Same-day registration. Mail-in voting. Voter fraud. Foreign interference. These are the words we’re hearing as the November election approaches.
As we take time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s voting rights this week, it’s important to acknowledge women who today are working to ensure elections remain free and fair.
It’s not hyperbole to say that Ellen Weintraub is holding the line on campaign finance law. A commissioner on the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Ellen is now one of only three commissioners currently serving.
Appointed in 2002, confirmed by unanimous Senate consent in early 2003 and elected FEC Chair later that year, Ellen is outspoken about the ability of the FEC to conduct proper oversight of the upcoming federal election, and an advocate for the steps we as citizens must take to ensure our votes are counted.
That’s typically the job of the Federal Election Commission, an independent government agency established by Congress in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Its mission is to enforce campaign finance law, to conduct oversight of public funding of presidential elections, and to provide disclosure of campaign contributions to the public. It also educates candidates and campaigns on campaign finance law.
The FEC is intended to be a six-member commission comprised of Democrats, Republicans and independents. No party is allowed more than three members, and its by-laws stipulate a four-member quorum in order to take action. Commissioners technically serve six-year terms and are nominated by the president — but lacking nominations to fill open positions (as has been the case with presidents Bush, Obama and Trump) most commissioners have either served well beyond the standard term or left the commission, and their positions, vacant.
Ellen chose to stay. An attorney with degrees from Yale and Harvard Law whose expertise is Congressional ethics and political law, she is currently the lone woman and Democrat on the commission. That’s one short of a quorum, meaning the FEC currently has no power to enforce campaign finance law. So Ellen has taken it upon herself to educate the public about issues before the FEC that concern to election integrity.
Last year, Ellen led the FEC to begin a rule-making process requiring campaigns to disclose information about political ads on the internet. It received bipartisan support.
Today, with the FEC stripped of its authority, Ellen is a regular in print media and cable news, from C-Span to MSNBC to FOX, responding to issues like voter fraud (demanding the FEC investigate allegations to determine for the public whether the claims are true); mail-in voting (demanding proof of alleged fraud); and laws covering voter registration.
She, like the remaining two commissioners, remains in her position until a successor is named. She has promised to continue to speak out in support of federal election law.