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Building a Progressive Majority in the States:
Clean and Fair Elections

Election reform and eliminating the corruption of money in politics is necessary both to achieve progressive goals and to highlight progressive leaders as reformers of a system with which voters are disgusted. In a post-Bush v. Gore world of outrage over election abuses and current scandals where corporate "pay to play" lobbying deals are constantly in the news, there is an opportunity to push forward reforms that guarantee voting rights and promote elections where voter support, not corporate money, determines the election outcome.

At the core of many voters' frustrations with government is the sense that, too often, politics is for sale. Across the country, 38,000 high-priced lobbyists offering "gifts" to lawmakers swarm state legislatures as corporate campaign contributions grease the wheels and public policy is auctioned to the highest corporate bidder. And for selected legislators, there is the "revolving door" jackpot of a cushy lobbying job when they leave office after serving the industry's interests. Yet despite this tide of money, a number of progressive state leaders are gaining prominence by demanding reforms.

Public outrage over lobbying corruption will easily die out if reforms don't address the fundamental problem of ending corporate dominance of legislatures and elections and promoting clean elections. Restricting gifts by lobbyists, enforcing full disclosure of lobbying activities, and ending the revolving door between government and corporate lobbies are a good place to start. Ultimately, progressives need to demand public financing of elections to cut out the power of monied interests in our politics and thereby stake out clear differences on voting reform against rightwing opponents. The success of "clean money" policies in Arizona, hardly considered a liberal state, emphasizes the potentially broad appeal of such reforms.

As attempts by the right wing to disenfranchise voters become more sophisticated, progressives must work to ensure that elections are fair and instill confidence by protecting voting rights. The rightwing is cynically seeking to use "voter reform" rhetoric to undermine voting rights for poor and minority communities. Progressives need to challenge these restrictive registration and "voter ID" laws that encourage the intimidation of voters and monitor often shoddy implementation of voter databases-struggles that will determine future legislative battles by determining whose voices will be heard at the ballot box. And progressives can champion redemption for those ex-felons who have paid their debt to society and seek to restore their voting rights. To address blatant attempts to disenfranchise voters, progressives should introduce deceptive practices legislation that aims to criminalize voter intimidation.

Progressives also need to become leading voices in demanding fundamental changes in election procedures to make them simpler and ensure access for all voters. Broad-based reforms such as voting-by-mail, as successfully implemented in Oregon and other jurisdictions, and election-day registration can cut through these disenfranchisement strategies and assure that everyone qualified to vote can do so without fear of intimidation.

Public opinion is strongly on the side of progressive leaders fighting to end the corrupting influence of money in politics and standing up for voting rights. These positions tap the most basic American values of promoting democracy. In Connecticut, a 2005 Zogby poll showed 76% of the public supported public financing of elections in that state, while in Arizona, a local KAET poll showed 66% support for that state's clean elections system. More generally reflecting American's profound belief in voting rights, 80% of the public supports restoring the vote to ex-felons who are not currently in prison. Fundamentally, championing fair and clean elections gives progressives a strong political advantage in the public debate.

Key Clean and Fair Elections Policies:

Lobbying Reform: While the problem of lobbyist influence is severe, many state governments have been taking steps to improve the situation by policies that:

• Enforce Disclosure: The best practices include monthly electronic filings, require lobbyists and their employees to report their compensation, an independent auditing authority, and statutory reviews and penalties for late filings of disclosure forms.
• Ban Gifts: A number of states have tried to end the most visible sleaze by banning gifts completely.
• End the Revolving Door: Addressing one of the most insidious payoffs to legislators and government officials, six states have imposed a two-year moratorium before former legislators or other government officials can become lobbyists.

Clean Elections: Fundamentally, the only serious way to end the general corruption of politics by money is to stop allowing corporate interests to fund our elections, including policies to:

• Ban "Pay to Play" Campaign Contributions: Responding to the corruption of government contracting systems, a number of states have passed laws that bar companies bidding on contracts from making campaign contributions to government officials.
• Enact Public Financing: There are variations on public financing of elections, but the most popular currently being promoted requires any candidate to collect a certain number of $5 contributions to establish the seriousness of his or her candidacy, after which the candidate receives a set amount of public financing on the condition that they accept no additional outside campaign contributions. Candidates outspent by privately financed opponents are usually entitled to a limited amount of matching funds.

Election Reforms: Many of the problems facing voters would be eliminated through simplified voting systems, including:

• Election Day Registration: In order to encourage maximum participation, a number of states allow people to combine the process of registration and voting on the same day.
• Early Voting: States that give voters the chance to vote in the weeks leading up to election day have seen increased turnout and helped voters avoid burdensome long lines at the polls.
• Vote by Mail: "No excuses" permanent absentee voting or, more comprehensively, voting by mail cuts the costs of conducting elections, encourages greater participation, and resolves many voting rights and fraud issues by allowing election officials the time to catch problems and correct them.
• National Popular Vote Reform: States are moving to create a multi-state compact to elect the President by the national popular vote, making all states matter and encouraging greater turnout for all federal and state races.

Voting Rights: The core progressive principle should be that every American should have the right to vote without intimidation or harassment, guaranteed by:

• Opposing Restrictive ID Laws: Progressives should block overly restrictive voter identification requirements that do nothing to address the real types of election fraud that occur, yet threaten the rights of eligible voters.
• Fair HAVA Implementation: Progressives must assure that the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) does not lead to voters being wrongly purged from state voting databases; when voters are forced to cast a provisional ballot, their vote should be counted in any race for which they are eligible to vote.
• Enacting Deceptive Practices Acts: Individuals who use deception or intimidation to deter voting should be subject to serious fines, criminal penalties and civil actions by aggrieved voters.
• Restoring Voting Rights to Ex-Felons: Most states restore the vote after a person's sentence is finished, some when they are released from prison, and a few never take away voting rights.