Rhode Islanders for Fair Elections

Why Fair Elections?

for the environment | for healthcare | for free speech | for minority groups | for women

Public Financing Overview

Public Financing of Elections is an optional system that seeks to remove the influence of money in politics. It is based on the idea that any qualified person should be able to run for poltical office and represent their community. Public financing reinforces the direct communication between voters and representatives by allowing candidates to concentrate on issues rather than fundraising.

Under the system, participating candidates collect a certain number of qualifying contributions. Qualified candidates receive state funds for running both primary and general election campaigns, and publicly financed candidates running against privately financed candidates receive additional funds for every dollar that their opponent raises above their initial allotment. For more about the mechanics of Fair Elections, see our Issue page.

Legislators can spend less time fundraising

Under the current system of elections, politicians have to spend a large amount of their time fundraising for their next election, leaving them less time to deal with constituent concerns. Candidates at the state level must dedicate a great deal of their personal campaign schedule to fundraising - 33% of legislators spend over a quarter of their time raising money and 10% spend over half of their time doing it.

Publicly finaced elections mean that candidates and politicians can worry less about raising money and more about meeting with their constituents. Without the burden of fundraising, they will be able to go door-to-door and talk to their neighbors and the people they will represent about the real issues that matter most.

On Arizona’s landmark Senior Prescription Drug Plan:“If I had not run [using public financing], I would surely have been paid visits by numerous campaign contributors representing pharmaceutical interests and the like, urging me either to shelve that idea or to create it in their image. All the while, they would be wielding the implied threat to yank their support and shop for an opponent in four years. [Instead,] I was able to create this program based on one and only one variable: the best interests of Arizona’s senior citizens.”

—Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano

Public Financing creates Fair Elections

Elections that are exclusively privately financed reward the best fundraisers rather than the candidates with the best ideas. In Rhode Island, legislative candidates who raised the most money won their elections 97% of the time, and winners in the general election out-raised losing opponents by ratio of 3 to 1. Fair elections give an equal voice to candidates that are not expert fundraisers, and it levels the playing field to allow everyone to run based on their merits.

Fair Elections increase voter confidence and turnout

As elections become increasingly dependent on raised funds, voters show record-low levels of confidence in American government. Approval of the United States Congress is 21%, an all-time low since Gallup has began polling on that measure, and as many people believe that most members of Congress are corrupt as do not. Fully 82% of voters believe it is likely, as a result of publicly financed elections, that candidates will win on their ideas instead of the money they raise, and 81% believe it is likely that politicians will be more accountable to voters instead of large contributors

Low voter participation is one of the main concerns in American democracy today. Fair Elections are a way to boost voter turnout significantly and get more citizens involved in decisions about government. In Arizona, with the institution of public financing of elections, voter participation increased 18% between 1998 and 2006. Rhode Island’s participation level was 53% in 2006, among the lowest in the country even with highly contested gubernatorial and senatorial races.

Fair Elections reduces the power of special interests

By eliminating the need for large donors, officeholders will no longer be beholden to the influence of special interests and corporate moneygivers. Instead, legislators will be able to vote with confidence for the bills that most benefit their consituents and the people of Rhode Island. Also, by allowing potential candidates to meet with voters rather than host fundraisers, public financing reinforces the bond that citizens have with their democratic government and helps the government best serve the people.