Fair Elections Fund Debate Requirement May Go From Two to One Per Race

With the Fair Elections Fund, a new public campaign financing mechanism taking effect for the April 2023 Denver municipal election, participating candidates have expected that they would take part in at least two debates, as mandated by city rules. But that requirement of two debates per contested race may be dropping to just one.

"The biggest hurdle for the debate process is attracting enough qualified sponsors to put on two debates for every single office that has a Fair Elections Fund candidate and an opponent, which there are very few that do have uncontested races at this point," Andy Szekeres, campaign finance administrator for the Denver Clerk and Recorder, said at a December 13 Denver City Council Finance and Governance Committee meeting.

During that hearing, the Denver Clerk and Recorder's Office proposed shifting the debate requirement for FEF candidates from two to one in the first round of the election. Organizing these debates has been challenging so far, as the Clerk and Recorder's Office has been tasked with finding an organization to host each debate.

Owen Perkins, one of the proponents of the Fair Elections Fund, notes that the Clerk and Recorder's Office has been communicating with Fair Elections Fund supporters over the last year about this proposed change.

"I think everybody would rather have two debates, but given the time window, I think everybody understands and was okay. I didn't hear any strenuous objections going down to one," says Perkins, who works with Clean Slate Now Action, which focuses on getting rid of big money in politics.

The "time window" that Perkins mentions has to do with how the Fair Elections Fund debates have to take place between the ballot certification deadline of February 3 and the ballot mailing deadline. As part of the suggested code changes, the Clerk and Recorder's Office has also proposed switching the ballot mailing deadline for debate purposes from the military and overseas mailing deadline of February 18 to the general ballot mailing deadline of March 13. This longer window would give organizations more flexibility in when they host debates.

Because those organizations must include all of the candidates for a specific race who are participating in the Fair Elections Fund, debates could get unwieldy in size. There are currently 71 candidates running in the municipal election, and 56 of them are participating in the Fair Elections Fund. According to the Clerk and Recorder's Office, around ten organizations have so far expressed interest in hosting debates.

"Ideally, it means it’s going to be a longer debate. You’re probably going to want an hour and a half to two hours," Perkins notes. According to the Fair Elections Fund requirements, debates must be at least one hour long. "I don’t think the number should be intimidating. Having a large number of candidates should probably attract a large crowd," Perkins adds.

Denver voters approved the Fair Elections Fund ballot measure in 2018. The fund, which certain candidates running for Denver mayor this cycle have framed as a game-changer for leveling the playing field, matches donations from $5 up to $50 at a ratio of nine to one for candidates who agree to lower contribution limits and take donations only from individuals and small donor committees.

To qualify for Fair Elections Fund money, mayoral candidates need to show that they've gotten donations of $5 or more from at least 250 individual Denver residents. Candidates for council, auditor, judge or clerk and recorder must prove that they've received $5 or more from at least 100 individual Denver residents. The deadline for showing this proof and qualifying for funding has been February 13, which is fifty days before the election. However, the proposed changes from the Clerk and Recorder's Office — which the city council committee approved sending forward for a vote before the full legislative body — also involve moving that deadline from February 13 to January 19. That way, the Clerk and Recorder's Office can ensure that all candidates who participate in the Fair Elections Fund debates have also qualified for funding.

The April 4 election marks the first time that the fund — which has earmarked $8 million for each election cycle — has provided public financing for Denver candidates. So far, the city has paid out a total of $2,585,160 to candidates for numerous municipal offices based on qualifying contributions. Given that the fund also has to cover the salaries of employees who administrate it, there is around $4.8 million left so far, according to the Clerk and Recorder's Office, which will be doled out in January, February and March.

Under the current rules, candidates who decline or otherwise fail to participate in the required number of debates would have to return their remaining Fair Elections Fund money.

In addition, the Fair Elections Fund debates are not necessarily the only debates for municipal races; there will be plenty of other debates and forums not related to the FEF requirements.

Runoffs are inevitable for some of these offices, too. Aside from the at-large Denver City Council race, every race requires a winning candidate to get over 50 percent of the vote (the two leading at-large candidates get those seats). Otherwise, there is a runoff between the top two vote-getters. In the case of a runoff, each Fair Elections Fund candidate who makes it to this second stage gets another round of funding equal to 25 percent of the money they've already received from the fund. And these candidates would need to participate in an FEF runoff debate or risk losing their remaining money.

The Denver Clerk and Recorder's Office believes that the fund will have enough money to make it through the April election, but it may run out of money for the June runoffs. If that happens, then Denver City Council could add more money.

While the Fair Elections Fund debates can technically be hosted by any organization that is not affiliated with any political party or with any office holder or candidate and has not endorsed a candidate this election cycle, the Clerk and Recorder's Office has been recruiting media outlets and television stations to host the debates. Part of the office's pitch has been a reference to New York City, where debates held in relation to NYC's public campaign financing program have become coveted by media organizations. But those mandatory debates under the NYC program have been for citywide office only, not for all of the individual council district races.

And even though ten organizations have communicated with the Denver Clerk and Recorder's Office to express a desire to host a Fair Elections Fund debate, not all races are getting the same level of interest from these groups.

"There’s not a huge sort of rush for folks to do auditor debates," Szekeres pointed out at the committee meeting.