On November 5, voters in the District of Columbia approved a voter initiative to implement ranked choice voting in primary and general elections and to allow for open primary elections.

The ballot measure, Initiative 83, entitled the “Ranked Choice Voting and Open the Primary Elections to Independent Voters Act of 2024,” implements ranked choice voting to allow voters to rank up to five candidates according to their preference in each contest for any office, other than for political party offices.

The measure also permits any voter who is not registered with a political party to vote in the primary election of that voter’s choosing for all offices, again, other than for political party offices.

Ranked choice voting begins with the June 2026 primary election and remains in effect for all subsequent elections.

It will apply to any primary, special, and general election involving three or more qualified candidates.

This Initiative will not be implemented unless the D.C. Council separately chooses to appropriate funds for the projected costs.

On October 27, writs of election were issued for the 42nd Provincial General Elections in Nova Scotia.

Election day will be held on Tuesday, November 26, 2024.

Chief Electoral Officer Dorothy Rice had received the order for the provincial general election to be held from the Governor in Council.

The writs of election cover the 55 electoral districts in the province.

Effective October 1, 2024, lobbyist registration fees with the District of Columbia Board of Ethics and Government Accountability (BEGA) will increase.

Registration will increase from $250 to $350 for registrants that are not nonprofit entities.

The registration fees for nonprofit registrants will increase from $50 to $100.

This only applies to nonprofits or lobbyists who lobby only for nonprofits.

BEGA states if one lobbies for many nonprofits and only one for-profit entity, the lobbyist is required to pay the $350 registration fee for each client, even the nonprofits.

The nonprofit organizations would pay $100 for their own registration.

Additionally, late filing fees will increase from $10 per day up to 30 days to $100 per day up to 60 days for a total of $6,000 per report.

If a person continues to fail to register or file a report after fines have been assessed, BEGA may bring the matter before the Ethics Board as an enforcement matter for willful failure to file or refer the matter to the Office of the Attorney General for collection of the fine.

Today, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) concluded the use of fraudulent misrepresentation utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in federal campaign advertisements is already covered by existing campaign finance law.

Going forward, the Commission will proceed with any application of allegations of fraud using AI or other specific technologies under 52 U.S.C. §30124  on a case-by-case basis.

On July 13, 2023, a Petition for Rulemaking was submitted to the FEC asking it to undertake a rulemaking “to clarify that the law against ‘fraudulent misrepresentation’ (52 U.S.C. § 30124) applies to deliberately deceptive AI produced content in campaign communications.” The Federal Election Campaign Act currently prohibits any person from falsely representing that they are speaking, writing, or acting on behalf of a federal candidate or a political party for the purpose of soliciting contributions. The law also prohibits a candidate, his or her employee or agent, or an organization under the candidate’s control, from purporting to speak, write, or act for another candidate or political party on a matter that is damaging to the other candidate or party.

Through the Commission’s approval of two drafts of a Notification of Disposition, REG 2023-02 (Artificial Intelligence in Campaign Ads), and an Interpretive Rule Regarding 52 U.S.C. §30124, the Commission decided not to initiate a rulemaking.

Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum stated a clear answer has been given as to whether generative-AI applies to the existing campaign finance laws. In today’s FEC’s open meeting, Lindenbaum stated,  “Yes, the statute is technology neutral. So, I think we have given a very clear response today.”

On August 5, a proposed rule from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concerning transparency when using artificial intelligence(AI)-generated content in political advertising was published in the U.S. Federal Register.

The FCC’s proposal would require broadcasters to provide an on-air announcement for any political ad containing AI-generated content disclosing the use of such content in the ad.

This includes advertising for candidates and for issues.

The rule would apply to broadcast and satellite radio and television stations and services, cable operators, and certain permit holders transmitting programming.

The Commission is also proposing to require these licensees and regulatees to include a notice in their online political files for all political ads that include AI-generated content disclosing that the ad contains such content.

Public comments can be made on or before September 4, 2024, by mail or at the FCC’s website at https://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/.

On September 16, federal by-elections will be held in the electoral districts of Elmwood–Transcona (Manitoba) and LaSalle–Émard–Verdun (Quebec) to fill vacancies in the Canadian House of Commons.

On February 1, 2024, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, received official notice from the Speaker of the House of Commons that the seat for LaSalle–Émard–Verdun (Quebec) was vacant.

Perrault subsequently received official notice of the vacancy of the federal seat for Elmwood–Transcona on April 3, 2024.

However, the dates for the election were not announced until Sunday, July 28.

David Lametti, who held the seat in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun (Quebec), had announced his retirement in January.

Daniel Blaikie resigned his seat for Elmwood–Transcona (Manitoba) at the end of March to work as an advisor to Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew.

The announcement date of the by-elections signals the start of the by-election period.

The Office of the Integrity Commissioner has updated the Ontario Lobbyists Registry to conform to a recent cabinet shuffle that resulted in changes to ministers’ titles and ministry name. Specifically, amendments to Ontario Regulation 146/10, Public Bodies and Commission Public Bodies, authorized under the Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006, added five new agencies, removed 12 agencies, and changed the name of one of the agencies.

The electronic lobbyist registry will now automatically remove previous selections of the changed targets (ministries) from active registrations. However, the new or amended ministers’ offices and ministries will need to be manually selected by the registrants.

As an example from the Office, the “Ministry of Energy” will automatically be removed from active registrations. However, if a registrant is still lobbying this ministry, they are required to update their registrations by manually selecting “Ministry of Energy and Electrification.”

The Office has created a webpage listing the changes at https://www.oico.on.ca/en/changes-lobbying-target-names, where one can find lists of the new names of ministers’ offices, the ministries, the new ministries, and the removed agencies.

In their June 19 monthly newsletter, the Office of the Integrity Commissioner has stated, “Lobbyists and senior officers should check their registrations to ensure their ministry and agency target lists are up to date. As always, it remains the responsibility of each consultant lobbyist and senior officer to ensure that their registrations are accurate. Consultant lobbyists and senior officers have 30 calendar days under the Lobbyists Registration Act, 1998 to provide these updates.”

Sometime before November 30, 2024, a by-election will be announced for the seat in the Canadian Federal House of Commons representing Cloverdale–Langley City in the province of British Columbia.

On June 3, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, received official notice from the Speaker of the House of Commons that the seat for Cloverdale–Langley City (British Columbia) became vacant following the resignation of John Aldag, who resigned on May 27 in order to run in the provincial elections this fall in British Columbia.

Under the law, the by-election date must be announced between June 14 and November 30, 2024, and will signal the start of the by-election period.

According to Elections Canada, the earliest date the by-election can be held is July 22, 2024.

On June 24, a Canadian federal by-election will be held in the electoral district of Toronto–St. Paul’s (Ontario) to fill a vacancy in the House of Commons.

On January 16, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, had received official notice from the Speaker of the House of Commons that the seat for Toronto—St. Paul’s (Ontario) became vacant following the resignation of Carolyn Ann Bennett.

Bennett officially resigned from her seat in the House of Commons on January 16, 2024, and was appointed on the same day as Canada’s Ambassador to Denmark.

The date for the election was not announced until May 19, which signaled the start of the by-election period.

The Lifetime Lobbying Ban Act was in introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The short three-page bill, which would repeal the current one- or two-year waiting period for former members of Congress to work as a federal lobbyist and replace it with a permanent ban, was introduced on April 30.

On the same day U.S. Rep. Jared F. Golden introduced the legislation along with five other bills addressing governmental ethics.

These include, as described in his press release:

• The Congressional and Executive Foreign Lobbying Ban, which would ban retired members of Congress, senior executive branch officials, and high-ranking military officials from lobbying on behalf of foreign interests;
• The Stop Foreign Payoffs Act, which would ban members of Congress, presidents, vice presidents, and Cabinet secretaries, as well as their close family members, from earning a salary or holding investments in foreign businesses for as long as the official is in office;
• The Crack Down on Dark Money Act, which would end the ability of mega-donors to launder secret political activity through 501(c)(4) nonprofits by reducing the cap on political activity by those nonprofits from 50 percent of all spending to 10 percent and requiring them to disclose all donors of $5,000 or more if there are political expenditures;
• The Consistent Labeling for Political Ads Act, which would increase transparency in online political advertising by requiring social media platforms to make ad labels “sticky,” meaning they would appear on paid political content regardless of how it is shared or where it appears; and
• The Fighting Foreign Influence Act, which would require tax-exempt organizations, including think tanks, to disclose high-dollar gifts from foreign governments or political parties, impose a lifetime ban on foreign lobbying by former presidents, vice presidents, senior military officials and require political campaigns to verify online donors have a valid US address.

According to Golden’s press release, this raft of bills is part of the Government Integrity & Anti-Corruption Plan, which has the stated goal of strengthening government integrity and fighting corruption.

On April 1, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its audit of federal lobbying compliance for 2023.

For the audit, the GAO reviewed a random sample of 98 quarterly disclosure reports filed for the third and fourth quarters of calendar year 2022 and the first and second quarters of calendar year 2023.

They also reviewed random samples of 160 LD-203 reports for the year-end 2022 and midyear 2023 reports.

Among its findings, the GAO concluded 97% of filers of lobbying disclosure reports were able to provide documentation to support reported income and expenses, 7% of LD-203 reports were missing reportable contributions, and 94% of lobbyists who filed new registrations also filed LD-2 reports as required for the quarter in which they first registered.

The audit estimates at least 23% of all lobbying disclosure reports did not properly disclose formerly held covered positions.

The 56-page report is titled “2023 Lobbying Disclosure: Observations on Compliance with Requirements.”

On April 1, 2024, Elections Canada published the updated limits on expenses for regulated activities of third parties involved in federal elections in Canada.

The Canada Elections Act imposes a limit on expenses a third party can incur for regulated political activities.

For the period of April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, a third party is prohibited from incurring overall election advertising expenses of a total amount of more than $602,700 during a general election.

The previous limit was $579,950.

For the same period of April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, a third party is prohibited from incurring election advertising expenses in a given electoral district of a total amount of more than $5,166 during a general election.

The previous limit was $4,971.

Adjustments are made annually based on a formula of a base amount multiplied by the inflation adjustment factor in effect for the period.

On April 15, 2024, a by-election will be held for the seat in Newfoundland and Labrador’s House of Assembly for the District of Fogo Island-Cape Freels.

Travis Wooley, Acting Chief Electoral Officer of Newfoundland and Labrador, issued the election writ on March 17.

The seat had become vacant on January 22 after the death of Derrick Bragg, who had served most recently as the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

On January 29, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) published its price index adjustments for expenditure limitations and the federal lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold.

The lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold has increased for 2024 from $21,800 to $22,700.

This threshold amount is adjusted annually.

Federal law requires authorized committees of federal candidates, leadership political action committees (PACs), and political party committees to disclose contributions bundled by lobbyists and lobbyists’ PACs.

Additionally, the FEC published its adjusted Coordinated Party Expenditure Limits for political parties for 2024.