Clean Elections Institute Inc.

Please Donate Today

Without you, we cannot continue our vital work! Clean Elections Institute operates primarily on individual donations from selfless contributors such as yourself and a few foundation grants. Because of our spectacular legislative and administrative successes in making Clean Elections in Arizona safe, stable, and successful (see below news items), we are planning to expand our operations into additional initiatives to reduce the influence of money in politics, increase the transparency of elections, and improve citizen representation. We need your help now more than ever to show potential national funders that we have a broad base of support in Arizona. With your help we can insure that Arizona will remain a national leader in improving citizen access to the political process.

Checks (payable to Clean Elections Institute) can be mailed to the address below or you can make a credit card donation by phone.

Clean Elections Institute is 501 (C)(3) organization and all donations are fully tax deductible as charitable contributions.

CLEAN ELECTIONS INSTITUTE, INC.

2702 N 3rd Street, Suite 4010 Phoenix, Arizona 85004

Phone: 602.840.6633 www.azclean.org

LATEST NEWS

10-3-08 CLEAN ELECTIONS INSTITUTE ASKS YOU TO VOTE NO ON PROP 105 - We have joined the largest and most diverse coalition in Arizona history to defeat this undemocratic ballot measure that would end Arizonans' right to pass laws by initiative. It would automatically assign a NO vote to anyone who didn't bother to vote (even those who have died or moved). If this had been in place in 1998 we would not have Clean Elections. Go to www.thevotersofaz.com for more info.

9-9-08 CLEAN ELECTIONS IS NOT DEAD! - Despite what you may read in the press, the judge in the latest lawsuit (McComish v. Brewer) has not ruled Clean Elections (or any part of it) unconstitutional. After a brief hearing, she decided not to issue a temporary restraining order stopping distribution of matching funds before the primary election. Another hearing for the general election will be held in October. Sometime after the election we will have a trial on the actual merits of the case where we will get to present our side.

6-27-08 LEGISLATURE ADJOURNS WITHOUT DOING DAMAGE TO CLEAN ELECTIONS OR OTHER CITIZEN PARTICIPATION PROCESSES! - After a protracted budget battle that left little time or energy for other bills, the Legislature adjourned late Friday without passing any of the bad bills that would have hurt the electoral process. Bills that thankfully died included partisan election of judges, partisan election of Independent Redistricting Commissioners, and allowing legislative raids of voter-approved funds (including Clean Elections). They will be back next year to try again!

6-25-08 SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS "MILLIONAIRES' AMENDMENT" - In Davis v. FEC they ruled that allowing federal candidates facing wealthy opponents to raise additional money, without allowing the wealthy candidates to do the same, is unconstitutional. Clean Elections opponents will claim that the decision can be applied to attack public financing as well. But the court decision specifically stated that voluntary public financing systems (like Clean Elections) are fundamentally okay. Ironically, the Supreme Court chipping away at restrictions on traditional campaign financing (like McCain-Feingold) will increase public support for public financing. Still, we can expect more court challenges!

3-20-08 SO-CALLED "CLEAN ELECTIONS FOR JUDGES" BILL HELD IN HOUSE! - HCR2063, to eliminate our nonpartisan merit-selection process for judges in Maricopa and Pima Counties and replace it with partisan elections for judges, was retained on the House calendar. This bad bill would force most sitting judges out of office, make them responsive to popular sentiment rather than ruling on the factual merits of a case, and could bankrupt the Clean Elections system. In February, Clean Elections Institute helped to kill an identical bill in the Senate.

10-30-07 STATUTORY AND RULE CHANGES TO MAKE SYSTEM MORE USER-FRIENDLY FOR ALL CANDIDATES! - Legislative improvements (click here for summary) and administrative rule changes will simplify and clarify the process and make the 2008 election more fair for all candidates. A summary of the rule changes will be posted soon.

6-21-07 CLEAN ELECTIONS SUPPORTERS MAKE HISTORIC IMPROVEMENT BILL SUCCESSFUL!! - With the help of hundreds of Clean Elections supporters, HB2690, a bipartisan bill making minor but necessary improvements to the highly successful Clean Elections Act, passed both the House, by a unanimous vote (59-0), and the Senate by an overwhelming majority (24-2). Passage of this bill will aid in the long term survival and success of Clean Elections by negating the opposition arguments that the system is unfair, unworkable and cannot be improved.

02-21-07 NAME CHANGE BILL FAILS IN SENATE! - SB1188, which would have changed the name from "Clean Elections Act" to "Publicly Funded Elections Act" failed on a vote of 17 Yes to 13 No (required a 3/4 majority to pass). This was a disguised precurser to a future repeal effort so voters could be asked to repeal the unknown and distateful sounding "publicly funded elections" instead of the familiar and popular "Clean Elections".

CLEAN ELECTIONS on NOW on PBS - On October 20th, the PBS weekly newsmagazine NOW presented a special hour-long investigation into the fight to keep American elections free and fair across the country. "Votes for Sale?" spotlighted the Clean Elections movement, highlighting the Arizona and Maine experience, and including interviews with Arizona officials and candidates. Click here to link to NOW and to view the video. Click here to see the transcript.