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Fair Election Fund

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Campaign Finance Fund

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The Fair Election Funds (not to be confused with the right-of-center voter security group, the Fair Election Fund) are government-run and financed funds for political candidates in local elections. Local governments establish these funds to encourage small-dollar donors to become involved in local elections. Fair Election Funds are operated in Denver, Colorado; Washington, D.C.; and the Maryland jurisdictions Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Prince George’s County, Montgomery County, and Howard County. 1 2 3 4 5

Muncipalities

District of Columbia

In 2018, Washington, D.C. passed the Fair Elections Amendment Act as an update to its 2011 Campaign Finance Act to establish a Fair Election Fund under the domain of the Office of Campaign and Finance. 6

Access to funding from the Fund is granted to candidates running for mayor, attorney general, city council, and state board of education. Participation is voluntary, but participating candidates must agree to lower individual contribution limits, a ban on corporate and PAC donations, lower limits on contributions from candidates and family members to their own campaigns, and mandatory participation in debates. Additionally, participating candidates cannot spend election funds on clothes, payments to family members, fines, or other candidate PACs. 7

Candidates are only admitted access to the fund if they can verify obtaining a certain level of funding from Qualified Small Donor Contributions (QSDC), with the level varying by office. 8

Upon successfully signing up to the fund, candidates receive a Base Amount payment for launching their campaign. Then, all future QSDCs are matched by the fund at a rate of five to one, though a total payment cap on matching contributions is applied based on the averages of past elections. 9

Baltimore City

Baltimore City runs a Fair Election Fund for qualifying candidates running for mayor, city council (including president), and comptroller. To qualify, candidates need a certain number of small contributions (up to $150), with the amount being determined by the office (for instance, mayoral candidates need at least 500 small donations adding up to $40,000). Participants gain matching small donor contributions, with limits depending on the office (up to $1.7 million for mayoral candidates). The matching rate also varies by office and contribution size, with a maximum rate of nine to one. Participating candidates cannot accept donations from corporations, PACs, or unions. 10

The establishment of the Baltimore City Fair Election Fund was supported by Common Cause Maryland, a state chapter of  left-of-center election advocacy group Common Cause.  11

Baltimore County

In 2022, Baltimore County (which governs Baltimore City’s northern suburban towns but not Baltimore itself) established its own Fair Election Fund with a $150,000 budget. Participating candidates are prohibited from spending more than $1.4 million per election. 12

Prince George’s County

Prince George’s County in Maryland created its Fair Election Fund in 2018 for candidates running for county executive or county council. In 2023, the Fund’s regulations were tightened to block access to candidates who spent sufficient funds on their campaigns prior to applying for Fair Election Fund access. 13

In March 2018, Joanna Zdanys, counsel for the left-of-center William J. Brennan Center for Justice, testified in support of the establishment of the Fair Election Fund. 14

Denver

In 2018, a referendum to create a Fair Election Fund in the City of Denver, Colorado, was passed with 70% of the vote. 15

In 2023, Denver held its first election under its Fair Election Fund. The city established an $8 million fund and paid out $7.1 million in matching contributions from over 19,000 individual donors. 45 percent of the funds raised by the 17 mayoral candidates came from the Fund. Participation in the fund was voluntary and produced matching contributions at a nine to one ratio, though candidates were required to accept lower individual donor limits. 16 17

According to an analysis by the Denver Sun, the Fair Election Fund had a noticeable impact on city council races with all top candidates receiving a significant portion of their funding from the Fund. However, top mayoral candidates received a relatively small proportion of their funding from the Fund. 18

Criticism

Fair Election Funds have been criticized for inadvertently boosting the influence of Super PACs despite their intended effort of lessening the influence of large donors. According to a report by the Denver Sun, Fair Election Funds require their participating candidates to lower their individual contribution limits, but Super PACs, as outside expenditure, cannot be affected, so the share of election spending from Super PACs may be increased by Fair Election Funds. This trend occurred in the 2023 Denver election, which saw large Super PAC spending on the mayoral race. 19

References

  1. “The Fair Elections Amendment Act of 2018.” Washington D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://ocf.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocf/page_content/attachments/Fair%20Elections%20Amendment%20Act%20of%202018%20Overview%20of%20the%20DC%20Law%2022_94%20%282%29.pdf.
  2. “Baltimore City Fair Election Fund.” Baltimore. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://fairelectionfund.baltimorecity.gov/.
  3. Goldenberg, Gina. “Baltimore County Council passes Fair Election Fun.” Maryland PIRG. January 14, 2022. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://pirg.org/maryland/updates/baltimore-county-council-passes-fair-election-fund/.
  4. “Fair Election Fund Commission.” Prince George County. May 10, 2024. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/sites/default/files/media-document/Letter%20to%20Candidates%20with%20Prior%20Campaign%20Accounts_0.pdf.
  5. Fish, Sandra. “Denver’s Fair Elections Fund isn’t keeping big money out of the city’s mayoral contest.” Denver Sun. March 13, 2023. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://coloradosun.com/2023/03/13/denver-mayor-fair-elections-fund/.
  6. “The Fair Elections Amendment Act of 2018.” Washington D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://ocf.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocf/page_content/attachments/Fair%20Elections%20Amendment%20Act%20of%202018%20Overview%20of%20the%20DC%20Law%2022_94%20%282%29.pdf.
  7. “The Fair Elections Amendment Act of 2018.” Washington D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://ocf.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocf/page_content/attachments/Fair%20Elections%20Amendment%20Act%20of%202018%20Overview%20of%20the%20DC%20Law%2022_94%20%282%29.pdf.
  8. “The Fair Elections Amendment Act of 2018.” Washington D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://ocf.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocf/page_content/attachments/Fair%20Elections%20Amendment%20Act%20of%202018%20Overview%20of%20the%20DC%20Law%2022_94%20%282%29.pdf.
  9. “The Fair Elections Amendment Act of 2018.” Washington D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://ocf.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocf/page_content/attachments/Fair%20Elections%20Amendment%20Act%20of%202018%20Overview%20of%20the%20DC%20Law%2022_94%20%282%29.pdf.
  10. “Baltimore City Fair Election Fund.” Baltimore. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://fairelectionfund.baltimorecity.gov/.
  11. “Tell the Baltimore City Council to Vote Yes for the Fair Election Fund.” Action Network. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-the-baltimore-city-council-to-vote-yes-for-the-fair-election-fund/.
  12. Goldenberg, Gina. “Baltimore County Council passes Fair Election Fun.” Maryland PIRG. January 14, 2022. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://pirg.org/maryland/updates/baltimore-county-council-passes-fair-election-fund/.
  13. “Fair Election Fund Commission.” Prince George County. May 10, 2024. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/sites/default/files/media-document/Letter%20to%20Candidates%20with%20Prior%20Campaign%20Accounts_0.pdf.
  14. Zdanys, Joanna. “Testimony Supporting Fair Election Fund in Prince George’s County.” Brennan Center for Justice. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/testimony-supporting-fair-election-fund-prince-georges-county.
  15. Rubino, Joe. “Denver’s Municipal Elections Will Test New Fair Election Fund.” Governoring. August 9, 2022. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.governing.com/finance/denvers-municipal-elections-will-test-new-fair-election-fund.
  16. Rubino, Joe. “Denver’s Fair Elections Fund disbursements now top $7.1 million in taxpayer money.” Denver Post. March 21, 2023. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.denverpost.com/2023/03/21/fair-elections-fund-denver-mayor-taxpayer-money-denver-election/.
  17. Fish, Sandra. “Denver’s Fair Elections Fund isn’t keeping big money out of the city’s mayoral contest.” Denver Sun. March 13, 2023. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://coloradosun.com/2023/03/13/denver-mayor-fair-elections-fund/.
  18. Fish, Sandra. “Denver’s Fair Elections Fund isn’t keeping big money out of the city’s mayoral contest.” Denver Sun. March 13, 2023. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://coloradosun.com/2023/03/13/denver-mayor-fair-elections-fund/.
  19. Fish, Sandra. “Denver’s Fair Elections Fund isn’t keeping big money out of the city’s mayoral contest.” Denver Sun. March 13, 2023. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://coloradosun.com/2023/03/13/denver-mayor-fair-elections-fund/.
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