The Influence of Money on American Elections Laws have been put in place to reform the campaign finance system in the United States. It is clear that money greatly influences American elections and has enormous effects on the outcome of recent elections. Laws encourage citizens to participate in elections. Although it may be unknown to many, money greatly influenced the outcome of the 2012 presidential election. Following the Arizona Free Enterprise v. Bennett court case, it was decided that citizens should be encouraged to contribute to campaign finance. When there is greater participation from citizens, self-government is greatly facilitated. The goal of public financing is to push citizens to financially help the political candidate of their choice. Many reformers have suggested that there is too much money in politics. Statistically this is proven to be wrong. In the 2008 election, 64% of Americans were eligible to vote. Only about 10% finance election campaigns, and not even 0.5% are responsible for most of the money raised by politicians (Overton, 2012). Political Action Committees (PACS) are interest groups that help raise money. They do this on a voluntary basis so they can help the candidate they like. PACS tend to contribute more to incumbents. There are three different types of money that are paid into elections. There is money involved. This money comes from individuals or groups and is used to influence the outcome of an election. There is also subsidized money. This is an unlimited sum of money raised by political parties. Finally, there is the hard money. It is limited and fully disclosed (Trautman, 2013). In 2002, the Bipart... middle of paper... candidates are able to start campaigning earlier and advertise, they are able to win over more people. votes. IF they continue to campaign, they can continue to raise and raise more money to continue campaigning. Because Obama managed to raise the largest amount of contributions, he was able to advertise much more than any other candidate and, therefore, win the election. He was able to campaign right up until Election Day because of the amount of money he raised. 2012 presidential race. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/index.phpOverton, S. (2012). Corresponding political contributions. Minnesota Law Review, 96(5), 1694-1731.Parti, T., & Levinthal, D. (2012, November 17). 5-month highlights from 2012. Retrieved from http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83655.htmlTrautman. (2013, October 21). Campaigns and elections.