Pass: 39,621 / 68.48% Yes votes ...... 18,236 / 31.52% No votes

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Impartial Analysis from League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area

This amendment was placed on the ballot by an ordinance passed by City Council.

EXPLANATION: This proposed Ballot Issue would amend the Charter of the City of Cincinnati by changing Section 2 of Article XIII (the Campaign Finance Article) which covers how and when candidates for City Council and Mayor must file reports of contributions and expenditures. These reports are required to be filed before and after the election with the Cincinnati Elections Commission according to certain specified deadlines.

If passed, this amendment would eliminate in the Charter two currently specified campaign fi- nance reporting deadlines which occur before the election and which are different from, and in addition to, State of Ohio deadlines. The new Charter specified filing dates before and after the election would coincide with required State of Ohio filing dates for campaign finance reports. This amendment would also add a filing date between a mayoral primary, if held, and the general election.

This proposed Charter Amendment would continue to state that any candidate, political action committee, legislative campaign fund, or political party that made or received a contribution or expenditure supporting a candidate for city council or mayor is required to file with the Cincinnati Elections Commission and the Hamilton County Board of Elections itemized reports of contributions or expenditures in the manner and form required by the commission.

What the amendment would do: Currently, candidates for City Council and Mayor must file a report of contributions and expenditures sixty days before the general election under Article XIII, Section 2, of the City Charter. Also, if during the 20-day period before the election, a candidate receives a contribution that causes the total contributions from the contributor to exceed $500, there is currently a requirement in the Charter that the candidate file a report of the contribution within 5 days with the Cincinnati Elections Commission and the Hamilton County Board of Elections. These filing deadlines are in addition to and do not coincide with those campaign finance reports and deadlines required by state law.

If this amendment passes, candidates for City Council and Mayor would no longer be required to do the sixty day filing or the conditional 20-day filing before the general election. Both of these deadlines would be omitted from the Charter. Candidates would only have to abide by a filing deadline at the end of July of the election year, a deadline which coincides with a State of Ohio filing dead- line. This campaign finance report would reflect contributions and expenditures made from the last filing to the last day of June of the election year.

This amendment also specifies a deadline for reporting contributions and expenditures after the election which would be the thirty-eighth day after the municipal election to reflect contributions and expenditures since the last filing.

This amendment would also add a filing date between a mayoral primary, if held, and the general election. The two successful mayoral primary candidates would be required to file a report of contributions and/or expenditures on the seventh day after the mayoral primary election.

All of these campaign finance reports are filed simultaneously with the Cincinnati Elections Commission and the Hamilton County Board of Elections. Background: This Charter amendment is on the November 2011 ballot because City Council voted to submit the amendment to the Campaign Finance Article to the voters of Cincinnati.

The current Section 2 of Article XIII, detailing additional campaign finance report filing dates, was part of a more comprehensive campaign finance reform package added to the City Charter by voters in November 2001. The purpose of Section 2 was to assure fuller and more timely disclosure of campaign contributions and expenditures than was then or now required by state or local law. More frequent and more timely disclosure was considered an essential component of any meaningful comprehensive campaign finance reform. It was argued that greater transparency in the process and more timely information to the voters on which to make a more informed decision about the candidates would be provided by this section.

City of Cincinnati

• Full text of Council ordinance to place this issue on the ballot (PDF)
• Section XIII of the City Charter (PDF) - Section XIII starts on page 7 of this PDF. Issue 46 concerns this section of the City Charter

• Am I registered? - Check the Hamilton County Board of Election to see if you're registered to vote.

League of Women Voters

• Ballot Language Help
• Tips for Voters

Cincinnati Enquirer

• "Campaign report changes: Issue 46, Hamilton County"
• 2011 Election Coverage

Pro and Con websites

• Applied Information Resources - In opposition to Issue 46
• No online source in favor of this issue was found. See the City Council ordinance above.