Citizen-Funded Elections

Citizen-funded elections are a practical, proven reform that puts voters in control instead of big political donors.

But Florida’s supermajority legislature put Amendment 6 on the 2024 Ballot to try to end Florida’s existing citizen-funded program. We are asking Floridians to VOTE NO.

What will this look like on the ballot?

Ballot Summary: “Proposing the repeal of the provision in the State Constitution which requires public financing for campaigns of candidates for elective statewide office who agree to campaign spending limits.”

What would this amendment do if it passes?

Repeal Article VI, Section 7 of the Florida Constitution relating to “campaign spending limits and funding of campaigns for elective state-wide office.” If this amendment passes, implementing legislation would also come into effect to repeal the Florida Election Campaign Financing Act (See F.S. 106.30-106.36). Together these would end Florida’s public campaign financing program and spending limits for candidates for Governor and Cabinet (Chief Financial Officer, Attorney General, and Commissioner of Agriculture).

What is Florida’s public campaign financing program?

As outlined in the Florida Statutes, “the purpose of public campaign financing is to make candidates more responsive to the voters of the State of Florida and as insulated as possible from special interest groups.”

Running an effective statewide campaign is incredibly expensive in Florida. This discourages good people from running for office if they are not independently wealthy, and also means that candidates may be disproportionately reliant on contributions from a few wealthy individuals or special interest groups. Public campaign financing is designed to lessen these impacts, making it possible for more people to run for statewide office and increasing the importance of small-dollar donations.

Florida’s public campaign financing program is a matching program for small-dollar donations. This means candidates can only receive public funds as a match to contributions made by individual Florida residents who contribute $250 or less. It also means that the contributions of small-dollar donors are worth one or two times what they would otherwise be worth to the candidate. In this way, the program provides both a funding source that does not come from special interests and a direct financial incentive for candidates to seek a broad base of support from ordinary Floridians.

To qualify for the matching funds, candidates must limit their campaign spending to a total of $2.00 for each registered Florida voter (for gubernatorial candidates) or $1.00 for each registered Florida voter (for cabinet candidates). This amendment would remove these spending limits.

In addition, to qualify candidates must also meet certain criteria and agree to abide by transparency measures: they must not be running unopposed; they must raise $150,000 (for gubernatorial candidates) or $100,000 (for cabinet candidates); they must limit loans or contributions from the candidate’s personal funds to $25,000; they must limit contributions from political parties to $250,000; and they must agree to report campaign financing data to the division of elections and submit to a post-election financial audit.

Why is Common Cause opposed to this amendment?

Public campaign financing is one of the most effective ways to support a greater diversity of candidates to be able to run for office – and a more diverse pool of candidates fosters a more diverse group of elected leaders who come from the communities they serve and share the experiences and challenges of ordinary Floridians. Public financing specifically helps candidates who are focused on building broad community networks and who rely on small-dollar contributions from ordinary Floridians. It has also been credited with helping to close the persistent funding gap between men and women candidates.

Voters across the political spectrum agree that there is a problem with money in politics. Repealing laws and constitutional provisions that combat this problem would be a step backward. If this amendment passes, it will decrease the voice and influence of everyday Floridians and further increase the influence of wealthy special interests on our politics.

Common Cause is committed to ensuring that our democracy works for everyone, not just a select few – and public campaign financing programs are part of making that a reality. Floridians should vote no on Amendment 6 and tell the legislature to improve our public campaign finance program instead.

Background

Florida first enacted a public campaign financing law in 1986. In 1998, the Constitution Revision Commission placed an amendment on the ballot to add public campaign financing to the constitution. The amendment passed with 64% of the vote. In 2010, the legislature placed an amendment on the ballot to repeal public campaign financing from the constitution, but it fell short of the 60% required for passage.

In 2024, the legislature has again placed an amendment on the ballot seeking to repeal public campaign financing from the constitution (the Senate voted 28 Yes/11 No and the House voted 82 Yes/29 No on SJR 1114). There was no need for the legislature to take such drastic action. The constitutional requirement in Article VI, Section 7 is broadly worded, which means that the legislature has the power to make corrections and improvements to the public campaign financing program by changing the statutes. Instead, the legislature also passed a bill in 2024 to repeal the entire Florida Election Campaign Financing Act if Amendment 6 passes (the Senate voted 28 Yes/12 No and the House voted 83 Yes/29 No on SB 1116).

Florida’s public campaign financing system has been widely used by Republican and Democratic candidates alike. In 2022, both major party candidates for Governor, Chief Financial Officer, and Attorney General received public dollars, and therefore also agreed to limit their spending. Total public campaign financing provided in 2022 was $13,015,149 (roughly equivalent to 0.01% of the state’s $109.9 billion 2022-2023 budget). The spending limits that this funding enforced were $30.29 million for gubernatorial candidates and $15.14 million for cabinet candidates. This amendment would remove these limits.