Should a donation to a candidate of just five dollars—or even less—result in your personal information being posted online for anyone to find?
Confusingly, current law says “sometimes.”
If you personally hand a check for $200 to the federal candidate of your choice, no problem. The law says that your personal information is safe. But if your donation, no matter how small, passes through an online conduit like WinRed and ActBlue? Bad news. Your name and address information is now exposed online.
The Institute for Free Speech strongly believes that small-dollar donors’ privacy should be uniformly protected. That’s why attorneys from the Institute, along with local counsel Warren V. Norred, filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on behalf of Tony McDonald, a small-dollar donor from Fort Worth.
The suit challenges the constitutionality of federal campaign finance disclosure requirements for small-dollar donors who use online platforms to donate, arguing that such rules violate donors’ First Amendment rights to free speech and association.
The plaintiff, who serves as General Counsel for the Tarrant County Republican Party, fears that the public disclosure of his small-dollar political donations could lead to confusion over the party’s stance in primary races and misunderstandings regarding the intent of his donations, effectively chilling his ability to engage in anonymous political speech.
The lawsuit seeks to make disclosure rules uniform by enjoining the Federal Election Commission (FEC) from applying federal disclosure requirements to contributions of $200 or less made through online fundraising platforms like WinRed or ActBlue.
To read our full press release regarding the filing of the case, McDonald v. Federal Election Commission, click here. To read the complaint, click here.
