Vote Now: A constitutional amendment about campaign finance
Does the Constitution need a new amendment to define how political campaigns are financed? Vote now in our “Next 10 Amendments” project!
The National Constitution Center’s Next 10 Amendments project is asking Constitution Daily readers to vote about 10 possible changes to the Constitution through the amendment process.
Note: Suggested amendments come from readers and represent different viewpoints, and not the viewpoint of the National Constitution Center.
We presented 10 topics for discussion starting this summer and the online debates were moderated by Chris Phillips, research fellow of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania and executive director of the nonprofit organization Democracy Café.
We also asked readers to suggest wording for proposed amendments, which went to our editorial board. And after reading the comments and suggestions, we have 10 proposed amendments for our readers to consider.
So exercise your civic duty, join the discussion and check back on Constitution Day to see what America has to say about our founding document.
CURRENT VOTE: Campaign financing of Federal elections.
PROPOSED AMENDMENT:
“Campaign donations for Federal elective office shall be limited to the following:
1. The donor must be a registered voter. (No corporations, unions, PACs or any other non-voter can be a donor).
2. The donor must be eligible to vote on the candidate or referendum in question (and hence cannot contribute to candidates or referendum issues outside the donor’s voting purview).
3. The amount of total of all contributions for a year shall be limited to the average net income for that year (the average of all taxable income for individual tax returns).
4. The contributions must be made out of a donor’s personal after-tax funds.”
VOTE BELOW. (If you can’t see the voting box below, click this link.)
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