![](https://publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/nicholas-byrne-299YYFFg0BI-unsplash-new.jpg)
Milestones: To counter big money, Maryland finds a way
By supporting small donor financing reforms, PIRG has helped to counter the impact of wealthy interests on elections and make sure that every voter is heard.
![](https://publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Democracy-Awakening-Johnathan-Comer.jpg)
Big money, big problems
More than two centuries after the United States was founded, the country still faces a daunting problem: How to provide every citizen an equal opportunity to make our voices heard and our votes count when elections are unduly influenced by the wealthy and wealthy interests?
A series of court decisions — including Buckley v. Valeo (1976), which struck down limits on political campaign spending; Citizens United v. FEC (2010), which struck down limits on corporate political contributions; and McCutcheon v. FEC (2014), which lifted certain limits on individual contributions — have narrowed the range of options for reform. In short, if you’re constrained in your ability to limit how much campaigns can spend, how much corporations can give, or how much individuals can give, how do you check the influence of monied interests over elections?
![](https://publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/MDP-EmilyScarr-fairelections-June2019-byFaithCarter.jpg)
Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Enter the small donor matching fund. The idea is that even if you can’t cut big money down to size, you can still lift up the power of small donors — by matching the small contributions of ordinary people with public funds for candidates who refuse to take large or corporate contributions. In short, if a candidate can build enough support among people of average means, they still have a shot at raising enough money to compete in and win an election.
Emily Scarr, state director of Maryland PIRG, has been one of our most effective advocates for local small donor financing reforms.
In 2014, Emily and Maryland PIRG helped win unanimous passage of the Montgomery County Public Election Fund. Over the next four years, candidates for County Council and Executive lined up to qualify for the program, which requires candidates to reject all contributions over $150 and all corporate contributions in order to qualify for matching funds. Sure enough, in 2018 candidates participating in the program received nearly twice as many small contributions as their peers.
![](https://publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/MDP_Baltimore-Fair-Election-Fund_12-2-2019_Staff-canva-edit-1.jpg)
Over in Howard County, as a leader of the Fair Elections Maryland coalition, Maryland PIRG expanded support for a 2016 ballot measure to call on the County Council to establish its own small donor financing program. The measure passed, and the following July Howard became the second county in the state to officially establish a small donor election system.
Emily and the Maryland team then led the 2019 effort to pass Baltimore’s Fair Election Fund. In 2021, the team helped win passage of a law updating and fully funding the small donor public campaign financing program for the state gubernatorial race.
Maryland PIRG has seen the greatest success in advocating small donor financing programs. But campaign finance reform advocates, including PIRG, have won similar reforms in New York City (and more recently New York State), Denver, Seattle and Maine.
![](https://publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/illinois_pirg_109.jpg)
About this series: PIRG and The Public Interest Network have achieved much more than we can cover on this page. You can find more milestones of our work on democracy below. You can also explore an interactive timeline featuring more of our network’s democracy milestones.
![](https://publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/nicholas-byrne-299YYFFg0BI-unsplash-new.jpg)
![](https://publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Youth-Voters-16x9-1.jpg)
Milestones: Bringing new voters into the democratic process
![](https://publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/ScreenShot2021-11-11at4.05.08PM.png)