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A new lawsuit is challenging the requirement that conduit PACs disclose the personal details of small-dollar donors in their filings with the Federal Election Commission.
The complaint, filed in the Northern District of Texas’ Fort Worth Division, argues that the provision in the Federal Election Campaign Act requiring conduit PACs, like ActBlue and WinRed, to publicly identify donors to give less than $200 to a campaign or committee violates a right to anonymity guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.
“Many Americans like to keep their giving private,” the complaint argues. “Some donors have complex motives and interests that they do not want to explain to others. Others seek anonymity out of modesty, or due to religious beliefs. And many donors fear repercussions if the causes they support become known.”
A spokesperson for the FEC declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Republicans shouldn’t sleep on relational organizing.
At least, that’s the takeaway from a new study conducted by the Center for Campaign Innovation. The right-leaning think tank ran a field test in Florida – a state where registered Republican voters now far outnumber Democrats – and found that voters who received text messages from people they knew personally were 8.6 percentage points more likely to vote.