Dark Money’s Influence on How You Vote Zihao Fang1, Nancy Shepherd2 1Palo Alto High School, 2Palo Alto City Council “The vast majority of Americans believe money buys results in Congress; less than a quarter of Americans believe the institution worthy of their trust.” -Lawrence Lessig, Professor at Harvard Law School Does Dark Money Affect Election Outcomes? INTRODUCTION DATA & FINDINGS While funding affecting voting outcomes was confidence in their institutions, causing It has long been debated if dark money, or A total of eleven sources were analyzed to understand dark funding’s effects. The debated in the past, the newest research suggests suppressed voter turnouts and exacerbating election campaign funding that comes from data collected from these sources are in Table 1. that funding has a strong influence on election political inequality (Reynolds 1993; Hutton and organizations that are not required to reveal their Table 1: A list of the sources analyzed in this literature review organized in chronological order, highlighting key points. (By Author) Year Peer Article/Source Summary Policy Suggestion outcomes. “American Tradition Partnership,” a PBS Watad 1999; Lessig 2010; Fang 2012; donors, influences election results and is review documentary, shows that funded attack ads were Dahlberg and Solevid 2016). PACs also created therefore detrimental to U.S. democracy. 1983 Yes Options to Limit PAC Political - Legislation pertaining to PAC funds must be “vital to - Should limit PAC Financing and Independent government interest.” contributions more by the cause of John Ward’s failed election in a loophole allowing foreign money into America Expenditures Regardless of amending Constitution Source in Congressional - Prefers public funding Montana. An analysis of many elections indicated elections, raising even greater concern that The term “democracy” originated from the Greek Elections--Some Legal and - Limit funding amount “[...] there is an extremely strong statistical “oligarchal” corruption in foreign nations would word “δημοκρατία” (“dimokratia”), which means Constitutional Considerations candidates can accept from by Elizabeth Yadlosky PACs relationship between early fundraising and electoral penetrate into American institutions (see Figure “ruled by the people,” or that the opinions of the - Reduce campaign costs success” (see Figure 2) (Bonica 2017, 163). 3) (Walke et al. 1989; Fang 2012). majority should be reflected in the voting 1993 No “The Rising Cost of - Lobbyists still find loopholes around rules - Eliminate loopholes such as Democracy” by Larry Reynolds - Parties lack the will for reforms soft funding Further, Porter (2019, 31) used machine learning outcome. While the U.S. claims to be a 1999 Yes “Political action committees, - Legislation to regulate campaign finance after - Limit donors to U.S. citizens ‘soft’ money, foreign Watergate backfired, leading to PACs - More rigorous enforcement algorithms and found that “PAC contributions have democracy, Gilens and Page (2014) found and contributions and US politics: - PACs are problematic (foreign funding, tax exemptions, - Limit non-monetary been shown to be most predictive of future electoral reported in the Washington Post that average Lessons from the evasion of donation limits) contributions American experience” - PACs include lower participation and political inequality success.” citizens have little to no influence on outcomes, by James Hutton & Mahmoud Watad casting doubt on the fairness and democratic 2005 Yes “Good Money Bad Money” by - “Good” money is self financing (correlates to candidate None legitimacy of the infrastructure of the U.S. Brad Alexander defeat and bad candidate) - “Bad” money is from PACs (correlates to candidate government. One potential cause of this victory but uncertain of other effects) phenomenon is the landmark Citizens United v. 2010 No “Democracy After Citizens - Common voters have conflicting interests with None United” by Lawrence Lessig organizations that fund elections Figure 3: Examples of U. S. Corporate PAC Sponsors With Foreign Ownership FEC (2010) ruling, which significantly deregulated - Institutional corruption is widespread due to economy in 1987-1988 Election Cycle (Walke et al. 1989, 34). of influence and does not require direct coordination dark money. - Author objects to Citizen United ruling because: DISCUSSION 1. PACs can exert influence without direct coordination. The consequences of dark money in this study’s This literature review explores dark money 2. Regulating PACs is in public interest, therefore consistent with legal precedent results fit in the larger picture of other issues contributions, particularly from political action 2012 No “Look Who’s Buying the - Covers election funding from Bestbuy & Target, big None facing the U.S. and humanity. Saudi Arabia and committees (PACs), and their effects on Election” by Lee Fang pharma, and Saudi Arabia to highlight its corruption problems domestic fossil fuel industry PACs spearheaded campaign financial, electoral, and legislative 2015 Yes “Why Isn’t Congress more There is less corruption in Congress than at the state - Subsidize investigative Figure 2: Graph showing that the predicted probability of winning primary elections climate change denial campaigns, big pharma and outcomes from and the effects such funding has Corrupt” by Richard L. Hasen level because: journaling is conditional on the normalized value of total fundraising (Bonica 2017, 154). - Muckraking discourages corruption - Use public financing insurance lobbied to weaken the Affordable Care on policy-making and corruption. This review - Individual legislator lacks power to deliver results - Voucher system What are the Consequences? - Campaign finance leads to inequality, but seperate Act, and the political inequality which dark money ends with a proposal for direction of research to from enforcement of corruption laws Dark funding influences legislative outcomes, but why facilitates translated into rising economic further explore this issue. 2016 Yes Does corruption suppress - In industrialized countries with strong institutions, None voter turnout? market influence leads to corruption does this matter? Several articles have studied the inequality. by Stefan Dahlberg & Maria - Countries with weaker institutions have non-market sociological, psychological, and ethical consequences Solevid based corruption - Voters’ perception of corruption decreases voter turnout of dark funding with regard to policy-making, CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS 2017 Yes “Professional Networks, Early - Lawyers are over-represented in politics because - Proposes public financing corruption, and democracy. A few believe that existing The incredible influence of dark money, Fundraising, and Electoral connections to donors and PACs checks and balances, such as the structure of specifically PACs, derail the U.S. from the path to Success” by Adam Bonica - More funds, more likely to win primary (primaries important in 1-party states) congress and anti-corruption muckraking, are able to better implementation of the democratic ideal. 2018 No “Dark Money” by PBS - Montana fought pollution industries with campaign None keep the most blatant corruptions at bay, and that finance laws, but these were repealed under Citizen Future research could answer new questions small reforms like public financing can remedy most Figure 1: (Top left) Anti-"dark money" advertisement in April 2015 that was part United posed by this study: of a comic book-themed campaign sponsored by three groups that were - John Ward (anti-pollution) was defeated by PAC funded problems (Alexander 2005; Hasen 2015). On the pressuring Mary Joe White, Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman, ads ● Despite policies proposed as early as the to rein in dark money. (Top right) Protesters in Washington, DC. from the PBS 2019 Yes “The Increasing Value of - Computer simulation for primary elections using None other side, some believe that dark money greatly documentary “Dark Money” by Kimberley Reed (PBS Distribution). 1980s, why has there only been minimal Inexperience in Congressional machine learning algorithms eroded Americans’ Primaries” by Rachel Porter - Before Citizens United, candidate experience was the progress in campaign finance reform? dependent variable; after Citizens United, PACs matter. ● Does the problem of PACs and campaign RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES REFERENCES finance apply to other countries that have This literature review uses peer-reviewed sources Alexander, Brad. “Good Money and Bad Money: Do Funding Sources Affect Electoral Outcomes?” Political Research Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 2, 2005, p. 353., doi:10.2307/3595635. similar policies? from political science, sociology, and economics Bonica, Adam. “Professional Networks, Early Fundraising, and Electoral Success.” Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy, vol. 16, no. 1, 2017, pp. 153–171., doi:10.1089/elj.2016.0413. Dahlberg, Stefan, and Maria Solevid. “Does Corruption Suppress Voter Turnout?*.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, vol. 26, no. 4, 2016, pp. 489–510., doi:10.1080/17457289.2016.1223677. journals, among others. In addition, a few articles Fang, Lee. “Look Who’s Buying the Election.” The Nation, 17 Sept. 2012, pp. 11–17. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS from popular non-peer-reviewed sources (such as Gilens, Martin, and Benjamin I. Page. “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens.” Perspectives on Politics, vol. 12, no. 03, 2014, pp.