Fair Elections – systems with full public financing of elections – would help improve the openness, honesty, and accountability of government. They would also free public officials to respond to the interests of voters without worrying about hurting their ability to raise money from deep-pocketed donors. Most observers would agree that money plays far too large a role in elections – and that politicians spend too much time fundraising, detracting from the time they spend developing good public policy.
If we want to protect the environment, design a better health care system or improve our energy policy, we need a political system that encourages lawmakers to listen more to voters than to oil and gas companies, pharmaceutical giants and other industries.
Public funding systems in the states today draw rave reviews from lawmakers while producing more diverse fields of candidates. They also provide voters with an immediate return on their small investment of faith and money: lawmakers who run under the systems spend significantly less time raising money than those who do not, giving them more time to do the work of the people.
This coalition publication supporting full public financing for congressional elections was released by the Brennan Center, Common Cause, Democracy Matters, Public Campaign, Public Citizen & U.S. PIRG.