January 21st is the 13th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United versus Federal Election Commission decision.
What is it? In 2010, the landmark ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission reversed longstanding campaign finance restrictions, allowing corporations and other outside groups to supply unlimited election funding to the candidate of their choice. This opened the floodgates, allowing big money and special interests to overwhelm our elections. Since then, super PACs and a small number of wealthy individuals have gained disproportionate influence over our elections, making politicians beholden to the needs of special interest groups and large donors rather than the priorities and interests of their own constituents.
LWV is committed to creating a more transparent and equitable small dollar funding system for elections, so all voters are valued no matter how much they can contribute to the candidate of their choice; making sure that candidates are elected based on their positions instead of their funds, and communities are empowered over organizations.
- Because of Supreme Court decisions like Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, corporations can spend unlimited funds promoting individual candidates and political parties.
- Citizens United paved the way for the creation of super PACs: outside groups that can accept unlimited contributions from donors as long as they create their own independent advertisements and materials promoting certain candidates
Despite Citizens United, every American should be able to see which corporations are spending money on which candidates, how that money is being spent, and how politicians are influenced by it. When we understand who is trying to influence our votes and how, elections operate with increased transparency and we have more information to inform our decisions
