Elections

“Donald Trump Is Elected President in Stunning Repudiation of the Establishment” by Matt Flegenheimer and Michael Barbaro for The New York Times

“News Media Yet Again Misreads America’s Complex Pulse” by Jim Rutenberg for The New York Times

“Republicans Keep Control of Congress”  by Eric Bradner for CNN

“GOP Dominates Democrats in Governors’ Races” by Michael J. Mishak and Ben Wieder for The Center for Public Integrity

Missouri: “Missouri Supports Voter ID, Campaign Limits” by the Staff of St. Joseph News Press

Rhode Island: “R.I. Ethics Commission’s Jurisdiction Over Assembly Is Restored” by Alex Kuffner for Providence Journal

South Dakota: “The Latest: Voters choose to allow public campaign finance” by The Associated Press for The Sacramento Bee

Campaign Finance

“Panel Upholds ‘Soft-Money’ Ban but Sends GOP Campaign Finance Challenge to Supreme Court” by Spencer S. Hsu for The Washington Post

Alaska: “Federal Judge Rejects Lawsuit Challenging Alaska’s Limits on Campaign Donations” by Nathaniel Herz for Alaska Dispatch News

On November 8, Rhode Island voters approved a constitutional amendment giving the Ethics Commission the ability to investigate and prosecute state lawmakers for ethics violations. Question 2, the Rhode Island Ethics Commission Amendment is aimed at deterring unethical behavior in the Legislature and will go into effect January 3, 2017. The amendment requires lawmakers to disclose potential conflicts and tightens rules regarding formal ethics complaints.

The Rhode Island Ethics Commission previously oversaw issues of misconduct in the General Assembly, but lost the authority in a 2009 court ruling.

The constitutional amendment passed 77.7 percent to 22.3 percent with 98 percent of precincts reporting.

Several citizen’s initiatives were approved by Maine voters last night. Ranked-choice voting will replace the current election system (IB 2); a tax surcharge will be imposed on certain households to increase funding for public schools (IB 3); minimum wage will be raised to $12 an hour by 2020.  Maine will be the first state to institute ranked-choice voting.

The new system ensures the winning candidate in a multicandidate race receives the majority vote because voters rank candidates in order of preference.

If a candidate does not receive 50 percent of first-choice votes, then the lowest scoring candidate is eliminated and votes are retabulated.

On November 8, voters in California rejected a proposition requiring the state not pay for any prescription drug from a drug manufacturer at any price over the lowest price paid for the same drug by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). With over 96.6 percent of the precincts reporting, 53.7 percent voted against the proposition and 46.3 percent voted for it, according to the California Secretary of State’s office.

Proposition 61, which would have created The California Drug Price Relief Act, applied to any program where the state agency is the ultimate payer for a prescription drug, even if the state agency does not itself buy the drug. The proposition exempted purchases of prescription drugs under managed care programs funded through Medi-Cal, which offers comprehensive health coverage to the state’s low-income residents. The managed care program serves approximately 75 percent of Medi-Cal enrollees. The proposition only applied to the fee-for-service system of Medi-Cal covering the remaining 25 percent of enrollees.

Opponents of the proposition argued drug manufacturers could decline to offer the state certain drugs sold to the VA or increase drug prices for the VA to reduce any decrease to profits.

Missouri voters approved Constitutional Amendment 2 with nearly 70 percent of voter support. The ballot measure is effective December 8, 2016.

The amendment establishes the Missouri Campaign Contribution Reform Initiative, reinstating campaign contribution limits for individuals or entities contributing to political parties, political committees, or committees to elect candidates for state or judicial office. The initiative also prohibits individuals and entities from intentionally concealing the source of such contributions, and bans direct corporation and labor union contributions to candidates.

State contribution limits, originally approved by voters in 1994, were repealed by the General Assembly in 2008. Constitutional Amendment 2 limits contributions to statewide candidates to $2,600 per election. Contributions to political parties are capped at $25,000 in the aggregate per election at the state, county, municipal, district, ward, and township levels combined.

Citizens of South Dakota voted in favor of lobbying and campaign finance reform. Initiated Measure 22 (IM 22), known as the South Dakota Government Accountability and Anti-Corruption Act, passed by a tally of 52% to 48%.

IM 22 creates a publicly funded campaign finance system and lowers contribution limits as well as new gift limits and revolving door restrictions for former state officials.

Though approved by the voters, the measure may face constitutional challenges in court.

On November 8, California voters approved a proposition directing state elected officials overturn Citizens United.

Overturn of Citizens United Act Advisory Question (Proposition 59) asked voters to affirm state elected officials should use all constitutional authority, including, but not limited to, proposing and ratifying one or more amendments to the U.S. Constitution to overturn Citizens United and other applicable judicial precedents to allow the full regulation or limitation of campaign spending. The proposition also directs the officials to act to make clear corporations should not have the same constitutional rights as human beings.

As of 5:00 a.m., with over 90 percent of the precincts reporting, the proposition passed 52.4 percent to 47.6 percent, according to the California Secretary of State’s office.

As the country votes, news outlets everywhere will be breaking down and analyzing results state by state and county by county. If you’d like to join in on the fun and test out your own theories, there are some great interactive tools to draw your own electoral maps.

Check out a few of our favorites below and see if you can predict each candidates path to 270 electoral votes!

ABC News

CNN

Real Clear Politics

270 to win

The Chicago Board of Ethics recently submitted two amendments to City Council, potentially affecting lobbyist filing procedures.

One amendment would require lobbyists to file all documents electronically in the Electronic Lobbyist Filing (ELF) system. The other amendment would establish enforcement provisions related to the electronic filing requirement.

Unless a majority of aldermen vote to disapprove them, the amendments will become effective on December 11, 2016. Once effective, the Board of Ethics will implement the new procedures beginning January 1, 2017. Paper filings will no longer be accepted after December 31, 2016.

Elizabeth Bartz has seen it all. For 32 years, she has worked with corporations, trade associations, and professional firms to help them stay on top of the changes made to lobbying, political contributions, and procurement lobbying laws.

Now she will share her experiences and insights with attendees at the Professional Women in Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C., on November 10 in the session “Been There, Done That: Words of Wisdom.”

A crowd favorite of the conference, this panel features women in senior government and public policy positions discussing their experiences in this arena.

This is the third year Elizabeth will be taking part in this panel. Joining her this year are Gloria Dittus, founder of Story Partners; Helen Holton, Baltimore City Council member; and former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu.

PWIA aims to provide training and networking opportunities to women in all areas of advocacy – from government relations to community activism.

“This conference will give women the opportunity to learn and network with other advocacy professionals, providing them with the tools they need to get a seat at the table and keep it,” Elizabeth said. “Through PWIA, all public policy professionals will learn to be better advocates for themselves and their organizations.”

It has been a long time coming, but Election Day 2016 has arrived and we can start on 2017 elections.

My real intention for this column is to remind everyone—family, friends, vendors, and your community—that they need to vote today, November 8. Take them with you. For the past 10 years, I have taken my parents to vote early so they do not have to stand in long lines on Election Day. It also helps because they can sit and think about the vote at that time. Sometimes I get asked a question and happy that I can help out.

This is it! This is the time! Stand up and vote! WOW! This is exactly what we scream at Cleveland Cavaliers’ games. It is very true right now. We need to be #ALLIN16.

And, you can count on State and Federal Communications to provide the needed information about the ballot issue questions affecting lobbying and campaign finance. Plus, we will soon work on our 2017 Inauguration Guide.

See how important #ALLIN16 is right now.

Lobbying

“Ex-PMO Aide Bruce Carson Fined $50,000 for Illegal Lobbying” by Marco Vigliotti for The Hill Times

“Incoming Florida House Speaker Bans ‘Texting While Legislating’” by Mary Ellen Klas for Miami Herald

Campaign Finance

“Court Challenge Seeks to Outlaw Super PACs” by Kenneth Doyle for Bloomberg BNA

“California Ethics Watchdog Proposes $57,000 Fine Against Sen. Tony Mendoza” by Taryn Luna for Sacramento Bee

Ethics

“These Officials Help Write Ballot Questions. Companies Write Them Checks.” by Eric Lipton and Robert Faturechi for The New York Times

“2 Ex-Christie Allies Are Convicted in George Washington Bridge Case” by Kate Zernike for The New York Times

“Former Gov. Bob McDonnell Hosts Party to Celebrate Overturned Corruption Conviction” by Alissa Skelton for The Virginian-Pilot

Elections

“Memes, Myself and I: The Internet lets us all run the campaign” by Amanda Hess for The New York Times

“Donald Trump’s Extremist Supporters Feel Like Winners Either Way” by Jonathan Mahler and Julie Turkewitz for The New York Times

“Inside Donald Trump’s Last Stand: An anxious nominee seeks assurance” by Maggie Haberman, Ashley Parker, Jeremy Peters and Michael Barbaro for The New York Times

A federal judge has upheld the constitutionality of Montana’s campaign finance disclosure law.

The 2015 Disclose Act, aimed at combating an increase in dark money spending, faced a constitutional challenge asserting the law interfered with the free speech of groups wanting to influence elections without revealing the source of their money or how it is spent. The law requires political committees in Montana to report spending and donors within 60 days of an election if the committee’s advertisements mention a political candidate.

In his opinion, Judge Dana Christensen, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, cited to the ruling in Citizens United. He referenced the notion that while disclosure requirements may burden the ability to speak, they do not prevent anyone from speaking.

There are still two legal challenges to the Disclose Act pending, one at the state level and one in federal court.