# Can a county (within a state) pass laws to regulate campaign financing in its local elections? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803 "2016-12-04T04:42:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/1 "2016-12-04T04:42:26Z")
Or if not a law, can a county ballot initiative (referendum) be used to regulate campaign financing within that county… or is this a statewide thing? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/2 "2016-12-04T04:47:30Z")
> [@bardos](#): > > Or if not a law, can a county ballot initiative (referendum) be used to regulate campaign financing within that county… or is this a statewide thing? Depends on the state. States have “pre-emption” laws on a lot of topics that limit local and county powers. Also sometimes these issues are dealt with in the state constitution. So there could be 50 different answers to your question. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/3 "2016-12-04T04:49:48Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Depends on the state. States have “pre-emption” laws on a lot of topics that limit local and county powers. Also sometimes these issues are dealt with in the state constitution. > > So there could be 50 different answers to your question. ok, thanks. So can anyone proffer an answer for the state of Hawaii? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/4 "2016-12-04T05:03:06Z")
Everything depends on the state. Massachusetts and Rhode Island don’t even have counties anymore, except as judicial districts. Alaska has never had any. (Wikipedia says only 8 MA counties have been abolished, but doesn’t say which ones they are.) ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/5 "2016-12-04T05:05:55Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Everything depends on the state. Massachusetts and Rhode Island don’t even have counties anymore, except as judicial districts. Alaska has never had any. (Wikipedia says only 8 MA counties have been abolished, but doesn’t say which ones they are.) Hawaii does have 5 official counties. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/6 "2016-12-04T15:13:09Z")
In Oregon, counties are considered extensions of the State government … so at all times, the State Laws trump County Ordinance … but that doesn’t include municipalities and I believe there’s a little wiggle room for incorporated communities … but not much, it’s been awhile since I’ve read that particular set of laws. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/7 "2016-12-05T13:27:30Z")
The town that I used to live in (in New Jersey) passed a law that restricted campaign contributions to people running for city council. I’m kind of fuzzy what exactly was restricted. One person made contributions that clearly violated the city law, claiming that state law allowed it. The city didn’t really have anyway of punishing that person, so the law was pretty much useless. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/8 "2016-12-05T13:59:05Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Wikipedia says only 8 MA counties have been abolished, but doesn’t say which ones they are. Abolished counties: [ol] [li]Middlesex[/li][li]Hampden[/li][li]Worcester[/li][li]Hampshire[/li][li]Essex[/li][li]Berkshire[/li][li]Suffolk[/li][li]Franklin[/li][/ol] The remaining counties: [ol] [li]Dukes[/li][li]Bristol[/li][li]Norfolk[/li][li]Barnstable[/li][li]Plymouth[/li][li]Nantucket[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/9 "2016-12-05T16:02:45Z")
> [@bardos](#): > > ok, thanks. So can anyone proffer an answer for the state of Hawaii? Hawaii [follows](http://www.nlc.org/build-skills-and-networks/resources/cities-101/city-powers/local-government-authority) what is called the Dillon Rule in construing local authority. Basically, it means that localities have only the powers that the state government has expressly afforded to them, and if there is ambiguity about whether the authority to do something has been delegated to the locality, a court will typically find that that authority is lacking. In other words, it is unlikely that a county in Hawaii would have inherent or default authority to do something. For it to have a particular power, there probably has to be an explicit state law somewhere that says so. I have no idea whether or not such a law exists as to campaign finance in Hawaii; that kind of research would be much more involved. Disclaimer: I am not your lawyer, and this anonymous chat is not legal advice. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/10 "2016-12-05T16:42:16Z")
The Federal constitution and emanations from it guarantee very little legal rights of political subdivisions of states. So it usually is a matter of what the various State constitutions say, some States are highly centralized, with even stuff we’d think of as local matters being decided by the State legislature. Other States (like Ohio) have extreme home rule, where every little town is its own Kingdom. I know that Seattle (a municipality in Washington State, obviously) passed some law concerning public financing of local campaigns, that included limits on the campaign’s ability to raise/use outside money, just as one example of this sort of law being done in the real world. I think the entire State of Maine does some form of public financing. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2016, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/11 "2016-12-07T11:49:18Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > In Oregon, counties are considered extensions of the State government … so at all times, the State Laws trump County Ordinance … The relevant point is that the state only gives a finite list of powers to the local councils (counties/cities … the sort of thing that a Mayor is head of… )… Ability to control state or federal elections wouldn’t be included. And the word “election” in the state law that defines the local council/county would have the concept of “fair” attached. The local body can’t just make a by law laying “only votes for the incumbent will be counted as votes, anything else is informal.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-county-within-a-state-pass-laws-to-regulate-campaign-financing-in-its-local-elections/773803/12 "2016-12-07T21:24:58Z")
First Amendment/_Citizens United_ issues aside, very unlikely in Ohio. Although we have home rule and local governments are supposed to have a pretty free hand to legislate and govern as they see fit, so long as that doesn’t conflict with state law, the rule has been whittled away by a series of state supreme court rulings to make it IMHO mostly a hollow shell. Here’s more: [However it's parsed over guns, home rule is local rule, not lobbyists' rule: Thomas Suddes - cleveland.com](http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/01/however_its_parsed_over_guns_h.html) (Sittenfeld lost in the Democratic primary, as it happens).