Writing:Campaign finance reports
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Candidates raising over $5,000 in an election cycle are required to submit regular reports to the Federal Election Commission. In addition to quarterly reports, there are reports before and after primaries and conventions.
Data source
The reports and data are available from the FEC. There are two important pages: Candidate summary page and Reports image index.
Candidate summary
Candidate summaries are available here. Select the relevant election year and search by state to find all candidates who have submitted reports. (E.g., Alaska). A candidate's summary page will look like this, and includes that candidate's specific FEC code in the heading (e.g., S0AK00139), and the candidate's principal campaign committee ID at the bottom (e.g., C00484949).
Reports image index
All of a candidate's campaign finance reports are available here. To find the reports:
- Copy the candidate campaign committee's FEC code (e.g., C00484949) into the top box, labeled Committee ID. Hit enter or submit.
- Click the blue-linked Committee ID number.
- Select the PDF of the relevant report.
Usage
Include the Campaign finance reports box on candidate pages and election pages.
This section uses the Campaign finance reports template. The template can handle up to 7 reports.
Introduction
Under ==Campaign donors==, place ===YEAR===. Then add the following text: Candidates for Congress are required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the YEAR elections season. Below are CANDIDATE's reports.<ref>[LINK ''Federal Election Commission'' "CANDIDATE YEAR Summary reports," Accessed DATE]</ref>
Copy this code on the page
{{Campaign finance reports
|Collapse=
|Name =
|Political Party =
|Report 1 =
|Date 1 =
|Beginning Balance 1 =
|Total Contributions 1 =
|Expenditures 1=
|Cash on Hand 1 =
|Report 2 =
|Date 2 =
|Beginning Balance 2 =
|Total Contributions 2 =
|Expenditures 2=
|Cash on Hand 2 =
|}}
Explanation
Here is an explanation for each parameter.
{{Campaign finance reports
|Collapse=
|Name = CANDIDATE
|Political Party = CANDIDATE'S PARTY
|Report 1 = NAME OF REPORT (E.g., April Quarterly)<ref>[LINK TO REPORT]</ref>
|Date 1 = DATE FILED (At bottom of first page of report)
|Beginning Balance 1 = LINE 23
|Total Contributions 1 = LINE 24
|Expenditures 1= LINE 26
|Cash on Hand 1 = LINE 27
|Report 2 =
|Date 2 =
|Beginning Balance 2 =
|Total Contributions 2 =
|Expenditures 2=
|Cash on Hand 2 =
|}}
Example
The following:
===2012===
Candidates for Congress are required to file up to seven main reports with the [[Federal Election Commission]] during the [[United States Congress elections, 2012|2012 elections season]]. Below are McLeod's reports.<ref>[http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/cancomsrs/?_12+H2GA12113 ''Federal Election Commission'' "Wright McLeod Summary Report," Accessed June 26, 2012]</ref>
{{Campaign finance reports
|Name = Wright McLeod (2012)
|Political Party = Republican
|Report 1 = April Quarterly<ref>[http://query.nictusa.com/pdf/437/12970907437/12970907437.pdf#navpanes=0 ''Federal Election Commission'' "Wright McLeod April Quarterly," Accessed June 26, 2012]</ref>
|Date 1 = March 31, 2012
|Beginning Balance 1 = 130337.75
|Total Contributions 1 = 149704.59
|Expenditures 1= 81059.67
|Cash on Hand 1 =198982.67
}}
Appears as:
2012
Candidates for Congress are required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the 2012 elections season. Below are McLeod's reports.[1]
| Wright McLeod (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[2] | March 31, 2012 | $130,337.75 | $149,704.59 | $(81,059.67) | $198,982.67 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $149,704.59 | $(81,059.67) | ||||||||
More examples
- California's_2nd_congressional_district_elections,_2012#Campaign_contributions
- Wright_McLeod#Campaign_donors
- Michigan's_13th_congressional_district_elections,_2012#Campaign_contributions
- Glenn_Anderson,_Michigan_Senator#Campaign_donors
