On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reportedly urged federal regulators to further complicate the process of using ActBlue, a progressive fundraising platform that has garnered record donations for the Harris campaign.
Paxton accused the platform of failing to prevent “straw donors,” individuals who use the money of another person to make a donation in their own name, in a letter to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
ActBlue has been a significant component of the Democratic fundraising apparatus, garnering an estimated $1.5 billion from approximately 7 million donors. It specifically targets small-dollar donations.
Although nearly 19,000 campaigns received a portion of the influx of funds, the most prominent races received a disproportionate quantity.
For instance, during the initial days of the Harris campaign, donors contributed $200 million to her account via the platform.
In September, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) introduced a bill that would mandate political committees to collect CVVs along with political donations.
CVVs are the three- or four-digit “card verification value” located on the back of a credit card.
In practice, the legislation, which Steil expressly wrote with ActBlue in mind, would effectively prevent the platforms from accepting donations via prepaid gift cards or debit cards.
Paxton went further on Monday and urged the FEC to implement additional safeguards, including a cross-check to ensure that donors’ information had been verified with the bank that issued their card.
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