Campaign finance requirements in Michigan

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Michigan campaign finance requirements govern the following:

  • how much money candidates may receive from individuals and organizations,
  • how much and how often they must report those contributions, and
  • how much individuals, organizations and political parties may contribute to campaigns.

In addition to direct campaign contributions, campaign finance laws also apply to third-party organizations and nonprofit organizations that seek to influence elections through independent expenditures or issue advocacy.

As of May 2015, individuals could contribute up to $6,800 to statewide candidates (including those for Governor), $2,000 to State Senate candidates, and $1,000 to State House of Representatives candidates. Corporations and unions could directly contribute to candidates for office, but these groups could make unlimited contributions to ballot measure campaigns.

Background

Seal of the United States Federal Election Commission

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency that administers and enforces federal campaign election laws. The FEC is responsible for disclosing campaign finance information, enforcing limits and prohibitions on contributions, and overseeing public funding of presidential elections.[1] According to the FEC, an individual becomes a federal candidate and must begin reporting campaign finances once he or she has either raised or spent $5,000 in his or her campaign. Within fifteen days of this benchmark, the candidate must register with the FEC and designate an official campaign committee, which is responsible for the funds and expenditures of the campaign. This committee must have an official treasurer and cannot support any candidate but the one who registered it. Detailed financial reports are then made to the FEC every financial quarter after the individual is registered. Reports are also made before primaries and before the general election.[2]

The rules governing federal election campaigns and contributions have evolved over the past generation as result of a number of Supreme Court decisions. In the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, the court held that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited. The court's decision also overturned the ban on for-profit and not-for-profit corporations and unions broadcasting electioneering communications in the 30 days before a presidential primary and in the 60 days before a general election.[3] In the SpeechNOW.org v. Federal Election Commission decision, the first application of the Citizens United decision, the court held that contribution limits on what individuals could give to independent expenditure-only groups, and the amount these organizations could receive, were unconstitutional. Contribution limits on donations directly to candidates, however, remained unchanged.[4][5] In 2014's McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission decision, the court overturned biennial aggregate campaign contribution limits, and held that individuals may contribute to as many federal candidates as they want, but may only contribute up to the federal limit in each case.[6]

While the FEC governs federal election campaigns and contribution limits, individual states enforce their own regulation and reporting requirements. Regulations vary by state, as do limits on campaign contributions and third-party activities to influence elections.

Contribution limits

The table below details contribution limits as they applied to various types of individuals and groups in Michigan as of May 2015. The uppermost row of the table indicates the contributor, while the leftmost column indicates the recipient.

Michigan contribution limits as of May 2015
Individual Political (PAC) committee Independent (PAC) committee Caucus (PAC) committee District political party committee County political party committee State political party committee
Governor and Lt. Governor (with public funding) $6,800 $6,800 $68,000 $68,000 $30,000 $30,000 $750,000
Governor and Lt. Governor (without public funding) $6,800 $6,800 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $136,000
Secretary of State $6,800 $6,800 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $136,000
Attorney General $6,800 $6,800 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $136,000
State Senate $2,000 $2,000 $20,000 Unlimited $20,000 $20,000 $20,000
State Representative $1,000 $1,000 $10,000 Unlimited $10,000 $10,000 $10,000
State Board of Education $6,800 $6,800 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $136,000
University of Michigan Regents $6,800 $6,800 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $136,000
Michigan State University Trustees $6,800 $6,800 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $136,000
Wayne State University Governors $6,800 $6,800 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $68,000 $136,000
Sources: Michigan Department of State, Bureau of Elections, "Election Cycle Campaign Finance Contribution Limits For State Level Office, Local Level Office, Judicial and Caucus Committee PACs, accessed May 25, 2015
Michigan Electronic Reporting and Tracking System, "Appendix O: Prohibited Contributions," accessed May 25, 2015

Candidate requirements

Seal of Michigan

DocumentIcon.jpg See statutes: Michigan Election Law, "Michigan Campaign Finance Act"

An individual is legally considered a candidate for office when one of the following occurs:[7]

  • He or she files an Affidavit of Incumbency, nominating petition or qualifying petition for elective office (or pays a filing fee, if applicable).
  • He or she is nominated by a political party convention or caucus for elective office .
  • He or she receives a contribution or makes an expenditure in an effort to be nominated or elected to office.
  • He or she gives consent to someone else to receive a contribution or make an expenditure in an effort to be nominated or elected to office.

All candidates are required to form candidate committees. Once an individual becomes a candidate, he or she is required to form a candidate committee within 10 days. Once the committee is formed, the candidate has an additional 10 days to register the committee by filing a Statement of Organization with the Michigan Secretary of State. On the Statement of Organization, the candidate must include basic personal information (such as name, political party, office sought, etc.) and basic information about the committee (including contact information, mailing address, treasurer and record keeper names and addresses, etc.). The candidate must provide the name and address of the financial depository that will be used for committee funds. A candidate may serve as his or her own treasurer, and the treasurer may elect to fulfill the duties of the record keeper.[7][8]

Each candidate must file a pre-election campaign finance compliance statement, which is part of the Affidavit of Identity all candidates (barring write-ins) must file to gain ballot access. A candidate committee that does not receive or spend in excess of $1,000 in an election, or does not expect to do so, may waive reporting requirements (though such committees must still file late contribution reports, if applicable; see below for more information on late contribution reports). Any candidate who is elected to office must file a post-election campaign finance compliance statement prior to assuming office.[9]

Unless otherwise exempted, all candidates must file regular campaign finance disclosure statements, which include the following:[10]

  • Cover page
    • This includes basic information about the committee (including the state-assigned committee identification number, committee name and mailing address) candidate, and treasurer.
  • Summary page
    • This includes summary information and subtotals from the subsequent reporting schedules.
  • Schedule 1A: Itemized Contributions
    • For each contribution made to the committee during the period covered by the statement, the contributor's name and address must be noted, as well as the date and amount of the contribution and the cumulative total received from the contributor during the election cycle. If a contributor has given more than $100 in aggregate to the campaign, the contributor's occupation, employer, and business address must be noted.
  • Schedule 1A-1: Itemized Other Receipts
    • For other receipts (such as loans, interest payments, refunds, etc.), the name and address of the source, as well as the date, type and amount of the receipt, must be noted.
  • Schedule 1-IK: Itemized In-Kind Contributions
    • For in-kind contributions (such as goods or services donated or loaned to the campaign, etc.), the name and address of the contributor must be noted, as well as the type, value and date of receipt of the contribution. If the contributor has given over $100 in aggregate to the campaign, the contributor's occupation and employer must also be noted.
  • Schedule 1B: Itemized Expenditures
    • For each individual or business to whom the committee made a payment of more than $50 (either through a single expenditure or in aggregate during the reporting period), the recipient's name and address must be noted, as well as the purpose, date, and amount of the expenditure.
  • Schedule 1B-IK: Itemized In-Kind Expenditures
    • The name and address of the recipient of in-kind expenditures (such as donated goods or services, etc.) must be noted, as well as the type, date and value of the expenditure.
  • Schedule 1B-G: Expenditures for Get-Out-the-Vote Activities
    • For expenditures made for get-out-the-vote activities (such as busing of voters to polls, poll watchers, etc.), the name and address of the recipient must be noted, as well as the type, date and amount of expenditure.
  • Schedule 1C: Incidental Office Expense Disbursements
    • Only current officeholders must file this schedule, which is used to report disbursements made for incidental office expenses. Expenses must be itemized in the same fashion as all other expenditures.
  • Schedule 1E: Debts and Obligations
    • For debts and obligations either owed or forgiven by or to the committee, the lender or debtor must be noted, as well as the type of obligation, date and amount of each payment, cumulative payment on the debt, and outstanding balance at the close of the reporting period.
  • Schedule 1F: Fund Raiser Schedule
    • For each fundraising event, the date and location of the event must be noted, as well as the number of individuals attending, total contributions and receipts, and total event cost.

If the candidate committee spends or receives more than $5,000 in a calendar year, or expects to do so, the committee must file reports electronically via the Michigan Electronic Reporting and Tracking System.[11]

Candidate committees must file pre-election and post-election disclosure statements for each election in which the candidate's name appears on the ballot (e.g., primary election, general election). Committees must also file annual campaign statements.[9]

Statutory campaign finance statement schedule
Report type Closing date of statement Due date
Pre-election report 16 days before the election 11 days before the election
Post-election report 20 days after the election 30 days after the election
Annual campaign statement December 31 January 31 of the following calendar year

A reporting period begins after the closing date of the most recent campaign statement filed by the committee. If the committee has never filed a statement, the opening date of the first campaign statement is the earlier of the candidate's formation date or the date the committee first accepted contributions or made expenditures. This also applies to annual campaign statements, unless the committee did not file campaign statements for an election during the year.[9]

If a candidate committee receives a single or cumulative contribution of $500 or more between the day following the closing date of the last campaign statement and the third day before the date of an election, the committee must file a late contribution report within 48 hours of receipt of the contribution.[9]

Campaign finance legislation

The following is a list of recent campaign finance bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Michigan state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.

Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.


Election and campaign ballot measures

See also: Elections and campaigns on the ballot and List of Michigan ballot measures

Ballotpedia has tracked 1 statewide ballot measures relating to elections and campaigns.

  1. Michigan Proposal 2, Voting Policies in Constitution Amendment (2022)

Election-related agencies

See also: Campaign finance agencies in Michigan and State election agencies

Candidates running for office may require some form of interaction with the following agencies:

Michigan Secretary of State: Bureau of Elections
Why: This agency provides and processes candidate filing paperwork for state-level and judicial offices.
Physical address: 430 W. Allegan St., Lansing, MI 48929
Mailing address: PO Box 20126, Lansing, MI 48901-0726
Telephone: (517) 373-2540
Fax: (517) 373-0941
https://www.michigan.gov/sos

Counties

See also: Counties in Michigan

A candidate may need to file a number of documents with the county elections office in the county in which he or she resides. Individual county contact information can be found below. In the table below, if a piece of information does not exist, it is because it could not be found for this municipality. To provide information for the table below, please email us.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Michigan campaign finance. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Campaign finance requirements in Michigan - Google News

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "About the FEC," accessed June 27, 2012
  2. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Candidate Registration Brochure," accessed December 7, 2012
  3. ↑ New York Times, "Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit," January 21, 2010
  4. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Speechnow.org v. FEC," April 7, 2014
  5. ↑ OpenSecrets, "Two Federal Court Rulings Could Change Campaign Finance Landscape," March 26, 2010
  6. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Ongoing Litigation," accessed March 18, 2015
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Michigan Electronic Reporting and Tracking System, "The Statement of Organization Forming and Registering a Candidate Committee," accessed February 27, 2014
  8. ↑ Michigan Department of State, "Statement of Organization Form for Candidate Committees," accessed February 27, 2014
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Michigan Electronic Reporting and Tracking System, "Campaign Finance Disclosure Requirements," accessed February 27, 2014
  10. ↑ Michigan Department of State, "Candidate Committee Campaign Statement Instructions and Forms," accessed February 27, 2014
  11. ↑ Michigan Electronic Reporting and Tracking System, "Appendix D: Electronic Filing of Campaign Statements," accessed February 27, 2014
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