What To Know About Campaign Finance Laws

In this continuing series, we explore the results of a survey conducted among over fifty state and local new leaders asking for any voluntary advice they might give to new or inexperienced new leaders seeking elected office.  The overview for this series can be found here.

Throughout the course of your campaign, you will be required to keep precise records of everything from expenditures to donations. The scope and detail of these expenditures varies from state to state, however, one thing that does not change is the fact that detailed, comprehensive records must be kept and maintained even after the election. These laws sometimes change even in the course of a single campaign. It is thus imperative to keep up-to-date with even the most menial of legislative changes.

First, having a treasurer will be of immense help in this regard. Between your campaign and your occupation, you will be short enough on time that having to check weekly for changes would be quite cumbersome.

Large scale election changes are usually advertised heavily in social media. If something is changed that dramatically alters the nature of a campaign (such as PAC contribution limits), everyone and their dog is going to hear about it in the media. These changes are thus easy to follow along with. Smaller changes, like the font style of page numbers for donor lists, are not covered to such an extent and thus require some effort in monitoring.

Before you begin accepting donations (the sooner before you declare you are running the better), make sure to read into and understand every election law relating to your state or district. Nothing would be more disappointing than running a very successful campaign only to have to withdraw due to irregular record keeping.

You can find national changes to election legislation at the Federal Election Commission’s website located here: https://www.fec.gov/law/feca/feca.shtml

You can find laws pertaining to your state or region at the same website located here:
https://www.fec.gov/pubrec/cfsdd/cfsdd.shtml

You will also usually find a list of laws from your state’s website. Some states mail a summary of laws to candidates after they have declared. In any case always, always make sure that you are up-to-date and aware of any changes (no matter how small) to election finance laws.