that the coordination orchestrated by Correct the Record likely violated the law, the Commission deadlocked and dismissed the complaint in 2019, prompting CLC to sue the FEC.

This decision remands the matter to the FEC, ordering the Commission to act within 30 days in accordance with the ruling.

The FEC’s failure to enforce campaign finance laws has resulted in an explosion of illegal political spending. This is an important step toward closing a loophole that could otherwise continue to allow millions of dollars of undisclosed contributions to flow from supposedly independent super PACs to the campaigns of federal candidates.

Washington, DC – Paul Smith, senior vice president at Campaign Legal Center (CLC), issued the following statement ahead of Supreme Court oral arguments in Moore v. Harper, which will take place tomorrow morning:

“Checks and balances are a cornerstone of our democracy and prevent any one person, party or legislative body from abusing power. The extreme “independent state legislature” theory would hand state legislators virtually unchecked power to gerrymander congressional districts and to change election rules to undermine the freedom to vote.

State courts are one of the last avenues left for voters to challenge partisan gerrymandering, and we urge the Supreme Court to uphold our system of checks and balances by preserving the vital role state courts and state constitutions play in facilitating a transparent, inclusive and accountable democracy.”

In October, CLC and eight other organizations spanning the political spectrum filed a friend-of-the-court brief encouraging the Supreme Court to preserve the role of state courts and independent redistricting commissions in making congressional district maps more democratic and fair.

More information on CLC’s amicus brief and the dangers of the independent state legislature theory can be found here.