Democracy: An Election Agenda For Candidates, Activists, and Legislators
Democracy: An Election Agenda For Candidates, Activists, and Legislators
Democracy: An Election Agenda For Candidates, Activists, and Legislators
Agenda for
Candidates,
Activists, and
Legislators
Democracy
Edited by Wendy Weiser and Alicia Bannon
Acknowledgments
Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center, and Alicia Bannon, deputy
director for program management led the compilation and editing of the report building off prior work
by Nathaniel Sobel, special assistant. They thank the following people for their contributions to the
writing of this report: Vivien Watts, Lawrence Norden, Myrna Pérez, Chisun Lee, Michael Li, Rudy
Mehrbani, Ian Vandewalker, Daniel Weiner, Jonathan Brater, Wilfred Codrington, Christopher Delu-
zio, Max Feldman, Douglas Keith, Martha Kinsella, Tomas Lopez, Sean Morales-Doyle, Thomas Wolf,
Joanna Zdanys, and Laila Robbins.
They also thank Michael Waldman, John Kowal, and Jim Lyons for their substantial editorial contri-
butions, Alexis Farmer, Natalie Giotta, Shyamala Ramakrishna, Laila Robbins, Ani Torossian, and Iris
Zhang for their research and cite-checking assistance, and Yuliya Bas, Trip Eggert, Theresa Raffaele
Jefferson, Alden Wallace, and Beatriz Aldereguia for their production assistance.
© 2018. This paper is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license. It may be
reproduced in its entirety as long as the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is credited, a link to the
Center’s web pages is provided, and no charge is imposed. The paper may not be reproduced in part or in altered
form, or if a fee is charged, without the Center’s permission. Please let the Center know if you reprint.
Foreword
How can we fix American government? How can we make sure it works for all?
In the wake of the convulsive 2016 election, there may be no more pressing question.
Nor will 2016 likely be the last such eruption. American politics has stagnated for years, locked in arid
debate on old ideas. Political parties have become increasingly tribal. Elections are drenched in money
and marked by intense polarization. Government dysfunction has created an opening for racially divisive
backlash politics while ignoring long-range economic, social, and environmental challenges.
Until we reckon with that public discontent, we’ll continue to be entangled in the same battles we’ve
been fighting for decades.
It is time for fresh thinking, which is why the Brennan Center for Justice is producing Solutions 2018, a
series of three reports setting out democracy and justice reforms that are intended to help break the grip
of destructive polarization.
This volume lays out proposals to ensure free and fair elections and curb the role of big money in Amer-
ican politics. Others show how we can end mass incarceration, and protect constitutional freedoms,
vulnerable communities, and the integrity of our democracy amid new threats.
We hope these proposals are useful to candidates, officeholders, activists, and citizens. The 2018 election
should be more than a chance to send a message. It should be an opportunity to demand a focus on real
change.
What counts is not what we are against, but what we are for.
Michael Waldman
President
Table of Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Protect and Expand Voting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Modernize the Voting Process
.1. Enact Automatic Voter Registration
.2. Expand Early Voting
.3. Prevent Long Lines at the Polls
Voter participation is distressingly low. The last midterm election saw the lowest voter turnout in 72
years. Pervasive gerrymandering fixes outcomes in many elections before voters even show up to the
polls. The explosion of political spending by a tiny fraction of Americans is staggering; the amount
contributed by mega-donors who gave six figures or more increased more than twelvefold between 2008
and 2016. Dark money now floods into all levels of our elections, including state judicial races. The
Supreme Court gutted a century of campaign finance law and a half-century of voting rights protec-
tions, all by a slim five-to-four margin. A hostile foreign government manipulated the 2016 presidential
campaign and tried to interfere with our voting systems.
All that came before Donald Trump’s election.
Who are to be the
electors of the federal Millions of Americans from all political points of view
representatives? Not feel that their voices are not heard, that the government
fails to represent their concerns or meet their needs. At
the rich, more than the a time of stagnating opportunity and deeply polarized
poor; not the learned, government, the system is susceptible to demagoguery.
more than the ignorant; Trump and Trumpism are symptoms, not the cause, of
our democratic dysfunction.
not the haughty heirs of
distinguished names, Our system now faces new and unnerving challenges. A
more than the humble working system of self-government requires the rule of law
sons of obscurity and as well as robust democracy. This ideal is increasingly being
challenged in the United States, as it is across the world.
unpropitious fortune. The norms of constitutional democracy — the unwritten
The electors are to be the rules that curb power and prevent abuse — are regularly
great body of the people flouted. It turns out that many seemingly solid protections
guiding our political actions and behaviors were, in fact,
of the United States. flimsy. No laws prevent a president from hiding his taxes,
— James Madison, from using the powers of government to bully news orga-
The Federalist 57 nizations or others that displease him, and possibly even
from firing the prosecutors who investigate him.
The erosion of democracy is also playing out in the states. Consider North Carolina: In recent years, the
state enacted an array of anti-democratic rules. The state’s restrictive voting law cut back on early voting
and registration, and imposed harsh voter ID rules. A federal appeals court found it was crafted to “tar-
get African Americans with almost surgical precision.” The legislature passed gerrymanders so lopsided
that multiple courts found them unconstitutional. When incumbent Republicans lost control of the
governorship, legislators sought to entrench party power, passing a law that effectively put Republicans
in charge of the state election board in perpetuity. The state’s GOP legislators even tried (unsuccessfully)
to increase the size of the state supreme court to enable the outgoing governor to fill more seats. North
Carolina provides a particularly grotesque version of trends seen throughout the country.
DEMOCRAC Y: A 2 0 1 8 AGENDA | 1
The efforts to manipulate the electoral system are so pervasive they could prevent the voice of the people
from being heard in November. Prognosticators see a possible “wave” election, with voter anger yielding
surging turnout and electoral change. Yet gerrymandering is now so severe that Democrats would need
a nearly unprecedented landslide to win the House of Representatives by even one seat. Voting restric-
tions in many states continue to thwart thousands of voters — and could be the determinative factor in
close elections. Dark money continues to balloon, reaching new highs this year. The crisis of American
democracy, in short, is urgent.
This report proposes solutions to address that crisis and revitalize our system of self-government so it
works for all people. To do so, we must move the issue of democracy itself to the center of our politics.
After all, we will be able to address few pressing problems if we do not repair our democracy. The need
for change is clear.
Indeed, the threats to democracy are so vivid and undeniable that they have begun to be the source of
political energy and organizing enthusiasm. In 2016, both Bernie Sanders (declaring a “political revolu-
tion”) and Donald Trump (pledging to “drain the swamp”) gave voice to discontent. This year, citizens
are advancing ballot measures to end partisan gerrymandering in Michigan, to end lifetime felony
disenfranchisement in Florida, and to adopt automatic voter registration in Nevada. Even amid partisan
voting wars, bills to expand voting are now moving through state legislatures with bipartisan support —
far more than bills to restrict access.
Automatic voter registration was adopted unanimously by the Illinois legislature, and by 60 percent
of Alaska voters (even as they backed Donald Trump). An impressive bipartisan coalition of elected
officials urged the Supreme Court to end extreme partisan gerrymandering. When the new president
claimed widespread voter fraud, Republican and Democratic election officials spoke out to debunk the
false claim, and the commission he created to search for fraud imploded.
In short, there is more energy, more activism, more anger, and more passion around the state of democ-
racy than we’ve seen in years.
This agenda seeks to turn that energy into answers. It sets out changes that can be enacted and imple-
mented at the federal and state level. These changes promote full political participation; truly represen-
tative and accountable elected legislatures; a functional government freed from the distorting effect of
big money; and a system in which the voice of the people is heard without being blocked by entrenched
political forces.
Most of these proposals have, in various forms, been tried on a small scale and succeeded. They draw on
the Brennan Center’s expertise and years of research, advocacy, and engagement. Taken together, they
could expand democratic participation and representation, transform the country’s governance, and
open opportunities for new forms of engagement.
DEMOCRAC Y: A 2 0 1 8 AGENDA | 3
Reduce the Influence of Money in Politics
oost Citizen Funding of Elections. All levels of governments should enact small donor pub-
1. B
lic financing, or provide tax credits or rebates for small donor contributions.
ully Disclose All Political Spending. Congress should pass the DISCLOSE Act, and states
2. F
should require all groups engaged in political spending in state races to disclose their donors.
lose Fundraising Loopholes for Candidates and Officeholders. Congress and the states
3. C
should curb coordinated activity between candidates and super PACs. They should also stop the
flow of dark money to nonprofit groups that are controlled by and promote elected officials.
evitalize the Federal Election Commission. Congress should restructure and reform the
4. R
Federal Election Commission.
1. E
nact Automatic Voter Registration
2. E
xpand Early Voting
3. P
revent Long Lines at the Polls
1. R
estore the Voting Rights Act
2. R
estore Voting Rights to Citizens With Past Criminal Convictions
3. Protect Eligible Voters From Improper Purging of the Voter Rolls
4. P
rotect Against Deceptive Election Practices
DEMOCRAC Y: A 2 0 1 8 AGENDA | 5
Modernize the Voting Process
1. Enact Automatic Voter Registration
Why do so few Americans vote? There are many reasons. But one chief factor is that 1 in 4 Americans
is not registered at all. This quiet disenfranchisement is the product of an out-of-date, ramshackle voter
registration system. Each Election Day, millions of Americans go to the polls only to have trouble voting
because of registration problems.1 Some have had their names wrongly deleted from the rolls.2 Others
fall off state records when they move.3 One-quarter of American voters wrongly believe their registration
is updated when they change their address with the U.S. Postal Service.4 A 2001 commission chaired by
former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford concluded, “The registration laws in the United States
are among the most demanding in the democratic world … [and are] one reason why voter turnout in
the United States is near the bottom of the developed world.”5 That’s still true.
One bold reform would modernize the system and ensure that all eligible citizens are registered: auto-
matic voter registration (AVR). Under this approach, state governments automatically register eligible
citizens, unless they opt out. If fully adopted nationwide, AVR would:
In the past three years, 12 states have approved automatic voter registration policies. Oregon was the
first to act, followed by California, West Virginia, Vermont, Georgia, Alaska, Colorado, Rhode Island,
Illinois, Washington, and most recently, Maryland and New Jersey.7 In Alaska, voters approved a ballot
initiative with support from legislators in both parties, while Colorado and Georgia adopted AVR
administratively. In 2017, Illinois’s Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, signed the plan into law after it
passed the legislature unanimously. Altogether, 19 states have introduced legislation this year to imple-
ment or expand automatic registration, and an additional eight states had bills carry over from the 2017
legislative session for consideration in 2018.8
The federal government should make this reform the new national standard. For example, the Au-
tomatic Voter Registration Act of 2017, introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar
(D-Minn.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) [S.1353; H.R.2876] would
require states to automatically register every eligible voter.9 But if Congress fails to act, states should
continue to embrace the approach.
How does it work?10 When an eligible citizen gives information to the government — for example, to
get a driver’s license, receive Social Security benefits, apply for public services, register for classes at a
public university, or become a naturalized citizen — they are automatically signed up to vote unless they
decline.11
At a time when too many Americans are alienated from our political process, AVR creates an opportu-
nity for transformative change. This smart-minded reform is a critical step in energizing our democracy
and engaging everyone in our elections.
Most states no longer limit voting to one Tuesday. In fact, today 1 in 3 Americans votes before Election
Day, usually through early voting or absentee balloting.16 This is a welcome response to public demand.
Early voting eases Election Day congestion, leading to shorter lines and improved poll-worker perfor-
mance. It allows election officials to correct registration errors and fix voting system glitches earlier. And
polling has shown that early voting enjoys popular support.17
But voters in 13 states have no opportunity to vote early.18 And starting in 2011, lawmakers in some
states have sought to cut back on early voting. In many cases, these reductions have targeted voting
days used heavily in African-American communities,19 such as the last Sunday before the election, when
churches organize “souls to the polls” drives. States that cut back on early voting have faced lawsuits
and some rulings that the changes were discriminatory. Overall, there is a patchwork of laws and rules
setting when citizens in different states can vote, with some having ample opportunity to vote early, and
others denied it entirely.
DEMOCRAC Y: A 2 0 1 8 AGENDA | 7
When more people have the opportunity to vote, our democracy is stronger. The 13 states that bar early
voting should pass legislation to adopt it. And states that have early voting systems should improve and
standardize them. An ideal system would allow for early in-person voting beginning at least two weeks
before Election Day, and would provide opportunities to vote in the evening and on weekends, includ-
ing the weekend immediately before Election Day. States should provide public education to ensure
citizens know they can vote early.20
States administer elections and can adopt early voting on their own, but there should also be a national
minimum standard. Congress can set minimum early voting requirements in federal elections. This
mandate is one of the multiple reforms offered in the Voter Empowerment Act (S. 1437; H.R. 12), in-
troduced by Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), which would require states
to provide at least 15 days of early voting.21
African-Americans and Hispanics are significantly more likely than whites to wait in long lines.27 In
South Carolina, the Brennan Center found that the 10 precincts with the longest lines in 2012 had
more than twice as many African-American voters as other precincts.28 In Maryland, the 10 precincts
with the fewest machines per voter had more than twice as many Hispanic voters.29
The United States should establish a national policy: Nobody should wait more than a half hour to
vote. To achieve this, proper resource allocation is crucial. The precincts with the longest lines generally
have fewer voting machines and poll workers.30
State election officials should set standards to ensure all polling places have enough resources — and
enforce those standards vigorously to make sure they stick. Administrators should also pay special at-
tention to precincts with high numbers of minority voters, which often have too few machines and poll
workers.
In addition, the president and Congress should work to adopt the polling place management recom-
mendations from the 2014 bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration. Robert
Bauer, former counsel to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and Benjamin Ginsberg, former coun-
sel to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, chaired the panel. It outlined a plan to keep wait times at
the polls to 30 minutes or less.31 Proposals include expanded access to early voting and no-excuse absen-
tee voting, and steps to institute poll worker training standards, better recruitment practices, enhanced
polling place location and design, and improved management of voter flow.32
Legislation to reduce long lines introduced in prior sessions include the LINE Act,33 which would direct
the attorney general to work with the Election Assistance Commission to develop plans to minimize
wait times in states where voters had previously waited more than 30 minutes to vote, and the FAST
Voting Act,34 which would create a competitive grant program to encourage states to reduce wait times.
In June 2013, however, the Supreme Court gutted the law’s core provision in its 5-4 decision in Shelby
County v. Holder.36 Under Section 5 of the VRA, states and localities with a history of voting discrimina-
tion had to get permission in advance — or “preclearance” — from the Justice Department or a federal
court in Washington, D.C. before making any changes affecting voting processes. To do so, they had
to prove that their proposed changes were not racially discriminatory. This process proved remarkably
effective at deterring voting discrimination. Between 1998 and 2013, 86 proposed election changes were
blocked.37 Hundreds more were withdrawn after Justice Department inquiry or pushback.38 And still
more were never put forward because policymakers knew they wouldn’t pass muster.
In Shelby County, the Supreme Court neutered preclearance, ruling that the law used an out-of-date
formula to determine which states were covered. At the argument, Justice Antonin Scalia said that
the law was merely a “racial entitlement.”39 Chief Justice John Roberts, the opinion’s author, said that
the coverage formula made sense at the time it was adopted, but “[n]early 50 years later, things have
changed dramatically.”40 But, in a stern dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that, “[t]hrowing
out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like
throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”41
Who was right? Just hours after the Supreme Court issued its ruling, Texas announced that it would im-
plement the country’s strictest voter ID law, which had previously been denied preclearance and hadn’t
been put into effect. (This notorious law allowed people to use a concealed carry gun permit as voter ID
but barred the use of a University of Texas ID.) A federal court
later blocked the law as discriminatory — but not before it
Congress and the marred multiple elections.42
president should
enact legislation Other states responded similarly to the Shelby County ruling
with laws restricting voting. Federal courts have repeatedly
to restore the full found that these new laws made voting harder for minorities
protections of the — some purposefully so.43 One federal appeals court ruled
Voting Rights Act. that a North Carolina law — a broad set of voting restrictions
unveiled shortly after Shelby County — “target[ed] African
Americans with almost surgical precision.”44 These lawsuits
were brought under a remaining provision of the Voting Rights Act, Section 2, which allows challenges
to voting discrimination. But lawsuits are no substitute for preclearance, which effectively prevented
discriminatory voting changes from taking effect in the first place. Section 2 lawsuits are lengthy, expen-
sive, and often don’t yield results until after an election (or several) is over. And they are rarely used for
the most pervasive consequence of the weakening of the law — local decisions that make it harder for
people to vote. Since Shelby County, officials have closed hundreds of polling places in counties previ-
ously covered by the VRA.45
DEMOCRAC Y: A 2 0 1 8 AGENDA | 9
Congress and the president should enact legislation to restore the full protections of the Voting Rights
Act. The Voting Rights Advancement Act, introduced this session by Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) (H.R.
2978) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) (S. 1419), would require preclearance for states that have a
record of voting rights violations in the preceding 25 years.46 Another bipartisan bill, the Voting Rights
Amendment Act (H.R. 3239), introduced by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), would also restore
key protections.47
States should also supplement the protections afforded by the federal government. California’s Voting
Rights Act gives minority voters a more easily navigable channel to challenge discriminatory voting
systems than Section 2 of the VRA. Similarly, just this year, Washington state passed a state-level Voting
Rights Act.
In the past, the VRA won wide bipartisan support. In 2006, the Senate voted 98-0, and the House
390-33 to renew every section of the VRA — including the provision the Supreme Court later struck
down.48 At a White House bill signing, President George W. Bush declared, “By reauthorizing this act
Congress has reaffirmed its belief that all men are created equal.”49 Many who voted in favor are still in
Congress today. The American public also supports the VRA. According to a 2014 poll, 81 percent of
voters support the VRA, and 69 percent support restoring it, including 57 percent of Republicans and
84 percent of Democrats.50
The Voting Rights Act was a remarkable accomplishment, ushering in the promise of real political
equality after centuries of abuse. Restoring and strengthening its protections is crucial to ensuring our
elections remain free, fair, and accessible for all Americans.
Disenfranchisement laws diminish democracy. They also hurt public safety by making it harder to
reintegrate citizens into the community. A Florida government study, for example, found that people
released from prison whose voting rights were restored were three times less likely to return to the crimi-
nal justice system.56
Congress and the states should adopt the simple and fair rule that if you’re living in the community, you
get to vote. The federal Democracy Restoration Act, introduced by Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) last
Encouragingly, reform has gained momentum. Over the past 20 years, 10 states have restored voting
rights to people with past criminal convictions, including three that reversed lifetime voting bans.58 In
addition, Pennsylvania was forced to expand voting rights by a court order.59
Today, active proposals to restore voting rights are under consideration in several more states. The most
significant fight is unfolding in Florida. The state is an outlier, 1 of only 3 with a lifetime voting ban,
and has the highest disenfranchisement rate in the country. Citizens collected more than 1 million
signatures to place a measure on the November 2018 ballot that would end the state’s lifetime voting
ban for most Floridians upon completion of their sentences.60
If the measure passes, over 1.5 million Floridians would regain
4.7 million eligibility to vote.
Americans living in
our communities These efforts have attracted broad support.61 Criminal justice
experts recognize that voting rights restoration is a smart-on-
can’t vote because crime policy that strengthens communities and serves public
of a past criminal safety.62 Police and other law enforcement professionals, faith
conviction. leaders, and elected officials support rights restoration, includ-
ing Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John McCain
(R-Ariz.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and
the American Association of Probation and Parole.63 In the 2017 Virginia gubernatorial election, the
candidate who supported ending lifetime felony disenfranchisement beat one who ran ads calling the
stance soft on crime.64 The political environment is ripe to continue progress on this vexing issue.
At times, the way officials purge voters guarantees error. In the 2016 presidential primary, for example,
thousands of long-time Brooklyn voters showed up to the polls only to find their names missing from
the voter list. It turns out that the elections board had quietly purged more than 210,000 from the rolls
either because they had not voted in recent elections or because officials believed they had moved. With
no public warning and little notice to voters, many names were deleted in error.66 Flawed purges like
this, unfortunately, happen all too often.67
States also increasingly rely on faulty data sources. A study of one computer program, used in many
states to identify voters who have moved, estimated that the program could cause 300 legitimate records
to be purged for every double-vote it prevents.68
These protections would let the public and affected voters catch and prevent errors in advance. Fail-
safe protections on Election Day would ensure that eligible voters are not disenfranchised as a result of
lingering mistakes in the purge process. The Voter Empowerment Act (S. 1437; H.R. 12) would require
some of these elements.
Experience shows that states can easily implement these safeguards. For example, Pennsylvania gives in-
dividuals written notice before purges,69 and Virginia produces a comprehensive report each year on its
list maintenance activities.70 Fourteen states allow voters, including those who were wrongly removed,
to register on Election Day,71 while others have special Election Day fail-safe procedures specifically for
wrongly removed voters.72
There is reason to expect an uptick in these unsavory tactics, which often target communities of color.
In December 2017, a decades-old consent decree that provided for court monitoring of any “ballot
security” operations of the Republican National Committee expired, opening the door to new efforts
to target voters. At the same time, President Trump has repeatedly called on his supporters to engage
in vigilante poll-watching efforts.76 History tells us that unofficial “ballot security” efforts often lead
to deceptive practices and voter intimidation.77 Social media is also ripe for abuse by those seeking to
intimidate or deceive voters.
Congress should act to curb these abuses by passing the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation
Prevention Act, which has been introduced in previous sessions by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).78 It
would prohibit attempts to impede or prevent a person from voting or registering to vote — including
making false and misleading statements for that purpose. It provides for criminal consequences and em-
powers citizens to go to court to stop voter deception. And if election officials do not adequately correct
the misinformation, it would require the attorney general to do so. States should adopt similar prohibi-
tions and require officials to take corrective action.
The nation’s election systems remain vulnerable. This vulnerability is a product of aging technology,
inadequate security, and a patchwork system of election administration with widely varying degrees
of sophistication and resources.80 Simply put, a 20th century voting system is not suitable for the 21st
century.
After years of warnings, federal lawmakers are finally realizing that financially strapped states need mon-
ey to improve their voting infrastructure. In late March, President Trump signed a bill to give the states
$380 million. This funding creates an opportunity to upgrade
registration systems, replace electronic voting machines that do
A 20th century not have an independent voter-marked paper ballot, and imple-
voting system is ment a post election audit system that can provide confidence in
not suitable for the final tally.
the 21st century. This congressional action is a welcome first step, but it does not
go nearly far enough. The last time Congress appropriated funds
to substantially upgrade the voting system was in 2002, and it cost $3.3 billion. States, counties, and
Congress must supplement this funding going forward.
Nevertheless, states have an opportunity to use this funding to address the most serious vulnerabilities
in their voting systems.
afeguard Voter Registration Rolls. Among the most vulnerable aspects of the system are the
• S
voter registration rolls. If one were trying to wreak havoc with an election, the registration rolls
are a perfect target. By manipulating the rolls — deleting every 10th name, for instance — one
could cause endless confusion at the polls, resulting in long lines and depressed turnout. The
Department of Homeland Security said Russians tried to hack voter registration files.81 There is
no evidence these attacks affected election outcomes, but the development is a harbinger of future
assaults.
The Brennan Center estimated that 41 states are using registration databases that were created at
least a decade ago.82 The need may be even greater at the local level, where systems often run on
discontinued software like Windows XP or Windows 2000. These systems are more vulnerable to
attack because they are no longer supported with security updates. This is particularly troubling
because smaller jurisdictions frequently have little or no information technology support of their
own.
Every state should conduct an audit and threat analysis of their registration systems. Rolls should
be hardened and designed so that it is easier to detect penetrations if and when they happen. For
pgrade Voting Machines. The vast majority of states have at least some voting machines that
• U
must be replaced. According to a 2018 Brennan Center survey, 41 states will use systems that are at
least a decade old this November, and officials in 33 say they must replace their machines by 2020.
Just as one does not expect a laptop to last a decade, one should not expect a voting machine to last
that long.83 Older machines malfunction and make mistakes.
Unsurprisingly, there were multiple reports of old voting machines that broke down and malfunc-
tioned in 2016, including “vote flipping,” when the machine does not properly record a voter’s
preference.84 Worst of all, older voting systems are also less likely to have a voter verified paper re-
cord that can be used to check the tallies after Election Day. Maintaining old machines is difficult
and expensive since replacement parts are often no longer manufactured. Some election officials
scavenge for spare parts on eBay.
Unfortunately, in an era of strained state and local budgets, spending on voting machines is gen-
erally not a priority. The vast majority of election officials who told the Brennan Center they must
replace voting equipment by 2020 also said they did not have sufficient funds to do so.85
Bills pending in both the Senate and the House would provide additional resources to states to address
the urgent need to secure our election infrastructure. In the House, the Protecting the American Process
for Election Results (PAPER) Act (H.R.3751), would share the costs with the states to replace insecure
all-electronic machines with those that produce a voter-verified physical record.86 The bill also lays the
groundwork for states to regularly implement risk-limiting audits — procedures that check a small
random sample of paper records to assure an election outcome is correct. In the Senate, the Secure Elec-
tions Act (S.2261) has similar provisions as well as requirements that voting machine vendors publicly
report security breaches.87
These measures are urgent. As Ambassador James Woolsey, former director of central intelligence has
put it, “As has happened at key moments in our history, we face a test from outsiders who would like to
harm us. We are forced to answer whether we can, once again, lay aside our differences to work together
to protect the common interests of our nation.”88
To prevent this kind of foreign interference in U.S. elections, there are three areas in urgent need of re-
form: the rules (or lack of them) regarding online advertising; how “foreign ownership” of a corporation
is defined for campaign finance purposes; and finally, the ability of tax-exempt entities to spend money
pdate Political Spending Rules to Better Regulate Online Ads. Congress should enact the
• U
Honest Ads Act (S.1989), which closes loopholes that exempt online political ads from many regu-
lations.91 For example, when political ads appear on TV and radio, there are rules governing when
their spending sources must be disclosed, both in public reports and the ads themselves (“Paid for
by the Committee to Elect Veterans”). The Honest Ads Act would apply the same rules to online
ads.
The Honest Ads Act also requires online ad sellers to maintain a public database of spots that
discuss candidates or national political issues, in the same manner as television and radio stations.
And, it requires businesses that sell ads, whether online or not, to make reasonable efforts to block
foreign nationals from buying political ads. For example, sellers could check that a buyer paying
by credit card has a domestic address.92 This is a long way from the situation in 2016 when some
online ad purchasers paid in rubles, yet never faced any scrutiny.93
Even if the federal government does not act, states such as California and New York have the
potential to change the way internet companies deal with political advertisements throughout
the country. Once social media platforms are forced to adopt disclosure rules for all state political
ads purchased in some states, it may be easier for the companies to apply this regimen to political
ads purchased nationwide, rather than parse out which state’s rules apply to the advertisement.
One state proposal following the Honest Ads Act model is New York’s Democracy Protection Act,
enacted in April.94 The Maryland legislature passed a similar law improving transparency for online
political ads.95
• E
xpand the Ban on Foreign Spending to Include Business Entities With Substantial Foreign
Ownership. Under current federal law, domestic corporations, limited liability companies, and
partnerships can spend on elections even when they are owned by individuals or entities that
themselves are banned from election spending. Lawmakers should close this loophole by ex-
panding the ban on foreign spending to cover businesses with substantial foreign ownership so
that foreign interests can’t use such firms as veils to spend on U.S. elections.
Congress can achieve this by passing the DISCLOSE Act, which would ban corporations from
making political expenditures if a foreign national owns or controls 20 percent or more of the
corporation’s voting shares, or if a foreign government owns or controls 5 percent or more of the
voting shares.96
States should do the same with their elections. Colorado has led the way by prohibiting politi-
cal spending by corporations in which foreign nationals hold a more than 50 percent ownership
interest.97 There are also bills pending in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington
state that would limit businesses’ political activities if their foreign ownership exceeds a specified
threshold, as well as a proposed ballot initiative in Alaska.98
The 2016 election exposed how the campaign finance system is vulnerable to covert foreign spending.
These commonsense measures build on existing law to better protect the integrity of elections. More
than 7 in 10 Americans say they’re worried about foreign interference in elections,101 and more than 8
in 10 support the disclosure of online ads.102 States including Maryland, New York, and Washington are
responding with strong proposals. Additional states — and Congress — should join them.
Since the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which unleashed unlimited political
spending, vast sums from a few large donors have come to dominate elections. In the 2016 federal elec-
tion cycle, $2.3 billion of the $6.5 billion spent came from just 0.01 percent of the adult population.104
The small number of donors who gave $100,000 or more spent more than the 8 million small donors
combined.105 Political scientists have now confirmed that the views of ordinary citizens turn out to have
no discernible impact on the actions of members of Congress; big donors are much more influential.106
Citizens are disgusted with the role of big money. An October 2017 Washington Post-University of
Maryland poll found that 96 percent of Americans blamed money in politics for creating political dys-
function.107 One pollster found “a clear disconnect between the Beltway and Main Street on campaign
finance. Curbing the influence of money on electoral politics was one of the strongest policy initiatives
tested.”108
To restore confidence in American democracy, we must find a way to bolster the voice of ordinary citi-
zens. Citizen-funded elections — including matching small donations at a multiple ratio or offering tax
credits or rebates for small contributions — would transform political fundraising.
stablish Small-Donor Public Financing. Public financing has a long pedigree. Theodore
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Roosevelt first proposed it in 1907, calling it “a very radical measure.”109 After Watergate, a robust
presidential public financing system was enacted. From 1976 through 2004, most qualifying candi-
dates participated. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W.
Bush all ran using public funds. But the system weakened, a result of inadequate funding levels and
evasions through political party “soft money.” In 2008, Barack Obama made history by declin-
ing to take public funds; by 2012, no major party nominee joined the system.110 In 2016, former
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley was the only candidate to opt into the presidential public
financing system.111
One answer to the broken federal system is to implement a model of public funding that does not
seek to end all private fundraising but rather amplifies the impact of small gifts through a multiple
match of public money. This would also be a transformative reform for states and localities.
The most prominent model is found in New York City. There, qualified candidates receive $6 in
public funds for each $1 raised in small donations of $175 or less.112 The system is optional, but
nearly all candidates participate. Office-seekers now focus fundraising within the communities they
represent, attracting a far wider and more representative circle of donors.113 The reform has made
elections more competitive, and reduced barriers to participation for candidates and donors alike.
And it is well-established that voluntary small-donor public financing systems are legally permissi-
ble under Citizens United and other Supreme Court decisions.
rovide Tax Credits or Rebates for Small Contributions. Another option would provide tax
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credits or rebates to citizens who make small contributions.116 Between 1972 and 1986, mil-
lions of Americans claimed federal tax credits for small campaign contributions, but the credit
was eliminated in the tax overhaul of 1986.117 This reform still lives on in some states, however.
Minnesota, Oregon, Ohio, and Arkansas, for instance, offer citizens rebates or tax credits if they
make a small contribution to a candidate or party.118 These reforms usually apply to small dona-
tions of $50 or less.119
Tax credits and rebates make it more attractive for individuals to give to their preferred candidate
or party.120 As with small-donor matching, tax incentives encourage more small donors to partic-
ipate in our elections and help candidates rely less on large contributions.121 Existing state-level
programs have attracted contributions from a broader group of donors, including lower-income in-
dividuals and first-time donors.122 In a political environment where progressives and conservatives
often find themselves far apart, tax credits and rebates offer common ground, with groups from the
right and left backing these systems.123
Other jurisdictions offer other options to boost citizen participation. Seattle gives voters four $25
vouchers to give to city candidates of their choice.124 Other states and cities offer candidates block
grants.125 Several public financing models can also be combined to enhance incentives for candidates
and donors to participate. For example, the Government by the People Act, proposed by Rep. John
P. Sarbanes (D-Md.) (H.R. 20), would create a voucher pilot program, provide tax credits for small
contributions, and institute a matching system.126
Citizen-funded A 2015 New York Times/CBS News poll showed that 85 percent
elections would of respondents — across the political spectrum — believed that
transform political the country needed to either make “fundamental changes” to or
“completely rebuild” the way political campaigns are funded.127
fundraising. And a majority of Americans favor using small-donor matching
in elections.128 With many success stories in federal, state, and
local elections, and several new and creative systems proposed, candidates can access a wealth of data
and experience when assessing how to encourage small-donor participation, and discourage elections
that are dominated by wealthy individuals and corporations.
These new developments, and others that most This means more than just reconsidering Citizens
Americans decry, can be directly or indirectly United and other recent rulings. Those cases have
traced to just a few Supreme Court decisions their roots in older decisions, starting in Buckley
issued in the last decade, each decided by a single v. Valeo, which found that fighting “quid pro quo
vote.129 Most notably, in 2010, Citizens United corruption” (i.e., bribery) is the only legitimate
upended a century of law, striking down the de- basis for most campaign finance regulation.136 To
cades-old ban on direct spending by corporations be sure, fighting corruption is critical, especially if
and unions in federal elections.130 Subsequent corruption is understood broadly to embrace the
lower court rulings extended the Supreme Court’s many ways that big money distorts governance.
ruling to permit unlimited donations to super But it is not the only democratic value at stake.
PACs and other groups that engage in unlimited
campaign spending.131 Among other things, as the four dissenters in the
2014 case McCutcheon v. FEC noted, legislatures
Other Supreme Court decisions limited the ability must have the ability to enact reasonable rules to
of jurisdictions to enact innovative public financ- uphold “the integrity of the electoral process.”137
ing systems132 and swept aside “aggregate limits” This includes corruption, and also the right of all
on how much any one individual can give directly citizens to have a chance to participate, compete
to candidates and parties in an election cycle.133 for public office, and be heard.138 Only by giving
This allowed political parties to directly raise due weight to these important objectives can we
million-dollar donations from the same wealthy fully realize the Constitution’s promise as the
megadonors who fund super PACs.134 charter for a vibrant, effective, and representative
democracy.
Much political spending is already disclosed. Federal law requires candidate committees, party com-
mittees, and PACs to file periodic reports disclosing the money they spend and the identities of their
donors. As recently as 2006, disclosure rules guaranteed that almost all federal campaign spending was
transparent. All 50 states also mandate some form of
Keeping voters in the disclosure of campaign contributions,143 and most
require some form of disclosure for independent
dark about who is trying expenditures.144
to sway them eliminates
one of the remaining But one breed of nonprofit, supposedly devoted to
“social welfare” activities but actually conducting
checks on corruption. ill-disguised campaign spending, took off after the
Supreme Court’s notorious Citizens United deci-
sion. These groups do not have to disclose their donors. And especially in lower-cost state and local
145
elections, a dark money expenditure as low as $100,000, or even $10,000 — pocket change for special
interests — can easily dominate an election.146
At the same time, unregulated online political spending has proliferated, reaching $1.4 billion in the
2016 election cycle, almost eight times higher than in 2012.147
Keeping voters in the dark about who is trying to sway them eliminates one of the last remaining checks
on corruption by special interests. It also makes it harder for voters to assess the messages they receive or
understand the impact of private money on policymaking.
Lawmakers at all levels of government should work to pass legislation that requires disclosure of all elec-
tion-related spending, whether through dark money nonprofits or online ad buys.
Similar legislation is already in effect in some states. In California, for example, nonprofits that are
frequent vehicles for dark money are required to disclose donors for their election spending.149 As
a result, California has seen remarkably little dark money in its elections, notwithstanding large
amounts of outside spending.150 Montana also requires all groups engaged in election spending to
disclose how they are spending their money and their source of funds.151
States should adopt similar reforms. New York strengthened its disclosure requirements in April, bring-
ing online ads into the regime and requiring the State Board of Elections to maintain a public database
of online ads.154 Legislators in Maryland and the state of Washington are moving forward with similar
proposals that would apply to online spending in state elections.155
These reforms are plainly constitutional. Transparency is among the few campaign finance rules em-
braced wholeheartedly by the current Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts, no friend of most
campaign finance laws, pointed out in 2014’s McCutcheon decision that disclosure helps prevent “abuse
of the campaign finance system.”156 The late Justice Antonin Scalia often echoed these sentiments. “Re-
quiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democ-
racy is doomed,” he wrote.157
The public also strongly supports disclosure. A 2015 New York Times/CBS News poll found that
three-quarters of Americans, regardless of party, believe outside spenders should publicly disclose their
donors.158 And there is momentum for reform. Strong new disclosure laws were recently enacted in
Washington state, Delaware, and New York City, and new proposals are under consideration in several
other states.
That independence is illusory. Many super PACs were run by candidates’ top aides or by close associates
to the candidates they supported. Politicians fundraised prominently for their “independent” groups
and even appeared in their ads.160 State candidates now also work closely with super PACs on fundrais-
ing, polling, and events.161 These “shadow campaigns” render candidate contribution limits virtually
meaningless. They undermine state and local public financing, because candidates who fear a flood of
super PAC funds may decline to participate.
Super PACs are not the only way unlimited money can now flow to politicians. In recent years, a new
breed of tax-exempt nonprofits has proliferated, boosting politicians — and their policies — while in
office. These groups raise unlimited, undisclosed funds, often from donors with government business.
Typically, they buy TV, radio, and digital ads — largely unregulated because they air between elec-
tions.162 This yawning gap in the rules that govern money in politics and government ethics creates a
Federal, state, and local lawmakers must close these loopholes. Specifically, they should:
lose Loopholes That Allow Super PACs to Coordinate with Candidates. Candidates and
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super PACs must keep their distance — no more appearances at “independent” fundraisers,
a cooling off period before advisers jump to super PAC staff, and so on. A federal Stop Super
PAC-Candidate Coordination Act (H.R. 3952, introduced by Rep. David Price (D-N.C.)) has
many of these elements.166 The bill would curb candidate fundraising for outside groups, impose
a “cooling off” period before staff members or consultants could work for allied super PACs, and
block candidates and outside groups from sharing strategists or vendors.
States and localities can also act. Connecticut, California, and Minnesota have some of the
strongest fundraising coordination laws.167 Philadelphia and Santa Fe have prevented similar
abuses.168 Robust enforcement has also made it more difficult for candidates and outside groups
to get away with coordination.169
top the Flow of Dark Money to Nonprofits Controlled by Officeholders. These groups should
• S
be required to disclose all donors above a reasonable threshold. Donations from those with fi-
nancial interests before the officeholder should be capped. In the first law designed to tackle this
growing problem, New York City began requiring nonprofits controlled by elected officials to
disclose donors and limit gifts to $400 for those with business before the city.170
One problem is the agency’s evenly balanced bipartisan structure, which allows any bloc of three
commissioners to prevent action. These deadlocks typically prevent the commission’s staff from even
investigating potential violations of the law.173 The panel also has no real leader. Commissioners pick a
colleague to serve as chair, but the office rotates each year and carries almost no actual authority.174 And
with an annual budget of about $70 million, the agency is also chronically short of resources.175
Some problems can be addressed by appointing new commissioners committed to enforcing the law.
Over the long term, however, the commission itself needs an overhaul.
• e nsure an odd number of commissioners (either five or seven), one or more of whom could be
required to be registered as an independent;
• give the Commission’s career staff authority to investigate alleged violations, and bolster the Com-
mission’s enforcement powers;
• have a commissioner serve as chair and as its chief administrative officer for a fixed term of four to
six years, with sole authority to hire the staff director and other senior administrative personnel,
formulate budget requests to Congress, and manage the agency’s day-to-day operations; and
• increase funding to a level that will allow the agency to fulfill its compliance and enforcement
responsibilities, and maintain modern information technology to collect and disseminate campaign
finance disclosure data.
The Federal Election Administration Act, introduced in 2017 (H.R. 3953, introduced by Rep. David
Price (D-N.C.)),176 and the Restoring Integrity to America’s Elections Act (H.R. 2034, introduced by
Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.); S.1683, introduced by Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.)), are currently pend-
ing before Congress, and contain some, but not all, of these proposed reforms.177 Both bills are a start
toward the goal of crafting a long-term solution for the FEC’s structural flaws.
The tilt is especially severe when a single political party controls redistricting. Consider Pennsylvania,
closely divided between the parties. Republicans managed to draw a map that guaranteed them a 13 to
5 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation, both in elections where the Democrats did well at
the polls (like 2012) and those where Republicans won more votes (like 2016).179 Maps in other fiercely
contested battleground states like North Carolina and Ohio produce similarly distorted outcomes.180
Democratic map-drawers likewise engaged in aggressive gerrymandering this decade in places like Mary-
land and Illinois.181
The high-stakes battle to control Congress also fuels a financial arms race to control state legislatures
ahead of each redistricting cycle.182 The next round of redistricting is three years away, after the 2020
census, but Democrat- and Republican-aligned groups have already pledged to spend more money than
ever before to gain the upper hand in map-drawing.183
To stop gerrymandering abuses, the best approach is to take the power to draw congressional and leg-
islative district lines out of the hands of lawmakers and give it to an independent redistricting commis-
sion. California184 and Arizona185 offer strong models.
Even states that keep redistricting in legislators’ hands can ensure fairer maps. Measures can prohibit
drawing maps to favor a political party or candidate, or require a bipartisan supermajority to adopt a
map. For example, the Florida Constitution’s ban on partisan favoritism has allowed courts to step in
and effectively police abuses.187 Connecticut ensures that both parties have a seat at the table by requir-
ing a supermajority to approve a map.188 A proposed constitutional amendment passed by the Ohio
legislature combines both of these approaches.189 It requires supermajority support, including a specified
level of support from the minority party, to approve a map without special rules, and imposes a ban on
unduly favoring a political party if a map is passed without a supermajority.
The parties have Where they have been adopted, redistricting reforms have been an
overwhelming success. California and other states with commis-
pledged to spend sions have experienced less contentiousness and less litigation
more money than while improving transparency, partisan competition, and creating
ever to gain the a better fit between legislative outcomes and voters’ desires.192
upper hand in These changes are popular with voters, who have enacted reforms
map-drawing. most recently in California (2008 and 2010), Florida (2010), and
Ohio (2015).193 In Michigan, volunteers collected nearly 500,000
signatures to place a proposal to create an independent redistricting commission on the ballot in 2018,
and strong citizen-led reform efforts are underway in Utah and Missouri, among other states.194
Elected leaders increasingly support reform as well. Ohio Governor John Kasich recently described
gerrymandering as “the biggest problem we have” and joined forces with other prominent Republi-
can elected officials to ask the Supreme Court to end it.195 Their calls have been echoed by numerous
lawmakers of both parties.196 Ohio lawmakers passed a proposal to reform congressional redistricting
that will go before voters in May 2018. A proposed constitutional amendment to create an independent
commission in Pennsylvania has likewise attracted 131 co-sponsors, including 46 Republicans.
The census has never been perfect, but the 2020 census faces unprecedented challenges that could lead
to a failed count. The consequences of a bad count could last for a decade or more.
Chief among these challenges is Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s decision to add a citizenship
question to the census form. The move came over the strong objections of former census directors from
Republican and Democratic administrations, 60 members of Congress, 161 Republican and Democrat-
ic mayors, 19 state attorneys general, more than 170 civil rights organizations, and prominent business
leaders.203 Current census staff were also opposed to the move.204
Census Bureau budget shortfalls also add to the risk of an undercount. The agency has long struggled
to count rural residents, people of color, immigrants, and the poor, among others.206 It costs substantial
sums to ensure these groups are counted fully because their housing is often less stable and they often
have special language needs.207 Adding to these challenges, the 2020 census will be the first to be taken
largely online. Hard-to-count groups will be more likely to require expensive door-to-door follow-up
because many have limited access to the internet.208 In other census years, the government developed
extensive programs to boost vulnerable groups’ participation. These efforts have been largely underfund-
ed recently and will require substantial infusions of financial support over the next two budget cycles to
succeed.209
There is, however, still time to avoid a census crackup. To ensure a fair and accurate census count in
2020, Congress must:
lock the Addition of a Citizenship Question. Congress should pass legislation to block the
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Commerce Department’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the decennial census form.
Congressional legislation would boost trust, particularly among immigrant communities, and
limit the likelihood of their data being misused. State attorneys general and other groups have
sued to block the addition of the citizenship question. But congressional legislation offers the
most direct and cost-effective fix for this problem.
mpower Individuals to Protect Their Census Information. Congress should also amend the
• E
Census Act to give individuals the express right to go to court if the Census Bureau releases their
personal information, or if another federal agency tries to use it against them. The Census Act
requires the bureau to keep personal information private and confidential, but, under the current
version of the law, only the federal government can bring legal actions to enforce those require-
ments.210 At a time of plummeting trust in government, that guarantee is inadequate.
ully Fund the Census. Congress should fully fund the Census Bureau in its 2019 and 2020
• F
budgets. Support must meet technology needs (to ensure that information systems are functional
and secure) and operational needs (such as outreach).
States and localities also have a role. They can launch their own programs to educate residents on the
value of participating in the census and to assist them in completing forms. Governors and mayors
should appoint census coordinators or create specialized census offices to coordinate these programs.
For decades, the decennial census has been “the largest peacetime operation conducted in the United
States.”211 The successes and failures of past censuses provide key lessons about what is needed to ensure
Under the Electoral College system, each state is allocated a number of electors equal to its total number
of senators and representatives in Congress. In all but two states, every elector is assigned to the winning
presidential candidate in that state.
The Electoral College was added to the Constitution almost as an afterthought. The delegates knew
George Washington would be the first president, but could not decide how to choose his successors. At
the last minute, the provision was added.212
First, of course, there is the fact that the popular vote loser can prevail — what political scientists call
the “wrong winner” problem.213
Even when the “right winner” is chosen, the system distorts. Voters in smaller states have a dispropor-
tionate voice.214 While California is allotted one electoral vote per 713,000 residents, Wyoming has one
per 195,000. The situation grows even more inequitable if no candidate wins an electoral vote majority
— which has happened twice and came close several other times. Then, the House of Representatives
would choose the president, meaning that states comprising just 17 percent of the U.S. population
might make the final call.
The Electoral College also incentivizes presidential candidates to focus their efforts on a handful of
competitive states, while disregarding most of the country.215 In 2012, the Romney and Obama cam-
paigns spent $463 million on television ads in 10 general election states, and almost nothing anywhere
else.216 Four years later, two-thirds of presidential campaign events were held in a mere six states, and al-
most 95 percent were held in 12 states.217 Not surprisingly, Americans living outside the “battleground”
states typically vote at a lower rate.218
Finally, the Electoral College raises the likelihood of election uncertainty. Recall the 2000 presidential
election. Despite knowing that Al Gore had won the popular vote — ultimately by more than half a
million votes — a razor-thin vote differential in Florida left the winner unclear for five weeks (only to
have the Supreme Court decide the question in favor of George W. Bush).
The Electoral College is inconsistent with basic democratic values, including equality, civic participa-
tion, and political certainty. If the Electoral College was ever defensible, it is no longer.
Nevertheless, eliminating the Electoral College remains a heavy lift. Support for change can fluctuate
depending on perceptions of which party has an edge under the current system.222 And small states have
a disproportionate sway over ratification of constitutional amendments.
But the Electoral College can be rendered irrelevant absent a constitutional amendment. States could
take the lead by enacting legislation to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVC).223
Parties to the NPVC agree to award their electoral votes to whoever receives the greatest number of
votes in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. To date, 10 states and the District of Columbia have
signed on, accounting for 165 Electoral College votes. With additional state support — enough to meet
or exceed 270 electoral votes — the plan would ensure that the winner of the national popular vote
becomes president.
The NPVC is a creative, state-based solution to a problem of great national significance, with the poten-
tial for bipartisan support. While only Democratic-leaning states have enacted the NPVC thus far, the
legislation has passed at least one chamber in 12 others, including some controlled by Republicans.224
And prior to 2000, Republicans in Congress proposed amending the Constitution to institute a direct
election for the president.225
Our Constitution does not lay out a purely majoritarian government structure. However, the presiden-
cy — the singular office accountable to all of America — should be different. The Electoral College is
unfair and undermines confidence in our democracy. Lawmakers should modernize the way we choose
the president.
Insulating law enforcement from self-interested or improper political interference helps ensure even-
handed and unbiased administration of the law. While it is fully appropriate for the president to direct
policy and set law enforcement priorities, it is not appropriate for him to direct prosecutorial actions in
particular cases. The dangers of law enforcement abuses were brought to stark relief during the Nixon
White House scandals — including not just Nixon’s interference in the Watergate investigation, but also
the ITT scandal, in which the president told the Justice Department to drop the antitrust prosecution
of a party contributor.226
Nixon-era abuses led his successors to embrace limits to the president’s ability to interfere with law en-
forcement for improper personal, financial, or political reasons. The Independent Counsel Act created
a mechanism for investigating executive branch wrongdoing. (That law has since expired.)227 Presidents
since Nixon have also adopted and adhered to policies sharply limiting contacts between the White
House and Justice Department.228 More recently, a 1988 provision in the tax code prevents White
House officials, including the president, from directing the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or
terminate tax audits of individual taxpayers.229
The policies and practices that the executive branch imposed on itself have long been followed by mem-
bers of both parties in all levels of government. For years, they protected the rule of law. But they have
shown themselves to be inadequate protections today, as White House officials have repeatedly sought
to influence prosecutorial and enforcement decisions.
The most egregious example is President Trump’s attempt to undermine and disrupt the investigation
into whether his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. It is no secret that the pres-
ident wants the Russia investigation to disappear. By his own admission, he fired FBI Director James
Comey because of the “Russia thing,” and he has repeatedly targeted FBI and Department of Justice
staff in his public criticism of the investigation.230 He has reportedly twice ordered the firing of Special
Counsel Robert Mueller, only to back down, including once after his White House counsel threatened
to resign rather than execute the order.231 He publicly repeatedly demanded investigation and prosecu-
tion of his 2016 campaign opponent.
Other examples from the past year further illustrate the threats to independent law enforcement. The
president recently threatened to stop a proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner for the stated
reason that it would strengthen Time Warner’s media company, CNN.232 He has publicly threatened
legal action against Amazon, whose chief executive also owns The Washington Post.233 He has repeatedly
threatened to fire senior Department of Justice officials and impugned the credibility of career officials,
including those working on matters involving him and his associates.234
In the past, when the executive branch abused its powers, Americans pushed for reforms to prevent a
recurrence. Congress should act swiftly to enact the following safeguards to protect the rule of law:
rotect the Special Counsel from Removal for Improper Reasons. Congress should enact the
• P
bipartisan Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act (S. 2644),236 introduced by Sens. Lind-
say Graham (R-S.C.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.),
which imposes a for-cause standard for removing the special counsel and limits the authority for
removal to the attorney general, or the most senior Senate-confirmed Justice Department official
who is not recused from the matter. The bill prohibits removal while litigation is pending, gives
the special counsel a statutory right to challenge his or her wrongful removal, and provides for the
preservation of all materials.
• R
equire the White House and Federal Enforcement Agencies to Publish Their Policies Relat-
ing to Contacts Between White House and Law Enforcement Officials, and Keep a Record of
All Contacts. In order to shield federal law enforcement from political interference, administra-
tions since the Nixon era have imposed “limited contacts policies” to limit the number of White
House and enforcement agency personnel who may communicate with each other.237 These limits
reduced improper political pressure relating to specific investigations and prosecutions. While the
current White House adopted a similar set of policies, it has repeatedly ignored them.238 Congress
can strengthen internal safeguards by requiring the White House and federal enforcement agencies
to publish their contact policies, and maintain and disclose records of contacts between the White
House and law enforcement officials.
• Empower an Independent Office Within the Executive Branch to Investigate and Report
Improper Interference in Law Enforcement Matters and Ethics Breaches. Today no individual
or entity within the executive branch has the authority and independence to investigate and report
on White House efforts to improperly interfere with law enforcement decisions. Congress has at
times acted as a check on such abuses, but only in extreme circumstances, as in Nixon’s impeach-
ment. Congress is typically not adept at uncovering wrongdoing in the first instance or providing
strong oversight when there is single-party control of the government. To safeguard against abuse,
Congress can empower an existing office — or create a new one — to investigate and report on
improper interference with law enforcement.239 The Office of Government Ethics, discussed in the
next proposal, is one candidate to house such a role, though it would need to be restructured to be
able to do so effectively. The office that takes on this role could also be empowered to investigate
and report on ethics violations.
There is substantial precedent for the adoption of bipartisan reforms in the face of scandal or abuse —
from the adoption of anti-nepotism laws after President Kennedy appointed his brother to lead the Jus-
tice Department, to a wide array of laws introduced during and after the Nixon era. President Trump’s
overreach has galvanized extraordinary grassroots political engagement, and Americans from across the
For more than 50 years, presidents have sought to avoid ethical questions arising from their own busi-
ness dealings by voluntarily limiting their direct personal holdings to simple assets like cash and treasury
bills, using a “blind trust”242 for other assets, and refraining from other conduct that might be construed
as attempting to profit from the presidency while in office. Since Richard Nixon, every president and
major party nominee has also disclosed at least some personal tax information.243
Since OGE’s creation in 1978, presidents also voluntarily collaborated with the office to arrange their
financial affairs. They did this without any legal obligation to do so. It set the tone for other high-level
officials, who were expected to avoid situations that might create even an appearance that they were
profiting from public office.
The Trump administration is hardly the first to experience ethical scandals, but its sheer disregard for
longstanding norms is unprecedented. Most notably, the president has refused to take any meaningful
steps to separate himself from ownership and control of his extensive businesses and declined to vol-
untarily disclose his personal tax returns. He has also shown a troubling lack of respect for OGE. He
declined to work with the agency on his own affairs and allowed his White House counsel’s office to pub-
licly question whether White House staff like Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser,
are even required to follow OGE rules. The behavior of appointees like Kushner, whom foreign govern-
ments reportedly sought to manipulate, has at least created an appearance of high-level impropriety.244
These are urgent issues that could impact government policy on everything from relations with China
and Russia to financial regulation. Without sufficient safeguards, it can be difficult to discern where the
public interests end and the president or another official’s self-interest begins. Over the long term, such
doubts can undermine the integrity of governance at home and compromise U.S. leadership abroad.245
To address these concerns, Congress should strengthen executive branch ethics laws in the following ways:
• R
equire Real Transparency With Respect to the President’s Financial Affairs and Those of
Other Top Officials. The best way to get sufficient transparency is to update federal ethics disclo-
sure requirements. Current rules require top officials, including the president, to file annual reports
listing their sources of personal income and assets and liabilities.246 But there is no analogous
disclosure requirement for those officials who own private businesses without securities traded on
Much attention has focused on President Trump’s tax returns, and there is legislation pending that
would require them to be made public.249 While it makes sense to make at least some tax informa-
tion public, tax returns are not enough to shed light on the full extent of the president’s conflicts of
interest.250 A return has never been intended to show all financial interests.
• Significantly Strengthen OGE.251 Congress should specify that OGE’s director may only be
removed by the president “for cause,” and give the director authority to submit a budget directly to
Congress.252 OGE should also have the power to review — and potentially cancel — ethics waivers
for federal officials, which currently receive little central oversight.253 And either a revamped OGE
or another agency must be given real investigative and enforcement authority — including the
power to issue subpoenas, conduct random audits of ethics filings, and pursue civil penalties.254
Conflict of interest rules target only the most egregious self-dealing. While closing the presidential
loophole would not address every concern about self-interested conduct by the president, it would
at least ensure that he or she is subject to the same basic ethical standards as millions of other feder-
al employees. It would also align with the practices in most states, where governors are not exempt
from conflict of interest laws, as well as other peer democracies.256
The gaps in executive branch ethics rules should concern even the president’s supporters. After all,
instead of a conservative real estate magnate, our next commander-in-chief could be a left-leaning tech
titan or media mogul. Better safeguards will constrain future presidents of all political persuasions as
much as they do Trump, and leave our democracy stronger.
Of particular concern is a post-Citizens United surge in spending on supreme court elections by dark
money groups that do not disclose their donors.259 That lack of transparency means voters are denied
crucial information about the interests seeking to shape
their courts. And dark money can obscure conflicts of
Misleading attack ads interest when a judge hears cases involving major sup-
heighten pressures porters. In Montana, for example, a dark money group
on judges. that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the state’s
2012 supreme court election was backed by an out-
of-state billionaire who was embroiled in litigation in
Montana state court at the time of the election. The candidate supported by the dark money group won
the race, and the newly elected justice sided with the group’s billionaire backer when the state supreme
court heard the case.260
State supreme court elections also regularly attract misleading attack ads, often targeting judges for their
rulings on controversial issues. In Washington state’s 2016 election, for example, a justice was described
as “enabl[ing] child predators” because he concluded the police had not given adequate warning when
they sought to do a warrantless search of a house.261 During the 2015-16 election cycle, a majority of all
negative television ads in supreme court races criticized judges for their rulings on the bench, often in a
misleading way.262
These attacks heighten pressures on judges. Empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that election
pressures have an impact on judicial decision-making, particularly in criminal cases and in cases involv-
ing powerful interests.263
States should enact two key reforms that would bolster the independence and integrity of state courts,
and encourage public confidence in the judicial system.
dopt a “One and Done” Single Term for Supreme Court Justices. States should amend their
• A
constitutions to provide for a lengthy single term of at least 14 years for supreme court justices,
with no opportunity for election to subsequent terms. When sitting judges hear cases while an
election looms, it puts tremendous pressure on them to consider public opinion and the preferenc-
es of powerful supporters — information that should have no role in judicial decision-making. Yet
despite the threat to judicial independence, nearly every state requires state court judges to stand
for multiple terms on the bench.
A “one and done” single term allows judges to build expertise and have job security as they hear
controversial cases, but without entrenching power for generations at a time. This reform should
eplace Supreme Court Elections with a Publicly Accountable Appointment Process. There
• R
is compelling evidence that high cost and politicized supreme court elections threaten both the
appearance and reality of evenhanded justice. States should replace elections with a transparent,
publicly accountable appointment process that encourages fair judicial decision making by reduc-
ing the risk of cronyism or special interest capture.
First, judicial candidates should be vetted by a bipartisan nominating commission with diverse
membership. Second, the commission should forward a short list of candidates to the governor,
who must select an appointee from the list provided. Finally, the process should include a clear and
open application process, public hearings and a public vote, ethics rules for commissioners, and
data collection on the diversity of judicial candidates at each stage of the process.
There have been several prior waves of judicial selection reform in the states, including the adoption of
judicial elections in the late 19th century. Elections were adopted to respond to the concern that judges
were too closely tied to the governors and legislators responsible for appointing them.264 Today, it is elec-
tions that pose the principal threat to a fair and impartial judiciary. As powerful interests increasingly
look to courts as a vehicle for forwarding their political, ideological, or financial agendas, states are past
due in revisiting how they select judges.
Worse, in most states judges themselves decide whether they are biased and must step aside. Federal
judges also decide their own recusal motions.269 Because people tend to underestimate their own bias-
es,270 even judges acting in good faith may fail to recuse themselves from cases that others would view as
raising conflicts of interest.
Legislation or court rules should promote the appearance and the reality of impartial justice.
• S tate judges should be required to step aside from cases when they are the beneficiaries of substan-
tial spending in support of their election to the bench. This should include instances where lawyers
or litigants have made substantial contributions to judges’ campaigns, or when they have contrib-
uted to groups engaged in outside spending.
These are all common-sense reforms. More than 90 percent of voters think that judges shouldn’t hear
cases involving major campaign supporters.271 The notion that a person shouldn’t be a judge in their
own case is a core legal and constitutional value. Fixing judicial recusal would be a straightforward way
to enhance public confidence in the fairness of our courts.
Voting
The Fight to Vote
Michael Waldman
Money in Politics
Secret Spending in the States
Chisun Lee, Katherine Valde, Benjamin T. Brickner, and Douglas Keith
Five to Four
Lawrence Norden, Brent Ferguson, and Douglas Keith
Rule of Law
National Task Force on Rule of Law and Democracy
Led by Preet Bharara and Christine Todd Whitman
Fair Courts
Who Pays for Judicial Races? The Politics of Judicial Elections 2015-16
Alicia Bannon, Cathleen Lisk, and Peter Hardin
2 pproximately 2.5 million voters experienced voter registration problems at the polls in the 2012
A
election. Charles Stewart III, 2012 Survey of the Performance of American Elections, Final Report,
Harvard Dataverse, 2013, ii (2013), http://dvn.iq.harvard.edu/dvn/dv/measuringelections; 2012
Election Administration and Voting Survey, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 2013, 8-10,
https://www.eac.gov/assets/1/6/2012ElectionAdministrationandVoterSurvey.pdf. (Stewart found
2.8% of 2012 voters experienced registration problems when they tried to vote. The Election
Administration and Voting Survey found that 131,590,825 people voted in 2012 and that
65.5% percent voted in person on election day (56.5%) or early (9%). 65.5% of 131,590,825
voters. multiplied by the 2.8% figure from Stewart’s study, yields 2,413,375.73 voters with regis-
tration problems at the polls in the 2012 election).
3 omas Patterson, The Vanishing Voter: Public Involvement in an Age of Uncertainty (New York:
Th
Vintage Books, 2002), 178.
4 Inaccurate, Costly, and Inefficient: Evidence that America’s Voter Registration System Needs an Up-
grade, The Pew Center on the States, 2012, 7, http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/upload-
edfiles/pcs_assets/2012/PewUpgradingVoterRegistrationpdf.pdf.
5 C
arter and Ford: National Commission on Election Reform, Reports of The Task Force on the
Federal Election System, chapter 2 “Voter Registration,” August 2001, available at http://web1.
millercenter.org/commissions/comm_2001_taskforce.pdf.
6 T
he Case for Automatic Voter Registration, Brennan Center for Justice, 2015, 1, https://www.
brennancenter.org/publication/case-automatic-voter-registration.
7 Automatic Voter Registration, Brennan Center for Justice, last modified April 9, 2018, https://
www.brennancenter.org/analysis/automatic-voter-registration.
8 Ibid.
9 utomatic Voter Registration Act of 2017, S. 1353, 115th Cong. (2017); Automatic Voter Reg-
A
istration Act of 2017, H.R. 2876, 115th Cong. (2017).
10 utomatic and Permanent Voter Registration: How It Works, Brennan Center for Justice, 2015,
A
https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/Automatic_Permanent_Voter_
Registration_How_It_Works.pdf .
11 Ibid, 3.
13 J onathan Brater, “Update: Oregon Keeps Adding New Voters at Torrid Pace,” Brennan Center
for Justice, last modified Aug. 19, 2016, accessed Mar. 14, 2018, https://www.brennancenter.
org/analysis/update-oregon-keeps-adding-new-voters-torrid-pace.
14 “ 2016 November General Election Turnout Rates,” United States Elections Project, last accessed
April 23, 2018, http://www.electproject.org/2016g; “2012 November General Election Turnout
Rates,” United States Election Project, last modified September 3, 2014, http://www.electproject.
org/2012g.
15 hristopher Famighetti, “First Look Shows Automatic Voter Registration Was a Success in Ver-
C
mont,” Brennan Center for Justice, modified Aug. 17, 2017, last accessed Mar. 14, 2018, https://
www.brennancenter.org/blog/first-look-shows-automatic-voter-registration-was-success-vermont.
16 Drew DeSilver and Abigail Geiger, “For many Americans, Election Day is already here,” Pew
Research Center, October 21, 2016, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/10/21/for-ma-
ny-americans-election-day-is-already-here/.
17 mericans oppose efforts to restrict early voting — an October 2014 poll found only 11 percent
A
of voters supported reducing early voting before Election Day. Ariel Edwards-Levy, “New Early
Voting Restrictions Have Little Support Among Americans,” Huffington Post, Oct. 17, 2014,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/16/early-voting-poll_n_5992638.html. See also Susan
Lerner, Elizabeth Steele, Jenny Flanagan, and Prachi Vidwans, People Love it Here: Experience
with Early Voting in Selected U.S. Counties, Common Cause, 2013, http://www.commoncause.
org/research-reports/people-love-it-experience-with-early-voting.pdf.
18 iana Kasdan, Early Voting: What Works, Brennan Center for Justice, 2013, https://www.
D
brennancenter.org/publication/early-voting-what-works. Since the publication of this report,
New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Minnesota adopted some form of early voting. In addition, while
Washington and Oregon do not have separate early voting procedures, they conduct elections
entirely through mail-in ballots, so they are included in the states that offer voters an opportu-
nity to vote before Election Day. See “Absentee and Early Voting,” National Conference of State
Legislatures, modified Aug. 17, 2017, last accessed Mar. 14, 2018, http://www.ncsl.org/research/
elections-and-campaigns/absentee-and-early-voting.aspx.
19 endy Weiser, “Voter Suppression: How Bad? (Pretty Bad),” American Prospect, Oct. 1, 2014,
W
http://prospect.org/article/22-states-wave-new-voting-restrictions-threatens-shift-outcomes-tight-
races.
21 oter Empowerment Act of 2017, H.R. 12, 115th Cong. (2018); Voter Empowerment Act of
V
2017, S. 1437, 115th Cong. (2018).
23 ark Joseph Stern, “These Insane Early Voting Lines Were a Direct Result of Republican Voter
M
Suppression,” Slate, November 7, 2016, http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/11/07/
those_insanely_long_early_voting_lines_were_a_result_of_republican_voter.html.
24 ditorial Board, “A five-hour wait to vote in Arizona primary? That’s shameful,” Arizona Repub-
E
lic, Mar. 23, 2016, http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/2016/03/23/arizona-primary-our-
view-we-outraged-long-lines/82152636/.
25 The Presidential Commission on Election Administration, The American Voting Experience, 2014,
13, available at https://www.nased.org/PCEA_FINAL_REPORT_JAN_2014.pdf.
26 S cott Powers and David Damron, “201,000 in Florida didn’t vote because of long lines,” Orlando
Sentinel, Jan. 29, 2013, http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-01-29/business/os-voter-lines-
statewide-20130118_1_long-lines-sentinel-analysis-state-ken-detzner.
27 harles Stewart III, Waiting to Vote in 2012 (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
C
2013), 19, available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2243630&down-
load=yes.
28 hris Famighetti, Amanda Melillo, and Myrna Perez, Election Day Long Lines: Resource Allo-
C
cation, Brennan Center for Justice, 2014, https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/elec-
tion-day-long-lines-resource-allocation.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid, 1-2.
35 yrna Pérez, “Voting Rights Act is an Important Moral Statement,” Sojourners, Feb. 25, 2013,
M
https://sojo.net/articles/voting-rights-act-important-moral-statement.
37 his is the number of submissions of voting changes from the beginning of 1998 to which DOJ
T
has interposed an objection. Some objections were later withdrawn or were superseded by a
declaratory judgment action for court preclearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia. For state-by-state chronological listings of Section 5 objections, see Section 5 Objection
Letters, U.S. Dept. of Justice, http://www.justice.gov/crt/records/vot/obj_letters/index.php (list-
ing 86 objections since the beginning of 1998).
39 ranscript of Oral Argument at 47, Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013) (No.
T
12-96), available at https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_tran-
scripts/2012/12-96_7648.pdf.
43 In addition to the decisions cited below, see One Wisconsin Institute, Inc. et al. v. Thomsen, et al.,
198 F. Supp. 3d 896 (W.D. Wis. 2016)
44 North Carolina NAACP v. McCrory, 831 F.3d 204, 214 (4th Cir. 2016).
45 he Great Poll Closure, The Leadership Conference Education Fund, November 2016, http://
T
civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/reports/2016/poll-closure-report-web.pdf.
46 oting Rights Advancement Act of 2015, H.R. 2867, 114th Cong. (2015); Voting Rights Ad-
V
vancement Act of 2017, H.R. 2978, 115th Cong. (2017).
47 Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2017, H.R. 3239, 115th Cong. (2017).
48 arl Hulse, “By a Vote of 98-0, Senate Approves 25-Year Extension of Voting Rights Act,” The
C
New York Times, July 21, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/washington/21vote.html.
49 eorge W. Bush, “Remarks on Signing the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott
G
King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, July 27, 2006,” Public
Papers of the Presidents: George W. Bush, 2006, Book 2, July 1-December 31, 2006 (Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2010), 1448. The President signed Public Law No. 109-246,
120 Stat. 577.
50 elinda Lake, David Mermin, and Brittany Stalsburg to Interested parties, September 30, 2014,
C
Recent research on the Voting Rights Act, Lake Research Partners, http://www.civilrightsdocs.
info/pdf/voting/VRAPoll.pdf.
51 “ Criminal Disenfranchisement Laws Across the United States,” Brennan Center for Justice, last
modified Oct. 6, 2016, accessed Mar. 12, 2018, https://www.brennancenter.org/criminal-disen-
franchisement-laws-across-united-states.
52 hristopher Uggen, Ryan Larson, and Sarah Shannon, 6 Million Lost Voters: State-level Estimates
C
of Felony Disenfranchisement, Sentencing Project, 2016, http://www.sentencingproject.org/publi-
cations/6-million-lost-voters-state-level-estimates-felony-disenfranchisement-2016/.
54 Ibid.
55 eport of the proceedings and debates of the Constitutional Convention, state of Virginia: held in
R
the city of Richmond June 12, 1901, to June 26, 1902, Vol. II (Richmond: Heritage Press, 1906),
3076.
56 Florida Parole Commission, Status Update: Restoration of Civil Rights (RCR) Cases Granted, 2009
and 2010, 2011, 7, 13, https://fcor.state.fl.us/docs/reports/2009-2010ClemencyReport.pdf. An-
other study found “consistent differences between voters and non-voters in rates of subsequent
arrests, incarceration, and self-reported criminal behavior.” Christopher Uggen & Jeff Man-
za, “Voting and Subsequent Crime and Arrest: Evidence from a Community Sample,” Columbia
Human Rights Law Review 36 (2004): 193, 213.
57 “ Democracy Restoration Act,” Brennan Center for Justice, last modified Oct. 6, 2016, accessed
Mar. 12, 2018, https://www.brennancenter.org/legislation/democracy-restoration-act.
58 .B. 126 (Del. 2000), H.B. 5042 (Ct. 2001); S.B. 204 (N.M. 2001; H.B. 64 (N.M. 2005);
H
SF0065 (Wyo. 2003); H.B. 0075 (Wyo. 2017); A.B. 55 (Nev. 2004); H.J.R. 6579 (R.I. 2005);
L.B. 53 (Neb. 2005); S.B. 1678 (Tn. 2006); S.B. 488/H.B. 554 (Md. 2007); S.B. 340/H.B. 980
(Md. 2015); Carson Whitelemons, “Virginia’s Step Forward on Voting Rights,” Brennan Center
for Justice, last modified June 11, 2013, accessed Mar. 12, 2018, https://www.brennancenter.org/
blog/virginia’s-step-forward-voting-rights.
59 M
ixon v. Commonwealth, 759 A.2d 442 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2000) (striking down law prohibiting
convicted felons from registering to vote for five years after release from prison).
60 oting Restoration Amendment, Article VI, Section 4, Florida Department of State, Division
V
of Elections: Voting Restoration Amendment 14-01, available at http://dos.elections.myflorida.
com/initiatives/initdetail.asp?account=64388&seqnum=1.
61 lex Altman, “Koch Brother Teams Up With Liberals on Criminal Justice Reform,” Time, Jan.
A
29, 2015, http://time.com/3686797/charles-koch-criminal-justice/; Jennifer Bendery & Dana
Liebelson, “The Surprising Voting Rights Issue Both Democrats and Republicans Support,”
Huffington Post, Apr. 3, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/03/voting-rights-fel-
ons_n_6999704.html; Lucy Madison, “Santorum Hammers Romney over Felon Voting Rights,”
CBS News, Jan. 17, 2012, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/santorum-hammers-romney-over-fel-
on-voting-rights/.
62 See “Support for the Democracy Restoration Act,” Brennan Center for Justice, October 6,
2016, https://www.brennancenter.org/legislation/democracy-restoration-act#Support; “Reso-
lution: Restoration of Voting Rights,” American Probation and Parole Association, September
2007, https://www.appa-net.org/eweb/Dynamicpage.aspx?site=APPA_2&webcode=IB_Resolu-
tion&wps_key=3c8f5612-9e1c-4f60-8e8b-1bf46c00138e; “Resolutions: Resolution on Restor-
ing Voting Rights,” Association of Paroling Authorities International, April 30, 2008, accessed
April 3, 2018, http://www.apaintl.org/about/resolutions.html; Florida Parole Commission, Sta-
63 endery and Liebelson, “The Surprising Voting Rights Issue Both Democrats and Republicans
B
Support”; Madison, “Santorum Hammers Romney over Felon Voting Rights.”
64 att Ford, “The Strangest Political Attack Ad of 2017,” The Atlantic, October 24, 2017, https://
M
www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/gillespie-criminal-justice-ad/543762/.
65 J onathan Brater, Voter Purges: The Risks in 2018, Brennan Center for Justice, 2018, 3-4, https://
www.brennancenter.org/publication/voter-purges-risks-2018.
66 A
udit Report on the Board of Elections’ Controls Over the Maintenance of Voters’ Records and Poll Ac-
cess, The City of New York Office of the Comptroller, 2017, https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/
audit-report-on-theboard-of-elections-controls-over-the-maintenance-of-voters-records-and-poll-
access.
67 Examples of Notorious Voter Purges Since 2000 (on file at the Brennan Center).
69 yrna Pérez, Voter Purges, Brennan Center for Justice, 2008, 27-28, https://www.brennancenter.
M
org/publication/voter-purges; 25 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. §§ 1203(h), 1501.
70 “Voter Registration List Maintenance,” Virginia Department of Elections, last modified Feb. 5,
2018, accessed Mar. 20, 2018, https://www.elections.virginia.gov/resultsreports/maintenance-re-
ports/.
71 “ Automatic Voter Registration and Modernization in the States,” Brennan Center for Jus-
tice, March 22, 2018, https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/voter-registration-moderniza-
tion-states.
72 S ee. e.g., M.C.L.S. § 168.523a; see generally Myrna Pérez, Voter Purges, Brennan Center for
Justice, 2008, 5, 30, https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/voter-purges; National Con-
ference of State Legislatures, “Provisional Ballots,” June 19, 2015, http://www.ncsl.org/research/
elections-and-campaigns/provisional-ballots.aspx.
73 S ee, e.g., Wendy Weiser and Vishal Agraharkar, Ballot Security and Voter Suppression: What It
Is and What the Law Says, Brennan Center for Justice, 2012, 9; Common Cause & Lawyers’
Comm. for Civil Rights Under Law, Deceptive Election Practices and Voter Intimidation: The Need
for Voter Protection, 2012, 6-19, https://lawyerscommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/De-
ceptivePracticesReportJuly2012FINALpdf.pdf.
74 awyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, “National Election Protection Hotline Re-
L
ceives Calls from Alabama Voters Reporting Voter Intimidation and Mass Voter Confusion
75 Ibid.
77 endy Weiser and Adam Gitlin, Dangers of ‘Ballot Security’ Operations: Preventing Intimidation,
W
Discrimination, and Disruption, Brennan Center. for Justice, 2016, 4-6 https://www.scribd.com/
document/322696032/Dangers-of-Ballot-Security-Operations-Preventing-Intimidation-Dis-
crimination-and-Disruption#from_embed.
78 S ee, e.g., Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Act of 2011, S. 1994, 112th Cong. (2011).
79 eiser and Gitlin, Dangers of ‘Ballot Security’ Operations: Preventing Intimidation, Discrimination,
W
and Disruption,1-4; Common Cause & Lawyers’ Comm. for Civil Rights Under Law, Deceptive
Election Practices and Voter Intimidation: The Need for Voter Protection, 2012, 11, https://lawyer-
scommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/DeceptivePracticesReportJuly2012FINALpdf.pdf.
80 awrence Norden and Ian Vandewalker, Securing Elections from Foreign Interference, Brennan
L
Center for Justice, 2017, 3, https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/securing-elections-for-
eign-interference.
81 S ee Sari Horwitz et al., “DHS tells states about Russian hacking during 2016 election,” The
Washington Post, Sept. 22, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dhs-
tells-states-about-russian-hacking-during-2016-election/2017/09/22/fd263a2c-9fe2-11e7-8ea1-
ed975285475e_story.html?utm_term=.1c426ed08ba8.
83 awrence Norden and Wilfred U. Codrington III, America’s Voting Machines at Risk – An Update,
L
Brennan Center for Justice, March 8, 2018, https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/ameri-
cas-voting-machines-risk-an-update.
84 rennan Center for Justice, “Voting Problems Present in 2016, But Further Study Needed to
B
Determine Impact,” November 14, 2016, https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/voting-prob-
lems-present-2016-further-study-needed-determine-impact.
89 Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections, ICA 2017-01D, Office of the
Director of National Intelligence, 2017, https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.
pdf.
92 ere is a “reasonable efforts” requirement in the Honest Ads Act of 2017, S.1989, 115th Cong.
Th
(2017). An analogue to the credit card verification requirement can be found in pending legisla-
tion that would require political committees to check for a U.S. billing address before accepting
a contribution. Stop Foreign Donations Affecting Our Elections Act, S.1660, 115th Cong.
(2017).
93 raig Timberg, Elizabeth Dwoskin, Adam Entous and Karoun Demirjian, “Russian ads, now
C
publicly released, show sophistication of influence campaign,” The Washington Post, November
1, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/russian-ads-now-publicly-re-
leased-show-sophistication-of-influence-campaign/2017/11/01/d26aead2-bf1b-11e7-8444-a0d-
4f04b89eb_story.html?utm_term=.bc5aa859910c.
94 emocracy Protection Act, Budget Bill, S.7509-C Part JJJ, 2017-2018 Leg. Sess. (N.Y. 2018),
D
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2017/s7509.
95 nline Electioneering Transparency and Accountability Act, H.B.981, 2018 Reg. Sess. (Md.
O
2018), http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2018RS/bills/hb/hb0981e.pdf.
98 ebecca Beitsch, “Lawmakers Look to Curb Foreign Influence in State Elections,” Stateline,
R
March 10, 2017, http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2017/03/10/
lawmakers-look-to-curb-foreign-influence-in-state-elections. A ballot initiative that would,
among other things, restrict election spending by foreign-controlled corporations is advancing in
Alaska. Chris Klint, “Signatures submitted for Alaska good-governance initiative,” KTVA, Janu-
ary 12, 2018, http://www.ktva.com/story/37254785/signatures-submitted-for-alaska-good-gov-
ernance-initiative. A bill introduced in Maryland in February restricts political activity by
corporations with more than five percent foreign ownership. Online Electioneering Transparency
and Accountability Act, H.B.981, Maryland Legislature (2018), http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/
webmga/frmMain.aspx?pid=billpage&stab=01&id=hb0981&tab=subject3&ys=2018RS.
99 alifornia enacted rules in 2014 that require disclosure of the identities of donors to groups that
C
engage in political spending regardless of whether they register as political committees or have
politics as their primary purpose. Cal. Gov’t Code §§ 84222(a); 2014 Cal. Stat. ch. 16 § 6.
100 DISCLOSE Act of 2018, S.B.5991, 2018 Reg. Sess. (Wash. 2018), http://apps2.leg.wa.gov/bill-
summary?BillNumber=5991&Year=2017&BillNumber=5991&Year=2017.
101 J ennifer Agiesta, “CNN Poll: 6 in 10 concerned Trump isn’t doing enough to protect US elec-
tions,” CNN, Feburary 27, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/27/politics/cnn-poll-trump-
russia-protect-elections/index.html.
102 “ [M]ore than eight in 10 poll respondents, regardless of party affiliation, either ‘strongly agree‘
or ‘somewhat agree‘ that political ads both on TV and online should be required to say who
paid for the ad.” Dave Levinthal, “New hope, new problem: Will the Federal Election Com-
mission shut down?,” Center for Public Integrity, Dec. 20, 2017, https://www.publicintegrity.
org/2017/12/20/21410/new-hope-new-problem-will-federal-election-commission-shut-down.
Even before the Russian interference was revealed, a large bipartisan majority of Americans
supported requiring the sources of political spending to be disclosed. “Americans’ Views on
Money in Politics,” The New York Times, June 2, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/interac-
tive/2015/06/02/us/politics/money-in-politics-poll.html (approximately 76 percent of both
Democrats and Republicans think “groups not affiliated with a candidate that spend money
during political campaigns should be required to publicly disclose their contributors”).
103 I an Vandewalker and Lawrence Norden, “Small Donors Still Aren’t as Important as Wealthy
Ones,” The Atlantic, Oct. 18, 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/cam-
paign-finance-fundraising-citizens-united/504425/.
104 iv M. Sultan, “Election 2016: Trump’s Free Media Helped Keep Cost Down, But Fewer Do-
N
nors Provided More of the Cash,” Center for Responsive Politics, last modified April 13, 2017,
accessed March 5, 2018, https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/04/election-2016-trump-few-
er-donors-provided-more-of-the-cash/.
105 W
hile the total count of small donors has yet to be calculated, piecemeal analysis of individual
candidates reveals that the number of donors who gave in amounts less than $200 can be com-
106 arty Gilens and Benjamin Page, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups,
M
and Average Citizens,” Perspectives on Politics 12, no. 3: 564-581.
107 John Wagner and Scott Clement, “It’s just messed up’: Most think political divisions as bad as
Vietnam era, new poll shows,” The Washington Post, Oct. 28, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.
com/graphics/2017/national/democracy-poll/?utm_term=.e25faf2ddce0.
108 Benenson Strategy Group, “Beyond the Beltway,” December 2014, 14, https://www.scribd.com/
document/250249904/Beyond-the-Beltway.
109 T
heodore Roosevelt, “Seventh Annual Message,” December 3, 1907, Miller Center Presi-
dential Speech Archive, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/decem-
ber-3-1907-seventh-annual-message.
110 J ason Scott-Sheets, “Public financing is available for presidential candidates. So what’s not to like
about free money?” Center for Responsive Politics, last modified April 14, 2016, accessed March
5, 2018, https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/04/public-financing-is-available-for-presiden-
tial-candidates-so-whats-not-to-like-about-free-money/.
111 Ibid.
112 Angela Migally, Susan M. Liss, and Frederick A.O. Schwartz, Jr., Small Donor Matching Funds:
The NYC Election Experience, Brennan Center for Justice, 2010, 4, https://www.brennancenter.
org/publication/small-donor-matching-funds-nyc-election-experience.
113 S undeep Iyer, Elisabeth Genn, Brendan Glavin, and Michael J. Malbin, Donor Diversity Through
Public Matching Funds, Brennan Center for Justice, 2012, 7, http://www.brennancenter.org/
publication/donor-diversity-through-public-matching-funds; Brent Ferguson, State Options
for Reform, Brennan Center for Justice, 2015, 1, https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/
files/publications/State_Options_for_Reform_FINAL.pdf; Adam Skaggs and Fred Wertheimer,
Empowering Small Donors in Federal Elections, Brennan Center for Justice, 2012, 15, http://www.
brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/publications/Small_donor_report_FINAL.pdf.
114 mpowering Citizens Act of 2017, H.R. 3955, 115th Cong. (2017); Empowering Citizens Act,
E
S. 1931, 115th Cong. (2017).
115 W
e the People Democracy Reform Act of 2017, H.R. 3848, 115th Cong. (2017); We the People
Democracy Reform Act of 2017, S. 1880, 115th Cong. (2017).
117 awrence Norden and John Pudner, “Tax credits for small donors in politics should be part of
L
tax reform,” USA Today, June 19, 2017, https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/06/19/
make-tax-credits-for-small-donors-part-of-tax-reform-column/102751036/.
118 Lawrence Norden and Douglas Keith, Small Donor Tax Credits: A New Model, Brennan Center
for Justice, 2017, 4, https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/Small%20
Donor%20Tax%20Credit.pdf; see also Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 5747.29; Minn. Stat. §
290.06(23) (2018); Or. Rev. Stat. § 316.102 (2015). As of 2014, Oregon’s credit has only been
available to individuals making less than $100,000 a year or couples making less than $200,000.
See id.; Ark. Code Ann. § 7-6-222 (2007).
120 Ibid.
121 Ibid.
122 Norden and Pudner, “Tax credits for small donors in politics should be part of tax reform.”
123 See Norden and Keith, Small Donor Tax Credits: A New Model, 1.
124 S eattle Mun. Code §§ 2.04.620(b), (e) (2015); Russell Berman, “Seattle’s Experiment With
Campaign Funding,” The Atlantic, Nov. 10, 2015, http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar-
chive/2015/11/seattle-experiments-with-campaign-funding/415026/.
125 S ee, e.g., A.R.S. §§ 16-950, 16-951 (providing for clean elections funding in Arizona elections);
Conn. Gen. Stat § 9-702 (providing grants for candidates for statewide offices, state senate, and
state representative in Connecticut); Maine Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 21-A, §§ 1123, 1125 (providing
for alternative campaign financing for candidates for governor, state senator, and state represen-
tative); Albuquerque, N.M. Charter, Art. XVI, §§ 2, 8 (providing funding for candidates in city
council and mayoral elections).
126 Government by the People Act of 2017, H.R. 20, 115th Cong. (2017).
128 ne recent survey by Public Policy Polling found that 62 percent of respondents would support
O
a small donor matching system. “National Survey Results,” Public Policy Polling, Sept. 22-23,
2015, https://mayday.us/data/20150925_gop_polling_results.pdf. A 2014 Every Voice poll
showed that 70% of respondents favored a proposal to match small donor contributions through
public financing. Adam Smith, “New Poll: Voters Think Congress Doesn’t Listen to Them,
Support Campaign Reforms,” Every Voice, Nov. 10, 2014, http://everyvoice.org/press-release/no-
vember2014poll.
129 Lawrence Norden, Brent Ferguson, and Douglas Keith, Five to Four, Brennan Center for Justice,
2016, https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/five-four.
131 Speechnow.org v. Federal Election Comm’n, 599 F. 3d 686 (D.C. Cir. 2010).
132 rizona Free Enterp. Club’s Freedom PAC v. Bennett, 564 U.S. 721, 728 (2011) (striking down
A
provision of Arizona’s public financing law that provided extra public funding to participants
who had been outspent by privately funded candidates and independent expenditure groups).
133 See McCutcheon v. Federal Elections Comm’n, 134 S. Ct. 1434, 1442 (2014) (invalidating aggre-
gate limits on total political contributions a donor could make to all candidates or committees,
finding such limits to be unconstitutional under the First Amendment).
134 See, e.g., Ian Vandewalker and Daniel I. Weiner, Stronger Parties, Stronger Democracy: Rethinking
Reform, Brennan Center for Justice, 2015, 8, https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/
publications/Stronger_Parties_Stronger_Democracy.pdf (comparing contribution limits for indi-
vidual donors before and after the McCutcheon decision).
135 Lawrence Norden and Iris Zhang, “Fact Check: What the Supreme Court Got Wrong in its
Money in Politics Decisions,” Brennan Center for Justice, January 30, 2017, https://www.bren-
nancenter.org/analysis/scotus-fact-check.
136 or a full critique of Buckley, see E. Joshua Rosenkranz, Buckley Stops Here: Loosening the Judicial
F
Stranglehold on Campaign Finance (New York: The Century Foundation, 1998); E. Joshua
Rosenkranz, If Buckley Fell: A First Amendment Blueprint for Regulating Money in Politics, (New
York: The Century Foundation, 1999).
138 aniel I. Weiner and Benjamin Brickner, “Electoral Integrity in Campaign Finance Law,” 20
D
NYU Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, 2017, 115-117, 122-24, http://www.nyujlpp.
org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Weiner-Brickner-Electoral-Integrity-in-Campaign-Fi-
nance-Law-20nyujlpp101.pdf.
139 hisun Lee, Katherine Valde, Benjamin Brickner, and Douglas Keith, Secret Spending in the
C
States, Brennan Center for Justice, 2016, 2-3, https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/se-
cret-spending-states.
140 obert Maguire, “$1.4 billion and counting in spending by super PACs, dark money groups,”
R
Center for Responsive Politics, last modified Nov. 9, 2016, last accessed March 5, 2018, https://
www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/11/1-4-billion-and-counting-in-spending-by-super-pacs-dark-
money-groups/.
142 I an Vandewalker and Lawrence Norden, Getting Foreign Funds Out of America’s Elections, Bren-
nan Center for Justice, 2018, 2, 6 (observing sharp rise in online political expenditures in 2016
election cycle and federal campaign finance law’s lag behind advances in online campaigning).
144 S tate Requirements for Reporting Independent Expenditures, National Conference of State Legisla-
tures, 2014, http://www.ncsl.org/Portals/1/documents/legismgt/2014_Independent_Expendi-
tures_Chart.pdf.
145 urrent abuses of dark money trace back to the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Wisconsin
C
Right to Life combined with the arms-race culture of outside spending that has followed Citizens
United. See Norden, Ferguson, and Keith, Five to Four, 6.
147 ate Kaye, “Data-Driving Targeting Creates Huge 2016 Political Ad Shift: Broadcast TV
K
Down 20%, Cable and Digital Way Up,” AdAge, Jan. 3, 2017, http://adage.com/article/me-
dia/2016-political-broadcast-tv-spend-20-cable-52/307346/.
148 ISCLOSE Act of 2017, S. 1585, 115th Cong. (2017); DISCLOSE 2017 Act, H.R. 1134,
D
115th Cong. (2017).
150 Ibid, 7.
151 ont. Code Ann. § 13-37-232 (2015); Governor Steve Bullock Signs Montana Disclose Act Into
M
Law, 2015. http://governor.mt.gov/newsroom/governor-steve-bullock-signs-montana-disclose-
act-into-law.
153 Ibid.
154 udget Bill, S.7509-C, 2017-2018 Leg. Sess. (N.Y. 2018), https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/
B
bills/2017/s7509.
155 I bid; Tony Romm, “Why a crackdown on Facebook, Google and Twitter could come from the
states before Congress,” The Washington Post, Mar. 2, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/
news/the-switch/wp/2018/03/02/as-d-c-sits-on-the-sidelines-these-states-are-looking-to-regulate-
facebook-google-and-twitter.
156 McCutcheon v. Federal Election Comm’n, 134 S. Ct. 1434, 1459 (2014).
157 Doe v. Reed, 130 S. Ct. 2811, 2937 (2010) (Scalia, J., concurring).
158 See “Americans’ Views on Money in Politics,” The New York Times.
159 rent Ferguson, Candidates & Super PACs: The New Model in 2016, Brennan Center for Justice,
B
2015, http://www.brennancenter.org/publication/candidates-super-pacs-new-model-2016.
162 T
he anti-coordination and transparency laws that apply to election spenders are mostly time-lim-
ited, kicking in for a relatively short stretch before Election Day. See, e.g., § 11 C.F.R. 100.29.
The short time periods apply to issue ads that mention a candidate but do not expressly call for
the candidate’s election or defeat. While the relevant provisions could be read more broadly, the
Federal Election Commission has deadlocked on whether to do so. See Federal Election Commis-
sion, “Statement on Advisory Opinion Request 2011-23 (American Crossroads),” December 1,
2011, https://www.fec.gov/resources/about-fec/commissioners/weintraub/statements/AO_2011-
23_American_Crossroads_CLB_ELW_Statement.pdf. For express advocacy, limitations may
apply if there is a clearly identified candidate for office, which may be long before election day.
See § 11 C.F.R. 100.3, 100.22.
163 Jeffrey Toobin, “Why Obama Should Pardon Don Siegelman,” New Yorker, Jan. 14, 2015,
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/obama-pardon-don-siegelman.
164 J ohn McCormick, “Lewandowski Stars in Pro-Trump Ad Blitz for GOP Tax Plan,” Bloomberg,
Nov. 3, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-03/lewandowski-stars-in-pro-
trump-ad-blitz-backing-gop-tax-plan.
165 aura Nahmias, “Campaign for One New York, Disbanded and Under Investigation, Raised
L
Money through February,” Politico, July 15, 2016, http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/
city-hall/story/2016/07/campaign-for-one-new-york-raised-from-real-estate-through-february-
this-year-103899; David Weigel and John Wagner, “Bernie Sanders Launches ‘Our Revolution’
with Electoral Targets – and a Few Critics Left Behind,” The Washington Post, Aug. 24, 2016,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/08/24/bernie-sanders-launches-
our-revolution-with-electoral-targets-and-a-few-critics-left-behind/?utm_term=.a0c9e64bc81e;
Jason Hancock, “Nonprofit Linked to Missouri Governor Raises New Questions about ‘Dark
Money,’ Ethics,” Kansas City Star, Mar. 8, 2017, http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-gov-
ernment/article137209643.html.
166 Stop Super PAC-Candidate Coordination Act, H.R. 3952, 115th Cong. (2017).
167 ee, Ferguson, and Earley, After Citizens United: The Story in the States, 18; Conn. Gen. Stat. §
L
9-601c (2013); Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, § 18225.7 (2015).
169 Lee, Ferguson, and Earley, After Citizens United: The Story in the States, 16.
170 Conflicts of Interest and Organizations Affiliated with Elected Officials, Int. 1345-A,
171 ffice of Commissioner Ann M. Ravel, Dysfunction and Deadlock: The Enforcement Crisis at the
O
Federal Election Commission Reveals the Unlikelihood of Draining the Swamp, Federal Election
Commission, 2017, https://classic.fec.gov/members/ravel/ravelreport_feb2017.pdf.
172 Ibid.
173 ven investigations require the votes of at least four commissioners to begin. 52 U.S.C. §
E
30107(a)(9).
175 gency Financial Report Fiscal Year 2017, Federal Election Commission, 2017, https://www.fec.
A
gov/resources/cms-content/documents/FY2017.FEC.AgencyFinancialReportAFR.pdf.
176 Federal Election Administration Act of 2017, H.R. 3953, 115th Cong. (2017).
177 estoring Integrity to America’s Elections Act, H.R. 2034, 115th Cong. (2017); Restoring Integ-
R
rity to America’s Elections Act, S.1683, 115th Cong. (2017).
178 “ 2016 House Race Ratings for October 27, 2016,” Cook Political Report, last modified Nov. 7,
2016, accessed Mar. 16, 2018, https://cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings/139363.
179 Laura Royden, Michael Li, and Yurij Rudensky, Extreme Gerrymandering & the 2018 Midterm,
Brennan Center for Justice, 2018, 13, https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publica-
tions/extreme%20gerrymandering_2.pdf.
180 Ibid, 3.
181 S ee Christopher Ingraham, “America’s most gerrymandered congressional districts,” The Wash-
ington Post, May 15, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/05/15/
americas-most-gerrymandered-congressional-districts/; Thomas Wolf, “Showdown on Partisan
Gerrymandering in Maryland,” Brennan Center for Justice, last modified July 11, 2016, accessed
Mar. 16, 2018, https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/showdown-partisan-gerrymandering-mary-
land.
182 avid Daley, “The House the GOP Built: How Republicans Used Soft Money, Big Data, and
D
High-Tech Mapping to Take Control of Congress and Increase Partisanship,” New York Maga-
zine, Apr. 24, 2016, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/04/gops-house-seats-are-safe-
heres-why.html.
183 See, e.g., Jonathan Martinaug, “Democrats Unveil a Plan to Fight Gerrymandering,” The New
York Times, Aug. 3, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/04/us/politics/democrats-un-
veil-a-plan-to-fight-gerrymandering.html.
187 J ustin Levitt, “Florida,” All About Redistricting: Professor Justin Levitt’s guide to drawing the elector-
al lines, Loyola Law School, accessed Mar. 16, 2018, http://redistricting.lls.edu/states-FL.php.
188 50 State Guide to Redistricting, Brennan Center for Justice, May 23, 2011, http://www.bren-
A
nancenter.org/publication/50-state-guide-redistricting.
189 S .J. Res. 5, 132nd Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Ohio 2018), https://www.sos.state.oh.us/globalas-
sets/ballotboard/2018/2018-02-15-sjr5.pdf.
190 We the People Democracy Reform Act of 2017, S. 1880, 115th Cong. (2017).
191 Ibid.
192 S ee, e.g., Kim Soffen, “Independently Drawn Districts Have Proved to Be More Competitive,”
The New York Times, July 1, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/02/upshot/independent-
ly-drawn-districts-have-proved-to-be-more-competitive.html.
193 alifornia Proposition 11, Voters FIRST Act, 2008, California Citizens Redistricting Commission,
C
http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/downloads/voters_first_act.pdf; California Proposition 20, The
Voters First Act for Congress, 2010, California Citizens Redistricting Commission, http://www.
wedrawthelines.ca.gov/downloads/voters_first_act_for_congress.pdf; H.J.R. 12 Issue 1, 130th
Gen. Assemb. (Oh. 2015), http://archives.legislature.state.oh.us/res.cfm?ID=130_HJR_12.
195 L
ynn Hulsey, “Kasich backs redistricting reform,” Dayton Daily News, Jan. 3, 2016, http://www.
daytondailynews.com/news/local-govt--politics/kasich-backs-redistricting-reform/MZWrwndi-
JR1n8O3KzdxJkO/; Brief of Republican Statewide Officials, Gill v. Whitford, No. 16-1161 (S.
Ct.), www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legal-work/Gill_AmicusBrief_Republican_State-
wide_Officials_InSupportofAppellees.pdf.
196 T
homas Wolf and Caroline Vorce, “Briefs Providing the Perspectives of Bipartisan Elected Of-
ficials on the Problems with Extreme Partisan Gerrymandering,” Sept. 29, 2017, https://www.
brennancenter.org/blog/briefs-providing-perspectives-bipartisan-elected-officials-problems-ex-
treme-partisan.
197 “Congressional Apportionment,” United States Census Bureau, last modified Nov. 16, 2015,
accessed Mar. 19, 2018, https://www.census.gov/topics/public-sector/congressional-apportion-
ment/about.html; “Distribution of Electoral Votes,” National Archives and Records Administra-
tion, last modified Dec. 10, 2010, accessed Mar. 19, 2018, https://www.archives.gov/federal-reg-
ister/electoral-college/allocation.html.
200 “ Uses of Data,” United States Census Bureau, last modified Feb. 28, 2018, accessed March 19,
2018, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/guidance/data-uses.html.
201 “ What We Do,” United States Census Bureau, accessed April 16, 2018, https://www.census.gov/
about/what.html.
202 “ How Many Census Takers are Needed to Conduct the Census,” United States Census Bureau,
accessed April 16, 2018, https://www.census.gov/history/www/faqs/agency_history_faqs/how_
many_census_takers_are_needed_to_conduct_the_census.html.
203 W
endy Weiser and Thomas Wolf, “Why The Census Asking About Citizenship Is Such A Prob-
lem,” Huffington Post, March 27, 2018, https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/why-census-ask-
ing-about-citizenship-such-problem.
204 emorandum from Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to Under Secretary for
M
Economic Affairs Karen Dunn Kelly, “Reinstatement of a Citizenship Question on the 2020
Decennial Census Questionnaire,” March 26, 2018, https://www.commerce.gov/sites/commerce.
gov/files/2018-03-26_2.pdf.
205 emorandum from Center for Survey Measurement (CSM), United States Census Bureau, to
M
Associate Directorate for Research and Methodology (ADRM), United States Census Bureau
(Sept. 20, 2017), https://www2.census.gov/cac/nac/meetings/2017-11/Memo-Regarding-Re-
spondent-Confidentiality-Concerns.pdf; Arturo Vargas, Respondent Confidentiality Concerns
and Possible Effects on Response Rates and Data Quality for the 2020 Census, National Advisory
Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations Fall Meeting, 2017, https://www2.census.
gov/cac/nac/meetings/2017-11/vargas-respondent-confidentiality.pdf.
206 See, e.g., National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations, Final Report,
Administrative Records, Internet, and Hard to Count Population Working Group, United States
Census Bureau, July 19, 2016, https://www2.census.gov/cac/nac/reports/2016-07-admin_inter-
net-wg-report.pdf; Gary D. Bass and Adrien Schless-Meier, “An Insidious Way to Underrepre-
sent Minorities,” The American Prospect, November 5, 2015, http://prospect.org/article/insidi-
ous-way-underrepresent-minorities.
207 S ee generally U.S. Gov’t Accountability Off., GAO-11-45, 2010 Census: Key Efforts to Include
Hard-to-Count Populations Went Generally as Planned, Improvements Could Make the Efforts
More Effective for Next Census, 2010, https://www.gao.gov/assets/320/313927.pdf; U.S. Census
Bureau, 2020 Census Integrated Communications Plan, Version 1.0, 25-45, https://www2.census.
gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/program-management/planning-docs/2020_integrated_
COM_plan.pdf; National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations, Final
Report: Administrative Records, Internet, and Hard to Count Population Working Group, https://
www2.census.gov/cac/nac/reports/2016-07-admin_internet-wg-report.pdf.
209 .S. Conference of Mayors to Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, U.S. Department of Com-
U
merce, Feb. 6, 2018, http://www.usmayors.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/20180206-cen-
sus-letter.pdf.
211 S ee, e.g., John H. Thompson, “Happy Census Day!,” United States Census Bureau, last modified
Apr. 1, 2015, accessed Mar. 19, 2018, https://www.census.gov/people/news/issues/vol3issue6.
html; Census 2010: Final Report to Congress 17, United States Department of Commerce, 2011,
https://www.oig.doc.gov/OIGPublications/OIG-11-030-I.pdf.
212 David O. Stewart, The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 2007), 155-62.
213 S ee, e.g., David W. Abbott and James P. Levine, Wrong Winner: The Coming Debacle in the Elec-
toral College (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1991).
214 or example, Wyoming’s at-large district is the nation’s smallest with just over 550,000 residents,
F
while the Montana’s is the largest with approximately 1 million residents. However, the states
have an equal say in the presidential election.
216 Michael Waldman, The Fight to Vote (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016), 247-8.
217 “ Two-thirds of Presidential Campaign Is in Just 6 States,” National Popular Vote, accessed Mar.
19, 2018, https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/cbcmnvampaign-events-2016 (citing Fair Vote,
2016 Presidential Candidate General Election Events Tracker, https://docs.google.com/spread-
sheets/d/14Lxw0vc4YBUwQ8cZouyewZvOGg6PyzS2mArWNe3iJcY/edit?usp=sharing).
218 anielle Kurtzleben, “Is The Electoral College Dragging Down Voter Turnout In Your State?,”
D
National Public Radio, Nov. 26, 2016, http://www.npr.org/2016/11/26/503170280/charts-is-
the-electoral-college-dragging-down-voter-turnout-in-your-state.
219 V
. Lance Tarrance, “America’s Unique and Controversial Electoral College,” Gallup, Nov. 7,
2016, http://www.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/197228/america-unique-controver-
sial-electoral-college.aspx?g_source=electoral+college&g_medium=search&g_campaign=tiles;
Lydia Saad, “Americans Would Swap Electoral College for Popular Vote,” Gallup, Oct. 24, 2011,
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150245/americans-swap-electoral-college-popular-vote.aspx.
221 “ House Votes for Direct Election of President,” in CQ Almanac 1969, 25th ed., (Washington,
DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1970), 895-901, http://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/cqal69-
1247065.
222 See, e.g., Dylan Matthews, “Poll: most people who voted in 2016 want to abolish the
Electoral College,” Vox, November 24, 2016, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-poli-
tics/2016/11/24/13731770/electoral-college-poll (describing majority support for ending the
Electoral College generally, but a strict partisan split immediately after the 2000 and 2016 elec-
tions when Democrat candidates Gore and Clinton lost the electoral vote but won the popular
vote).
223 “Agreement among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote” National Popular
Vote, Jan. 8, 2018, http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/written-explanation.
224 S ee “Status of National Popular Vote Bill in Each State,” National Popular Vote, https://www.
nationalpopularvote.com/state-status.
225 S ee, e.g., H.J. Res. 28, 105th Cong. (1997); H.J. Res. 43, 105th Cong. (1997); H.J. Res. 23,
106th Cong. (1999); H.J. Res. 113, 106th Cong. (2000).
226 aul L. Montgomery, “The Case Against Richard Nixon: A Catalogue of Charges and His
P
Replies,” The New York Times, August 9, 1974, https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/09/archives/
the-case-against-richard-nixon-a-catalogue-of-charges-and-his.html; E. W. Kenworthy, “The
Extraordinary I.T.T. Affair,” The New York Times, December 16, 1973, https://www.nytimes.
com/1973/12/16/archives/whats-good-for-a-corporate-giant-may-not-be-good-for-everybody-
else.html.
227 S ee Jack Maskell, Independent Counsels, Special Prosecutors, Special Counsels, and the Role of
Congress, CRS Report No. R43112 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, 2013),
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43112.pdf.
228 Protect Democracy, White House Communications with the DOJ and FBI, United to Protect De-
mocracy, March 8, 2017, available at https://protectdemocracy.org/agencycontacts/.
229 I nternal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, Pub. L. No. 105-206, 111 Stat.
1629 (1998) https://www.congress.gov/105/plaws/publ206/PLAW-105publ206.pdf.
230 hilip Bump, “Timeline: What we know about Trump’s decision to fire Comey,” The Washington
P
Post, January 5, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/01/05/timeline-
what-we-know-about-trumps-decision-to-fire-comey/?utm_term=.13c5e5cd7b7e.
231 aggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt, “Trump Sought to Fire Mueller in December,”
M
The New York Times, April 10, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/us/politics/trump-
sought-to-fire-mueller-in-december.html.
233 S ee, e.g., Sydney Ember, “To Trump, It’s the ‘Amazon Washington Post.’ To Its Editor, That’s
Baloney.” The New York Times, April 2, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/business/
media/to-trump-its-the-amazon-washington-post-to-its-editor-thats-baloney.html; Christiano
Lima, “Trump draws blood in feud with Amazon, Washington Post,” Politico, April 2, 2018,
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/02/trump-amazon-jeff-bezos-stock-value-495803.
234 J essica Estepa, “Here’s who President Trump pressured or fired at the Justice Department,” USA
Today, January 29, 2018, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/01/29/
heres-who-president-trump-pressured-fired-justice-department/1068771001/; Julie Hirschfeld
Davis, “Trump Calls Justice Department and F.B.I. Conduct ‘a Disgrace’,” The New York Times,
February 2, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/us/politics/trump-blames-justice-de-
partment-and-fbi-for-conduct-he-says-was-a-disgrace.html.
235 John McKay, “The Bush administration fired me from the Justice Department over politics,”
Vox, May 15, 2017, https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/5/15/15641318/us-attorneys-gon-
zales-bush-trump-justice-rule-of-law-scandal; NPR, “Gonzales Resigns Justice Post; Bush Blames
Politics,” August 27, 2007, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13967342.
236 Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, S. 2644, 115th Cong. (2018), https://www.
congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2644.
237 Protect Democracy, White House Communications with the DOJ and FBI.
238 onald F. McGahn II, Counsel to the President, “Communications Restrictions with Personnel
D
at the Department of Justice” (official memorandum, Washington DC: White House, 2017),
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000015a-dde8-d23c-a7ff-dfef4d530000.
239 S ee, e.g., Letter from Walter Shaub, Senior Director, Ethics, Campaign Legal Center, to the
Honorable Trey Gowdy, Chairman, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
and the Honorable Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member, House Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform (November 9, 2017), available at https://docs.google.com/viewerng/
viewer?url=http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/sites/default/files/W%2520Shaub%2520Leg-
islative%2520Proposal%2520-%25209%2520November%25202017_0.pdf; Kathleen Clark,
“Toward More Ethical Government: An Inspector General for the White House,” Mercer Law
Review 49 (1998), available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2054652.
240 S ee 18 U.S.C. § 202(c) (exempting the President, Vice President, members of Congress and
federal judges from the definition of “officer” or “employee” in the conflict of interest statute).
241 S ee Jeremy Venook, “Donald Trump’s Conflicts of Interest: A Crib Sheet,” The Atlantic, May 31,
2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/06/donald-trump-conflicts-of-inter-
ests/508382/.
242 att O’Brien, “Donald Trump Won’t Do what Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clin-
M
ton, and George W. Bush Did,” The Washington Post, Nov 16, 2016, https://www.washington-
243 aniel Weiner and Lawrence Norden, Presidential Transparency: Beyond Tax Returns, Brennan
D
Center for Justice, 2017, 7.
244 See also Norman Eisen and Richard Painter, “The Ethics Case Against Betsy DeVos,” The
Hill, Feb. 6, 2017, http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/317975-the-eth-
ics-case-against-betsy-devos; Sava Chavkin, “More Questions Circle Wilbus Ross’ Ethics as
GAO Investigation Requested,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Nov. 16,
2017, https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/questions-circle-wilbur-ross-eth-
ics-gao-investigation-requested/.
245 Daniel Weiner, Strengthening Presidential Ethics Law, Brennan Center for Justice, 2017, 5-6.
246 Ethics in Government Act of 1978, 5 U.S.C. app. §§ 101, 102 (1978)
248 Ibid, 8.
249 residential Tax Transparency Act, S.2979, 114th Cong. (2016); Presidential Tax Transpar-
P
ency Act; H.R. 305, 115th Cong. (2017) ; Simone Thomas and Kristin Wilson, “Pelosi,
Dems Not Letting Go of Trump Tax Return Push,” CNN, April 5, 2017, http://www.cnn.
com/2017/04/05/politics/democrats-trump-tax-return/.
251 S ee, e.g., Testimony of Craig Holman, Legislative Representative, Public Citizen, before the
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Feb. 13, 2007), https://www.citizen.
org/sites/default/files/craigtestimony.pdf.
254 Ibid.
255 S ee 18 U.S.C. § 208(a) (barring most “officers” and “employees” of the federal government
from participating in specific matters in which they, their immediate family members, business
partners, or organizations with which they are affiliated have a “financial interest”); see also “18
USC § 208: Acts affecting a personal financial interest,” Office of Government Ethics, accessed
November 16, 2017, https://www.oge.gov/Web/OGE.nsf/Resources/18+U.S.C.+%C2%A7+20
8:+Acts+affecting+a+personal+financial+interest.
256 T
he logic for this exemption derives in significant part from a 1974 Justice Department memo-
randum, which raised the possibility that requiring the president to recuse from certain decisions
would “disable (him or her) from performing some of the functions prescribed by the Constitu-
257 licia Bannon, Rethinking Judicial Selection in State Courts, Brennan Center for Justice, 2016,
A
25, http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/Rethinking_Judicial_Selec-
tion_State_Courts.pdf.
258 licia Bannon et al., Who Pays for Judicial Races? The Politics of Judicial Elections, 2015-16,
A
Brennan Center for Justice, 2017, 5-6, https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/politics-judi-
cial-elections.
259 Ibid, 2.
261 “ Can’t be trusted,” Judicial Integrity Washington PAC, aired October 20, 2016, https://www.
brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/analysis/Buying_Time/STSUPCT_WA_JUDINTWAPAC_
CAN%27T_BE_TRUSTED.mp4.
263 J oanna Shepherd and Michael S. Kang, Partisan Justice: How Campaign Money Politicizes Judicial
Decisionmaking in Election Cases, American Constitution Society, 2016, https://partisanjustice.
org/; Kate Berry, How Judicial Elections Impact Criminal Cases, Brennan Center for Justice, 2015,
https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/how-judicial-elections-impact-criminal-cases.
264 J ohn F. Kowal, Judicial Selection for the 21st Century, Brennan Center for Justice, 2016, https://
www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/Judicial_Selection_21st_Century.pdf.
265 S ee Joan Biskupic, “Supreme Court case with the feel of a best seller,” USA Today, February 16,
2009, https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-02-16-grisham-court_N.htm;
Bannon et al., Who Pays for Judicial Races?, 11.
268 Ibid.
270 harles Geyh, “Why Judicial Disqualification Matters. Again.,” Review of Litigation 30 (2011),
C
https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facpub/826/.
271 “ Justice at Stake/Brennan Center National Poll, 10/22-20/24, 2013,” 2013, accessed April 2,
2018, http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/press-releases/JAS%20Brennan%20
NPJE%20Poll%20Topline.pdf.