In the latest push for campaign finance reform, state lawmakers unveiled a bill on Tuesday that would allow certain individuals to run for elected office at taxpayer expense. Senate Bill 1054, dubbed the Voter-Owned Elections Act, would give candidates for certain elective offices the option of financing their campaigns from a publicly supported fund, provided that they gain authorization to do so from registered voters and that they abide by fundraising and spending limits.
Maine allows public funding of elections for certain offices.
More than a dozen senators, mostly Democrats, have cosponsored the bill. One of those cosponsors, Sen. Wib Gulley , D-Durham, said the cost of running for elected office has soared well beyond inflation and is out of reach for 70 to 80 percent of the voters. It is not about winning an election. Lovejoy used the public funding system in her unsuccessful bid for office last year. One-third of Maine's legislature was elected using the system, she said.