BOSTON – Senator Brian A. Joyce recently voted for a resolution calling for the United States Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, restoring the first amendment and ending unlimited outside spending in elections.

“We are now starting to see the influence unlimited and unchecked corporate donations can have on elections as the cost of running for office skyrockets,” said Joyce. “We cannot allow our Democracy to become an auction house where publicly trusted positions are heavily influenced by the highest bidder. Overturning Citizens United will begin to restore accountability to the process and help ensure our elections are not being influenced by donors who may not even live in the district, let alone the state.”

A poll of Massachusetts voters conducted in February by 7 News and Suffolk University revealed that 83 percent of Democrats polled, 73 percent of Republicans and 81 percent of independents oppose the Supreme Court’s decision.

During the 2010 elections, the first since the Supreme Court’s decision, non-candidate spending reached nearly $400 million, nearly 60 percent higher than spending during the 2006 midterm elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.