Full participatory democracy: it’s been a national goal since America’s founding. Today citizens recognize that money sometimes plays a warping role in electoral politics and hobbles progress towards full democracy. During the past decade, with Washington, D.C. mired in stalemate and in thrall to special interests, many states stepped forward and introduced innovative laws that enhance the power of ordinary citizens in the political process. States as different in political culture as Arizona and Connecticut have created bold systems to reform campaign finance laws, creating voluntary public financing and ensuring that enforcement is fair and vigorous.
This report — the third of a five-part series — assesses Ohio’s campaign finance system; we have published similar reports for Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan.
This study finds that sky-high contribution limits—in a system riddled with loopholes—create massive opportunities for special interests to corrupt Ohio’s political process. Read the press release here.