As we’re sending this newsletter, many Americans across the country have already made their voices heard through early voting and mail-in voting. But secret spending by wealthy special interests (also known as dark money) is depriving voters of the information they need to make informed choices during the midterm elections. Secret money also makes our electoral system vulnerable to corruption and manipulation, as CLC’s Simone Leeper found out in season one of our podcast, Democracy Decoded.
Voters across partisan and demographic lines overwhelmingly support laws that promote greater transparency around election spending, and we the people have a right to know who is spending big money to influence our vote. Here’s a look at five ways wealthy special interests are injecting secret money into U.S. election.
Campaign finance experts held an in-depth conversation about all the ways secret money is getting into our elections during a recent Twitter Spaces conversation.
This widespread effort to undermine confidence in elections is preventing eligible citizens from exercising their freedom to vote. States must take action.
On September 28, CLC hosted “SCOTUS Watch: What the Upcoming Supreme Court Term Means for Democracy” to discuss how the Court has been reversing decades of precedent regarding democracy law, and preview what these trends mean for democracy cases in the Court’s upcoming term. CLC’s Trevor Potter, Paul Smith and Aseem Mulji were joined by special guests Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who discussed the impact of secret spending on the Court, and Helen White of Protect Democracy.
The month of September saw major developments for three pieces of legislation CLC is watching closely.
Following the defeat of the Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act, it's time to look beyond Congress for solutions to stop secret spending and promote greater transparency in our elections. Executive action by President Joe Biden could help.
The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center is dedicated to advancing 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.
