Voting & Democracy

Current Campaigns

Election Integrity

Maryland’s current voting system is unacceptable. It does not allow voters to verify that the electronic record matches their intention, and it does not produce a paper ballot to use in case of a recount. The absence of an independent record makes our elections vulnerable to software glitches, power failures and tampering. More.

Lobby Reform

Recent congressional scandals demonstrate the role of powerful interests and their lobbyists, as they engage in unseemly practices from accepting gifts and travel junkets to outright bribery. M ore.

New Voters Project

During the 2006 elections, the New Voters Project registered 75,000 students to vote and made contacted 94,000 youth voters to make sure they were planning to make it to the polls on election day. In the precincts we targeted in 2002, turnout increased by an average of 157 percent. M ore.

Overview

Money plays far too great a role in American elections, from the municipal level all the way up to the U.S. Presidency. Large contributions from a few groups and individuals unduly influence who wins elections and reduce the role of citizen voters in our democracy. Maryland PIRG is working to achieve campaign finance reform by enforcing tough campaign contribution limits, creating systems of public financing, and enacting lasting lobby reform.

Our system of representative democracy relies on an engaged citizenry and fair representation, and yet voter turnout is lower than it should be, voting is often difficult, inaccurate or unverifiable, and in many states the districts themselves are drawn by elected officials to benefit themselves or their party. That’s why Maryland PIRG is fighting to make verifiable, high quality voting machines the standard. We’re registering thousands of young and low-income new voters each year, and on the national level we’re supporting measures to strengthen ethics laws.

Results

• Maryland PIRG helped pass a law that requires online disclosure of campaign contributions. Then in 2007, Maryland PIRG helped ensure election integrity by requiring Maryland's voting machines to generate back-up paper records to verify the electronic tally starting in 2010.