Campaign Finance Essentials

Beginning a Campaign

Candidates can begin their campaigns by filing the necessary campaign documents with the County Clerk, Office of the Secretary of State, and the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance (KREF).

Candidates must file with the County Clerk to have their name placed on the ballot. If you see someone’s name on KREF, but they’re not also on the County Clerks’s list of candidates, then they likely haven’t registered with the County Clerk and will not appear on the ballot.

*If you’re thinking of running for office in a future election, contact the Office of the County Clerk, the Secretary of State, and the Kentucky Registry for Election Finance for complete filing instructions.

Campaign Contributions

Candidates can receive contributions, or donations of money, services, or materials from their supporters during a campaign. While some donations can be unlimited, others have limits based on the amount/value or who the contribution is from.

Types of Contributions

• Money: cash, check, draft, money order, credit card, or cashier’s check

• In-kind: non-monetary contribution of goods and services, offered for free or at a discount

• Goods: equipment, supplies, mailing lists, facilities, etc.

• Services: advertising or printing, etc

• Loans

Types of Contributors

• An individual

• A minor: someone who will not be 18 years old on or before the date of the next general election

• Contributing Organization: a group that contributes to candidates; does not solicit or receive funds from outside the group itself

• Caucus Campaign Committee: a caucus group that receives contributions and makes expenditures to support or oppose one or mre specific candidates for nomination or election

• Permanent Committee (PAC): a permanent organization functioning on a regular basis throughout the year to advocate for the election or defeat of one or more clearly defined candidates; registered with the FEC or another state

• State or County Executive Committee:

  • Political party must be recognized on a federal level

  • Committee must acheive ballot access for at least one statewide candidate in Kentucky

  • Committee must have an official party structure

  • Committee must assist with teh day-to-day operation of the party on a state level

• Out-of-State Contributor: an individual who lives, or a committee or organization that operates, outside of Kentucky

Limits

• Individuals, PACs, and Contributing Organizations: $2,000 per election

• Minors: $100

• Caucus Campaign Committees and Executive Committees: unlimited

• Gifts: candidiates may not accept a gift of money

• Anonymous contributions: no more than $100 per contributor, per election. Total anonymous contributions received by a campaign may not exceed $2,000 per election.

• Cash: no more than $100 per contributor, per election

Of Note

• Expenditures of $100 or less made by a person are not considered contributions; individuals may spend up to $100 for goods, advertising services valued at $100 or less without making a contribution. This exemption was designed to stimulate grassroots activity.

• Corporations: can make independent contributions, but cannot contribute directly or indirectly, or provide in-kind contributions, to candidates.

Prohibited

• Charitable contributions

• Any contribution made by a person in the name of another

• Any contribution made by a person who is not a U.S citizen or lawfully admitted for permanent residence; individuals with a green card can make political contributions

• Contributions from another candidate

• Contributions from a federal campaign account; those from federal PAC’s are allowed

*See KREF’s Candidate Guide to Campaign Finance for a complete explanation of rules regarding contributions, expenditures, and dispersal of campaign funds and materials.

Campaign Expenditures

Campaign expenditures are things the campaign spends its money on to try to get a candidate elected. Like contributions, there are limits to what they can be but, unlike for contributions, not for how much.

Allowable expenditures are:

• Staff salaries, printing, advertising, advertising services, necessary travel, office space, campaign hats/shirts/stickers, postage, office supplies, equipment used primarily for the administration of the campaign, gifts and meals for campaign volunteers, food and beverages provided at campaign functions, stationery, communications with constituents or prospective voters, polling and consulting, graphic arts, newsletters, literature delivery services, phone banks, transportation services, purchase of ads in publications, tickets for fundraising events or testimonial affairs for another candidate if the purchase is less than $200, expenditures made or donations to charitable and civic organizations toward promoting a candidacy through advertising, purchase of flags to be donated to schools, civic or charitable organizations

Prohibited expenditures are:

• Tickets to an event unrelated to campaign or candidacy, expenditures to promote or oppose a candidacy for a leadership position in a government, professional, or political organization, equipment not used for the campaign, charitable contributions to any religious, charitable, civic, or other causes or orgs established primarily for the public good, expenditures which would give private pecuniary benefit upon the candidate or their associates, expenditures to support another candidate, tickets for general distribution for the purpose of influencing an election, either directly or indirectly, personal property given to prospective voters which are not associated with the candidate’s campaign, dues to professional, civic, or other orgs that the candidate belongs to or wishes to join, expenditures made to offset the costs associated with an individual’s performance in his or her official duties as an officeholder, vote buying

*See KREF’s Candidate Guide to Campaign Finance for a complete explanation of rules regarding contributions, expenditures, and dispersal of campaign funds and materials.

How much does a campaign cost?

Campaign costs can vary widely depending on what office a candidate seeks and how many candidates are in the race. Generally, the more prestigious the office, the more a campaign will cost. A particularly competitive race can also increase campaign costs — if a candidate is running unchallenged they might not even campaign, while two or more aggressively campaigning candidates will spend a lot of money to make sure they stand out to voters.

Below are a few examples of how much candidates spent on their Mayoral, At-Large, and District Council General Election races in 2018.

What happens to leftover money and supplies after an election?

Campaigns sometimes have money and materials left over after an election. While they’re not allowed to keep most of it, here’s what they can do:

Surplus Campaign Property

• Campaign materials like signs are considered to be of no value and it is understood that they can not be liquidated. However, if the candidate keeps them and uses them for the next election, the materials must be assessed at the fair market value and reported as an in-kind contribution from the candidate to his or her campaign.

Unspent Campaign Funds

• Transferred to the State Treasury

• Returned to contributors

• Transferred to the state or county executive committee of the political party or to a caucus campaign committee if a partisan candidate

• Donated to any charitable, nonprofit, or educational institution recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code

• Transferred to next campaign to seek the same office

*See KREF’s Candidate Guide to Campaign Finance for a complete explanation of rules regarding contributions, expenditures, and dispersal of campaign funds and materials.

How to find out who has filed for candidacy

To find out who has registered for a race, you’ll need to search two agencies: the Office of the County Clerk and KREF.

Office of the County Clerk

Kentucky Registry of Election Finance

How to research a candidate’s campaign finance records

Researching a candidate’s campaign finance records is really simple. Candidate’s records are available to search at the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance’s website. You can search for a specific person, or search an election year and office, as explained above, to find the complete list of candidates running in a particular race.

Here’s how: