NCVCE is co-sponsoring several upcoming forums about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC.

The decision strikes down long-standing laws against corporate spending on elections, making it easier for special interests to dominate the political process.

Election law expert Brenda Wright of Demos will be joining us on March 2 for forums to discuss the ruling. She will speak at lunch in Raleigh at 11:30am and at a forum at UNC-CH's law school at 4pm.

A panel sponsored by Emerging Tarheel Leaders will be held at 7pm on March 16 at Beyu Cafe in Durham.

One decade ago, NC Voters for Clean Elections was formed as North Carolina’s campaign reform coalition.

Over the year’s we’ve accomplished a lot: increasing transparency, holding politicians accountable, and creating alternative Voter-Owned Elections programs for appellate judges and the Council of State.

Read a full list of our accomplishments.'

Every year NCVCE publishes a scorecard detailing the campaign and election reform votes that were endorsed by our coalition and listing the votes of every current member of the N.C. General Assembly.

Read our scorecard and newsletter from 2009.

View our archived scorecards from 2008 and 2007.

See our press release about the 2009 scorecard's findings.

In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a citizen’s right to due process requires that judges recuse themselves from cases where their impartiality might reasonably be questioned.

The issue at hand in Caperton v. Massey was whether West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin was required to recuse himself in a case that involved his largest campaign contributor.

This is a victory for the rule of law and the guarantee every citizen has to receive a hearing untainted by campaign contributions.

It will likely be a boost in our efforts to allow candidates to run without having to take money from special interest groups.

Read NCVCE's statement on the case.

There are two major Voter-Owned Elections initiatives being considered by the state legislature

A bill to expand the state's successful Voter-Owned Elections program for the Council of State passed the state Senate in 2009 and will likely be considered again in 2010.

A bill to authorize additional municipalities to create local public financing programs was approved by the NC House in 2009 and will also likely be considered again during the 2010 short session.

Click here for more details and bill summaries.

Chapel Hill experienced its first successful run with Voter-Owned Elections during its 2009 municipal elections

Current mayor Mark Kleinschmidt and council member Penny Rich were both elected using the program. They both have credited the program with allowing them to run a more grassroots, community-oriented campaign.

Click here for more information about how the program works.

Candidates running for the state's top insurance job are no longer receiving most of their campaign financing from the insurance industry because of a new public campaign financing program.

According to the study conducted by NCVCE, the percentage of campaign money taken from the insurance industry and other industries directly regulated by the state insurance agency dropped from 66% in 2004 to 5% in 2008.

This drop was possible because of a new public financing program available for Commissioner of Insurance candidates and two other Council of State offices which began this year.

Because the program gave candidates an alternative way to finance their campaigns, they didn't fundraise as much from regulated groups. As a result, special interests spent just 1/6th of what they did in 2004 on the Commissioner of Insurance race, despite this year's race being more competitive.

Read the report.

Read a press release about the report.

View a PDF version of the report.

The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to North Carolina’s judicial public financing program, effectively affirming the program’s constitutionality.

Back in May, the Fourth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals upheld North Carolina's judicial public financing program and dismissed the plaintiff's challenge to the program.

Now, the Supreme Court has given the program a final vote of confidence by allowing the previous court's decision to stand.

Read NCVCE's Statement on the proposal.

Read a press release from the Brennan Center for Justice on today's Supreme Court decision.

Continue to support the money in politics reform movement by renewing your organizational membership with NCVCE. Membership entitles you to:

• Campaign donations research about your organization's issues

• Grassroots events and trainings related to campaign finance reform

• The latest information about campaign finance reform legislative action, including scorecards and upcoming legislation

• And more... Click here to learn about the full range benefits that comes from joining our coalition.