Q: Does the current campaign finance law violate the 1st and 14th amendment?
Considering running for public office as an independent. Current finance law dictates that a single donor can only donate 3300 dollars per cycle to a single candidate. Here is where it gets sticky, for a party candidate that means they can raise 6600 dollars in an election year if they win the primary, because they are also allowed to roll any left over funds from the primary into the general campaign.
However, if you run as an independent you do not participate in a primary, meaning you are only participating in a single cycle and are capped to 3300 dollars. Half the amount a party candidate is allowed to raise.
It seems to me that this violates the 14th amendment by disenfranchising and discriminating against a candidate by non party affiliation rather than affiliation. This creates a discriminatory practice against independent candidates. It violates the 1st amendment by essentially forcing an independent candidate to register as a party to have access to more fundraising.
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