Campaign finance requirements in Maine

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Maine 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, in Maine, super PACs were prohibited from making contributions to candidates, PACs, party committees, and ballot measures. Individuals, single candidate committees, PACs, political parties, corporations, and unions could make unlimited contributions to PACs, party committees, and ballot measures. The maximum contribution for a state senate or house candidate was $375, while statewide candidates could receive up to $1,575 from individuals, single candidate committees, PACs, political parties, corporations, and unions.

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. 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 15 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.

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. 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. 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.

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 Maine as of May 2015. The uppermost row of the table indicates the contributor, while the leftmost column indicates the recipient.

Maine contribution limits as of May 2015
	Individuals	Single candidates committees	PACs	Political Party	Super PACs	Corporations	Unions
Statewide candidate (e.g., governor)	$1,575	$1,575	$1,575	$1,575	$0	$1,575	$1,575
Senate candidate	$375	$375	$375	$375	$0	$375	$375
House candidate	$375	$375	$375	$375	$0	$375	$375
PAC	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited	$0	unlimited	unlimited
Party committees	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited	$0	unlimited	unlimited
Ballot measures	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited	$0	unlimited	unlimited
Sources: Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Elections Practices, "Contribution Limits," accessed May 22, 2015. Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Elections Practices, "Corporate and Union Contributions," May 22, 2015

Candidate requirements

Seal of Maine

See statutes: Title 21-A, Chapter 13 of the Maine Revised Statutes

A candidate is recognized as such when he or she begins raising or spending money for campaign purposes, files nomination papers, or is nominated by a party committee to fill a vacancy. Before accepting contributions, making expenditures, or incurring financial obligations, a candidate must appoint a campaign treasurer. The treasurer is responsible for keeping detailed financial records and completing and submitting campaign finance reports. A candidate may legally serve as his or her own treasurer.

Within 10 days of appointing a treasurer, a candidate must file a "Candidate Registration" form with the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. If a candidate elects to form a campaign committee, he or she must identify it on the "Candidate Registration" form.

A candidate is required by law to keep a separate bank account for campaign purposes. The candidate must deposit all contributions into this account.

Candidates for statewide and state legislative office are required to file regular campaign finance reports, which include the following types of information (broken down by report section):

• Cover page
  • Contact information for the candidate and treasurer must be noted; the cover page must also include a financial summary for the campaign for the reporting period and year-to-date campaign totals.
• Schedule A: Cash contributions
  • Cash contributions received during the reporting period must be reported; contributions from any contributor who has given more than $50 during the reporting period must be itemized by providing the contributor's name, address, occupation and employer, as well as the date and amount of the contribution.
• Schedule A-1: In-kind contributions
  • In-kind contributions (i.e., goods and services) the candidate received during the reporting period must be noted, including a description of the goods and services and a statement of their fair market value. It should be noted that some goods and services do not necessarily constitute in-kind contributions.
• Schedule B: Expenditures
  • Expenditures the candidate made during the reporting period, including date, amount, payee, and type of expenditure, must be reported.
• Schedule C: Loans and loan repayments
  • Information regarding loans received, loans forgiven and payments made must be noted.
• Schedule D: Unpaid debts and obligations
  • All unpaid debts and other obligations that are unpaid as of the close of the reporting period must be reported.

A candidate must file reports electronically if he or she has receipts of greater than $1,500. The candidate may file a waiver to be exempted from the requirement. Once a candidate has registered as described above, he or she will be sent information about accessing the electronic filing system.

Reporting schedules vary according to the office sought. Special reports must be filed within 24 hours when a candidate either receives a single contribution of $1,000 or more or makes an expenditure or incurs an unpaid obligation of $1,000 or more in the 13-day period leading up to an election.

Campaign finance legislation

The following is a list of recent campaign finance bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Maine 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 Maine ballot measures

Ballotpedia has tracked 31 statewide ballot measures relating to elections and campaigns.

1. Maine Campaign Promises Initiative (2009)
2. Maine General Election Ballot Form, Direct Initiative Question (1972)
3. Maine Direct Primary Repeal, Referendum Question (1927)
4. Maine Direct Primary, Question No. 4 (1911)
5. Maine Direct Initiative and People's Veto, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 2 (1980)
6. Maine Uniform Ballot Boxes, Question No. 1 (1912)
7. Maine Biddeford Elections, Question No. 5 (1940)
8. Maine Representatives Residency Requirements, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 2 (1981)
9. Maine Military Service Voting Clarification, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 4 (1955)
10. Maine Repeal Treasurer Term Limit, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 1 (1951)
11. Maine November General Election, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 2 (1957)
12. Maine House of Representatives Elections, Powers and Apportionment, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 1 (1963)
13. Maine Public Financing of Gubernatorial Campaigns, Question 1 (1989)
14. Maine Public Campaign Financing, Question 3 (1996)
15. Maine Constitutional Revision Election Amendment (1908)
16. Maine Constitutional Amendment Voting, Question No. 2 (1913)
17. Maine Division of Towns into Polling Places, Proposed Amendment No. 3 (1917)
18. Maine Division of Towns into Polling Places, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 1 (1920)
19. Maine Voting Machines, Amendment No. 1 (1933)
20. Maine Voting Machines, Amendment No. 3 (1935)
21. Maine Elections for Senate Vacancies, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 3 (1964)
22. Maine Determining Election of Governor, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 7 (1964)
23. Maine Municipality Election Returns to Secretary of State, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 10 (1964)
24. Maine Senate Elections, Powers and Apportionment, Proposed Constitutional Amendment (1966)
25. Maine Gubernatorial Term Continuation, Proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 2 (1971)
26. Maine Legislative Candidate Residency Requirement, Question 13 (1987)
27. Maine "Clean Elections" Initiative, Question 1 (2015)
28. Maine Question 5, Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative (2016)
29. Maine Question 1, Ranked-Choice Voting Delayed Enactment and Automatic Repeal Referendum (June 2018)
30. Maine Question 2, Prohibit Foreign Spending in Elections Initiative (2023)
31. Maine Require Voter Photo ID and Change Absentee Ballot and Dropbox Rules Initiative (2025)

Election-related agencies

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

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

• Maine Secretary of State
  

Why: This agency provides and processes candidate nominating petitions.

111 Sewall St

Augusta, ME 04333-0101

Phone: 207-624-7736

Fax: 207-287-5428

Website: http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/index.html

Email:julie.flynn@maine.gov

• Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices
  

Why: This agency provides and processes candidate registration forms and campaign finance reports.

45 Memorial Circle. August, ME 04333

Phone: (207) 287-4179

Fax: (207) 287-6775

Website: www.maine.gov/ethics

Email: ethics@maine.gov

Recent news

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

Campaign finance requirements in Maine - Google News

See also

• Campaign finance regulation
• Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Maine
• Maine