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.