Skip to content
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter October 18, 2013

Public Election Funding: An Assessment of What We Would Like to Know

  • Kenneth R. Mayer

    Kenneth R. Mayer is Professor of Political Science and Affiliate Faculty of the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research has focused on public funding at the state level, election administration, and American politics. He has been active as an expert witness in campaign finance, redistricting, and voter-ID litigation in state and federal courts.

    EMAIL logo
From the journal The Forum

Abstract

The implementation and expansion of public funding programs around the US over the past decade raised the possibility of major changes in the financing of campaigns at the state and local level. Advocates claimed that these programs increased electoral competition, reduced the influence of campaign contributors and lobbyists, and changed the distribution of political power. While there was evidence of a modest increase in competitiveness, primarily through reducing the number of incumbents who ran uncontested, the longer-term pattern has shown no significant change in incumbency reelection rates, margins of victory, or legislature demographics. Claims of major policy change have also been overstated. The Supreme Court’s rejection of spending triggers for additional grant awards in Arizona Free Enterprise PAC v. Bennett makes full public funding programs less attractive, since publicly funded candidates are less able to keep pace with high-spending opponents or independent expenditures. Future research should focus on how these programs affect the way that candidates and legislators engage with the public.


Corresponding author: Kenneth R. Mayer, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA, e-mail:

About the author

Kenneth R. Mayer

Kenneth R. Mayer is Professor of Political Science and Affiliate Faculty of the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research has focused on public funding at the state level, election administration, and American politics. He has been active as an expert witness in campaign finance, redistricting, and voter-ID litigation in state and federal courts.

  1. 1

    According to the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, three quarters of nations provide some sort of public funding, in the form of direct or indirect support to parties, or free television time. Since its origins in the 1950s “it has been adopted by almost all the stable democracies and became the dominate pattern among the new and emerging democracies in all regions of the world” (Mendilow 2012, p. 1).

  2. 2

    Studies of campaign expenditures have the same difficulty, in that incumbents who are in electoral trouble tend to spend more than those with no real opposition, leading to the simple (but inaccurate) conclusion that there is an inverse relationship between spending and votes. Accurate inferences require controlling for the expected competitiveness of the campaign; see Jacobson (1978). In congressional elections, researchers can control for baseline competitiveness by examining candidate experience, prior service in elected office, or partisan balance in the constituency. For state legislative elections, this information is much harder to find.

  3. 3

    An additional empirical difficulty is distinguishing the effects of clean elections from other changes in electoral systems that occurred at (or around) the same time. Term limits took effect in Maine in 1996 and Arizona in 2000 (the years when legislators were first termed out). Arizona changed its redistricting process in 2000, creating an independent commission to redraw state and congressional district lines after the 2000 Census. One of the requirements for the new Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission was to create competitive districts, and data support the conclusion that it did (McDonald 2006).

  4. 4

    Data from the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

  5. 5

    Federal Election Commission, Presidential Fund Income Tax Check-Off Status1992-2012, September 2012. 2012 figures are through July, though that does not affect the percentage of filers who participate. http://www.fec.gov/press/bkgnd/pres_cf/PresidentialFundStatus_September2012.pdf.

  6. 6

    In 2012, the presidential primary spending limit was $45.6 million, and the general limit was $91.2 million (a total of $136.8 million). Over the campaign, Romney spent an estimated $467 million; Obama spent $726 million even though he did not face any primary challenge. Obama spent $196 million in October 2012, nearly 50% more than he would have been permitted to spend in all of 2012 if he had taken public funds.

  7. 7

    Once a privately funded candidate exceeded specified spending thresholds, raised money in excess of these thresholds, or benefitted from any independent expenditures, publicly funded opponents became eligible for additional grants to offset this private spending.

  8. 8

    Data from Citizens Clean Elections Commission, http://www.azcleanelections.gov/electiondata/search.aspx.

  9. 9
  10. 10

    2008 and 2010 figures from State Elections Enforcement Commission (2011, p. 21); 2012 figures from author’s calculations.

References

Baumgartner, Frank R., Jeffrey M. Berry, Marie Hojnacki, David C. Kimball, and Beth L. Leech. 2009. Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226039466.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Benoit, Kenneth. 2004. “Models of Electoral System Change.” Electoral Studies 23: 363–389.10.1016/S0261-3794(03)00020-9Search in Google Scholar

Castellblanch, Ramón. 2003. “Challenging Pharmaceutical Industry Political Power in Maine and Vermont.” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 28: 109–132.10.1215/03616878-28-1-109Search in Google Scholar

Common Cause. 2005. The Sinking of the Bottle Bill. September 25. http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/CT.BOTTLEBILL.PDF.Search in Google Scholar

Francia, Peter L., and Paul S. Herrnson. 2003. “The Impact of Public Finance Laws on Fundraising in State Legislative Elections.“ American Politics Research 31 (5): 263–281.10.1177/1532673X03256784Search in Google Scholar

Goldberg, Deborah. 2003. “Public Funding of Judicial Elections: The Roles of Judges and the Rules of Campaign Finance.” Ohio State University Law Journal 64: 95–125.Search in Google Scholar

General Accounting Office. 2003. Campaign Finance Reform: Early Experiences of Two States That Offer Full Public Funding for Political Candidates. GAO-03-453.Search in Google Scholar

Government Accountability Office. 2010. Campaign Finance Reform: Experience of Two States That Offered Full Public Funding for Political Candidates. GAO-10-390.Search in Google Scholar

Gora, Joel. M. 2010. “Don’t Feed the Alligators: Government Funding of Political Speech and the Unyielding Vigilance of the First Amendment.” Cato Supreme Court Review 81: 81–127.Search in Google Scholar

Green, Joshua. 2000. “Clean Money in Maine.” The American Prospect September 26–October 9 11: 36–38.Search in Google Scholar

Hamm, Keith, and Robert W. Hogan. 2009. “Perspectives of State Legislative Candidates on Connecticut’s Implementation of Clean Elections.” Paper prepared for the 2009 meeting of the American Political Science Association, September 3–6, Toronto, Ontario.Search in Google Scholar

Horwitz, Sasha. 2008. Public Campaign Financing in North Carolina Judiciary. Los Angeles, CA: Center for Governmental Studies.Search in Google Scholar

Issacharoff, Samuel, and Pamela S. Karlan. 1998. “The Hydraulics of Campaign Finance Reform.” Texas Law Review 77: 1705–1738Search in Google Scholar

Jacobson, G. 1978. “The Effects of Campaign Spending on Congressional Elections,” American Political Science Review 72: 469–491.10.2307/1954105Search in Google Scholar

Kang, Michael S., and Joanna Shepherd. 2011. “The Partisan Price of Justice: An Empirical Analysis of Campaign Contributions and Judicial Decisions.” New York University Law Review 69: 69–130.Search in Google Scholar

Koβ, Michael. 2011. The Politics of Party Funding: State Funding to Political Parties and party Competition in Western Europe. New York: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Kraus, Jeffrey. 2011. “Campaign Finance Reform Reconsidered: New York City’s Public Financing Program at Twenty.” In Public Financing in American Elections, edited by Costas Panagopoulos. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 147–175.Search in Google Scholar

La Raja, Raymond J. 2008. “Candidate Emergence in State Legislative Elections: Does Public Funding Make a Difference? Paper prepared for delivery at the Temple - IPA State Politics and Policy Conference May 30–31, 2008, Philadelphia, PA.Search in Google Scholar

Malbin, Michael J., Peter W. Brusoe, and Brendan Glavin. 2012. “Small Donors, Big Democracy: New York City’s Matching Funds as a Model for the Nation and States.” Election Law Journal 11: 3–20.10.1089/elj.2010.0099Search in Google Scholar

Malhotra, Neil. 2008. “The Impact of Public Financing of Electoral Competition: Evidence from Arizona and Maine.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 8 (3): 263–281.10.1177/153244000800800303Search in Google Scholar

Mayer, Kenneth R. 2001. “Hey, Wait A Minute: The Assumptions Behind the Case for Campaign Finance Reform.” In A User’s Guide to Campaign Finance Reform, edited by Gerald C. Lubenow. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 71–82.Search in Google Scholar

Mayer, Kenneth R., and John M. Wood. 1995. “The Impact of Public Financing on Electoral Competitiveness: Evidence from Wisconsin, 1964–1990.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 20: 69–88.10.2307/440150Search in Google Scholar

Mayer, Kenneth R., and Timothy Werner. 2007. “Electoral Transitions in Connecticut: The Implementation of Clean Elections in 2008.” Paper presented the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago.Search in Google Scholar

Mayer, Kenneth R., Timothy Werner, and Amanda Williams. 2006. “Do Public Funding Programs Enhance Electoral Competition?” In The Marketplace of Democracy: Electoral Competition and American Politics, edited by Michael P. McDonald and John Samples. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Search in Google Scholar

McDonald, Michael P. 2006. “Drawing the Line on District Competition.” PS: Political Science and Politics 39: 91–94 (No. 1, January).Search in Google Scholar

Mendilow, Jonathan. 2012. “Introduction: Political Finance, Corruption, and the Future of Democracy.” In Money, Corruption, and Political Competition in Established and Emerging Democracies, edited by Jonathan Mendilow. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 1–16.Search in Google Scholar

Miller, Michael. 2008. “Gaming Arizona: Public Money and Shifting Candidate Strategies.” PS: Political Science and Politics 41 (3): 527–532.10.1017/S1049096508080700Search in Google Scholar

Miller, Michael G. 2011. “After the GAO Report: What Do We Know About Public Election Funding?” Election Law Journal 10 (3): 273–290.10.1089/elj.2010.0081Search in Google Scholar

Miller, Michael G., and Costas Panagopoulos. 2011. “Public Financing, Attitudes toward Government and Politics, and Efficacy.” In Public Financing in American Elections, edited by Costas Panagopoulos. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Milyo, Jeff. 2012. “Do State Campaign Finance Reforms Increase Trust and Confidence in State Government?” Paper presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago IL, April 12–15.Search in Google Scholar

Phaneuf, Keith M. 2012. “The Clean Elections State.” The American Prospect, January/February 23: 54–56.Search in Google Scholar

Powell, Lynda W. 2012. The Influence of Campaign Contributions in State Legislatures: The Effects of Institutions and Politics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.10.3998/mpub.2454352Search in Google Scholar

Powell, Richard J. 2010. “Cleaning House? Assessing the Impact of Maine’s Clean Elections Act on Electoral Competitiveness.” Maine Policy Review, Summer/Fall, 19: 46–54.Search in Google Scholar

Primo, David M., Jeffrey Milyo, and Tim Groseclose. 2006. “State Campaign Finance Reform, Competitiveness, and Party Advantage in Gubernatorial Elections.” In The Marketplace of Democracy: Electoral Competition and American Politics, edited by Michael P. McDonald and John Samples. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 268–285.Search in Google Scholar

Samples, John, ed. 2005. Welfare For Politicians? Taxpayer Financing of Campaigns. Washington DC: CATO Institute.Search in Google Scholar

Schmitt, Mark. 2007. “Mismatching Funds: How Small Donor Democracy can Save Campaign Finance Reform.” Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Spring, 4: 8–20.Search in Google Scholar

Skaggs, Adam, and Fred Wertheimer. 2012. Empowering Small Donors in Federal Elections. Brennan Center for Justice, New York University Law School.Search in Google Scholar

Smith, Bradley A. 1996. “Faulty Assumptions and Undemocratic Consequences of Campaign Finance Reform.” Yale Law Journal 105: 1049–1091.10.2307/797246Search in Google Scholar

State Elections Enforcement Commission (CT). 2011. Citizens’ Election Program 2010: A Novel System with Extraordinary Results. January. http://www.ct.gov/seec/lib/seec/publications/2010_citizens_election_program_report_final.pdf.Search in Google Scholar

Weimer, David L., and Aidan R. Vining. 2011. Policy Analysis. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.Search in Google Scholar

Weissman, Stephen R., and Ruth A. Hassan. 2011. “Public Attitudes Toward Publicly Financed Elections, 1972–2008.” In Public Financing in American Elections, edited by Costas Panagopoulos. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 124–143.Search in Google Scholar

Werner, Timothy, and Kenneth R. Mayer. 2007. “Public Election Funding, Competition, and Candidate Gender.” PS: Political Science and Politics XL: 661–667.Search in Google Scholar

Werner, Timothy, and Kenneth R. Mayer. 2012. “Public Campaign Finance and the Incumbency Advantage.” Manuscript.10.2139/ssrn.2153278Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2013-10-18
Published in Print: 2013-10-01

©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

Downloaded on 29.3.2023 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/for-2013-0049/html
Scroll Up Arrow