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Profiles

Center for Competitive Democracy

The Center for Competitive Democracy is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C.

History

The Center for Competitive Democracy was incorporated on October 6, 2005.[1] The organization joined Twitter in March 2020.[2]

The Mark Cuban Foundation gave the center a $250,000 general purpose grant in 2020,[3] and a second such grant in 2021.[4]

2024 presidential election

Mark Cuban stated on September 2, 2024, that he funded the Center for Competitive Democracy's legal efforts to get independent presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West on the ballot in North Carolina for the 2024 United States presidential election.[5][6][7]

Organization

Name Position Notes
Oliver Hall Founder, Executive Director, General Counsel,[8] Chief Executive Officer[1:1] CounterPunch, Philadelphia Inquirer
Theresa Amato Board member,[8:1] Governor[1:2] Citizen Advocacy Center, Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation, Public Citizen Litigation Group
John Branson Board member,[8:2] Governor[1:3] Hogan & Hartson, Goodwin Procter, Maine Lawyers for Democracy (MLD), Veterans for Peace Maine
Basil Culyba Board member,[8:3] Governor[9] Kelley Drye Collier Shannon[10]
John Bonifaz Member of the Board of Advisors[8:4] Free Speech For People, National Voting Rights Institute, Voter Action, MacArthur Fellowship
Mark Brown Member of the Board of Advisors[8:5] Capital University
Dmitri Evseev Member of the Board of Advisors[8:6] Arnold & Porter, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Harvard Law Review
Ellen Katz Member of the Board of Advisors[8:7] University of Michigan, United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), United States Department of Justice Civil Division, Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Yale Law Journal, Phi Beta Kappa
David Lyons Member of the Board of Advisors[8:8] Boston University, Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Humanities
Ian Shapiro Member of the Board of Advisors[8:9] Yale University, MacMillan Center, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Guggenheim Fellowship, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, University of Cape Town, Nuffield College
William P. Tedards, Jr. Member of the Board of Advisors[8:10] Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan, Nicholson & Carter
Richard Wilson Member of the Board of Advisors[8:11] American University Washington College of Law, City University of New York School of Law, University of Oxford, Daito Bunka University, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Fulbright Program, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)
Richard Winger Member of the Board of Advisors[8:12] Ballot Access News, Election Law Journal
Howard Zinn Advisory Board Member Emeritus (2005-2010)[8:13] United States Air Force, The Real News Network, Spelman College, Boston University, University of Paris, University of Bologna

Funding

The Center for Competitive Democracy has received funding from:

  • Mark Cuban Foundation[3:1]

Clients

Current and former clients of the Center for Competitive Democracy include:[11][12][13][14]

  • A.B. Brand
  • Adam Muehlhausen
  • Andrew Horning
  • Anthony Stewart
  • Arizona Libertarian Party
  • Constitution Party of Pennsylvania
  • Cornel West[6:1]
  • David Gill
  • David Wetterer
  • Evan McMahon
  • Faye Coffield
  • George Wolfe
  • Green Party of New York State
  • Green Party of Pennsylvania
  • Green Party of the United States
  • Illinois Green Party[15]
  • Indiana Green Party
  • Jill Stein
  • John Caldara
  • John Shearer
  • Ken Tucker
  • Libertarian National Committee (LNC)
  • Libertarian Party of Illinois[15:1]
  • Libertarian Party of Indiana
  • Libertarian Party of Maryland[16]
  • Libertarian Party of North Dakota
  • Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania
  • Linda Gorman
  • Marcus Throneburg[15:2]
  • Mark Rutherford
  • Maryland Green Party[16:1]
  • North Carolina Green Party (NCGP)[17]
  • Richard Ames
  • Thommy Passa
  • We the People Party[7:1]

Contractors

Contractors and vendors hired by the Center for Competitive Democracy include:[18]

  • Amato & Main
  • Michael Kelly

Collaborators

The Center for Competitive Democracy has collaborated on cases and campaigns with:[12:1][13:1]

  • Citizens in Charge
  • Coalition for Free and Open Elections
  • Free & Equal Elections Foundation
  • Humane Society of the United States
  • Initiative and Referendum Institute[19]
  • More Voter Choice Fund (MVCF)
  • National Taxpayers Union (NTU)
  • Northwestern Supreme Court Practicum[20]
  • Sherman & Sterling
  • Sidley Austin[20:1]
  • Texans for Voter Choice

  1. District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. (2024, September 7). Center for Competitive Democracy. OpenCorporates. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_dc/EXTUID_2684865 ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. Center for Competitive Democracy [@voterchoice]. X (Formerly Twitter). Retrieved September 9, 2024, from http://archive.today/2024.09.09-183613/https://x.com/voterchoice ↩︎

  3. Mark Cuban Foundation — 2020 990PF. Instrumentl. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://irs-efile-renderer.instrumentl.com/render?object_id=202331239349100933 ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. Mark Cuban Foundation — 2021 990PF. Instrumentl. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://irs-efile-renderer.instrumentl.com/render?object_id=202203159349101615#IRS990PF ↩︎

  5. Mark Cuban [@mcuban]. (2024, September 2). “You know who helped pay for the lawsuit that got RFKjr and @CornelWest on the NC Ballot ? ...” [Post]. X (Formerly Twitter). http://archive.today/2024.09.09-215337/https://x.com/mcuban/status/1830716043091988639 ↩︎

  6. Pichrtova, A. (2024, September 3). Mark Cuban Says He Helped Fund RFK Jr.'s Legal Fight To Run for President. Newsweek. https://web.archive.org/web/20240903145316/https://www.newsweek.com/mark-cuban-reveals-funding-rfk-jr-fight-legal-president-1947833 ↩︎ ↩︎

  7. Doran, W. (2024, September 3). Billionaire who helped RFK Jr. get on NC ballot won’t back his new effort to get off the ballot. WRAL. https://web.archive.org/web/20240903203745/https://www.wral.com/story/billionaire-who-helped-rfk-jr-get-on-nc-ballot-won-t-back-his-new-effort-to-get-off-the-ballot/21606154/ ↩︎ ↩︎

  8. About us. Center for Competitive Democracy. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://web.archive.org/web/20240909184744/https://www.competitivedemocracy.org/about-us ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  9. Events for Center for Competitive Democracy. OpenCorporates. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_dc/EXTUID_2684865/events ↩︎

  10. About Us. Center for Competitive Democracy. Retrieved December 2, 2017, from https://web.archive.org/web/20171202152254/http://www.competitivedemocracy.org/about-us/ ↩︎

  11. Vendor/Recipient Profile: Center for Competitive Democracy - 2022. OpenSecrets. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://www.opensecrets.org/campaign-expenditures/vendor?cycle=2022&vendor=Center+for+Competitive+Democracy ↩︎

  12. News. Center for Competitive Democracy. Retrieved January 12, 2019, from https://web.archive.org/web/20190112200823/http://www.competitivedemocracy.org/news/ ↩︎ ↩︎

  13. News. Center for Competitive Democracy. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://www.competitivedemocracy.org/blog ↩︎ ↩︎

  14. Hall, O. (2022, March 17). CCD Files Constitutional Challenge to Indiana’s Restrictive Ballot Access Laws. Center for Competitive Democracy. https://web.archive.org/web/20240909225333/https://www.competitivedemocracy.org/post/ccd-files-constitutional-challenge-to-indiana-s-restrictive-ballot-access-laws ↩︎

  15. Hall, O. (2020, April 2). CCD files suit in Illinois challenging pandemic signature requirements. Center for Competitive Democracy. https://web.archive.org/web/20240909224253/https://www.competitivedemocracy.org/post/10-ways-to-engage-with-your-clients ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  16. Hall, O. (2020, May 19). CCD Files Emergency Action for Petitioning Relief in Maryland. Center for Competitive Democracy. https://web.archive.org/web/20240909224457/https://www.competitivedemocracy.org/post/ccd-files-emergency-action-for-petitioning-relief-in-maryland ↩︎ ↩︎

  17. Hall, O. (2022, August 5). CCD Defeats Democrats’ Effort to Suppress Voter Choice in NC -- Court Orders Greens on Ballot! Center for Competitive Democracy. https://web.archive.org/web/20240909225814/https://www.competitivedemocracy.org/post/ccd-defeats-democrats-effort-to-suppress-voter-choice-in-nc-court-orders-greens-on-ballot ↩︎

  18. Hall, O. (2017, September 12). Form 990 - 2016. Center for Competitive Democracy. https://web.archive.org/web/20240909211628/https://filing-service.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/scanned-pdfs/201612/680615725/5936314/68-0615725_990_201612.pdf ↩︎

  19. Hall, O. (2020, March 5). CCD files amicus brief in Ohio case - Schmitt v. LaRose. Center for Competitive Democracy. https://web.archive.org/web/20200806091801/https://www.competitivedemocracy.org/post/how-to-stay-organized-at-work ↩︎

  20. Hall, O. (2021, February 9). CCD Seeks Supreme Court Review in Ballot Initiative Case. Center for Competitive Democracy. https://web.archive.org/web/20240909224850/https://www.competitivedemocracy.org/post/ccd-seeks-supreme-court-review-in-ballot-initiative-case ↩︎ ↩︎