Campaign Financing

Section 1: All elections shall be funded exclusively by grant of sufficient public funds, distributed equitably without favor or discrimination as to candidate, party, or measure. No candidate shall contribute to their own campaign any amount in excess of a reasonable filing fee for said office. Except as provided for in Section 5 below relating to the support of political parties, no business, domestic or foreign government entity, foundation, organization, association, or person shall contribute any funds to any candidate, party, campaign-related activity or event, or to either side in a measure before the voters.

Section 2: Unions, associations, charitable or non-profit organizations, and entities created for the purpose of engaging in business or advocating on behalf thereof, shall be artificial persons not accorded or entitled to the same political rights and free speech protections as natural persons, and therefore prohibited from participating in any way in any election.

Section 3: Proponents of initiatives, referendums, and recalls that qualify for the ballot shall be reimbursed on a prompt and timely basis, by the legislative body or office or jurisdiction subject to the petition measure, for the true, documented, and, if necessary, court-approved expenses involved in securing the required number of signatures.

Section 4: For 120 days prior to any election, all electronic media falling under the jurisdiction of or licensed to operate by any branch of government shall grant, at no cost, without favor or discrimination as to candidate, party, or issue, adequate periods of time across all hours and days of the week for campaign advertising.

Section 5: Commencing one year after ratification of this Amendment, all operation and administration of national political party offices and entities shall be funded solely and exclusively by membership dues not to exceed $50 per year. Membership dues for the operation and administration of each state or territorial party office shall not exceed $50 each per year. After ten years, and each ten years thereafter, the dues limits imposed herein shall be adjusted for compound inflation according to the same formula used to calculate Social Security increases.

Section 6: No person or entity shall disseminate, attempt to disseminate, or otherwise facilitate the dissemination of the presidential voting results from any state, or any predicted outcome of a presidential election, prior to the closing of the last polling place in the last state. Violation hereof shall be a felony punishable by incarceration in a maximum security facility for a period, not subject to pardon, suspension, commutation, parole, or other reduction of sentence, of not less than five years. This applies to the press in all forms, and revises the First Amendment accordingly.

Section 7: All persons who violate, or cause others to violate, Section 1 shall be guilty of a felony punishable by mandatory maximum-security incarceration for a period, not subject to pardon, suspension, commutation, parole, or other reduction of sentence, of not less than ten years.