Campaign finance requirements in Virginia

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Virginia 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 Virginia, individuals, corporations, and unions could all make unlimited donations to individual candidates and 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 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.[2]

The Supreme Court of the United States has issued a number of rulings pertaining to federal election campaign finance regulations. 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 Virginia as of May 2015. The uppermost row of the table indicates the contributor, while the leftmost column indicates the recipient.

Virginia contribution limits as of May 2015
Individuals Single candidates committees PACs Political party Super PACs Corporations Unions
Statewide candidate (incl. Governor) unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited $0 unlimited unlimited
Senate unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited $0 unlimited unlimited
House unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited $0 unlimited unlimited
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: Virginia Department of Elections, "Summary of Laws and Policies, Candidate Campaign Committees," accessed May 22, 2015
Virginia Department of Elections, "Summary of Laws and Policies, Referendum Committees," accessed May 22, 2015

Candidate requirements

Seal of Virginia

DocumentIcon.jpg See statutes: Title 24.2, Chapter 9.3 of the Election Code of Virginia

The candidate must file a Statement of Organization form for the purpose of setting up a candidate committee. This form must be filed within 10 days of accepting contributions, spending any funds, paying a filing fee, or filing the certificate of candidate qualification form. The form must include the following:[7]

  • the full name and residence address of the candidate
  • the full name and mailing address for the campaign committee
  • the full name, residence address, and daytime phone number of the treasurer
  • the office being sought and district, if any, for the office
  • the recognized political party affiliation of the candidate for statewide office or the General Assembly (in the absence of any political party affiliation, independent shall be used)
  • the name of the financial institution for his campaign depository
  • such other information as shall be required by the State Board of Elections except that the account number for a designated depository account shall not be required

The candidate must designate a campaign depository, which must be maintained in a financial institution within Virginia, in an account properly identifying the name of and the existence of the political candidacy.[8]

Campaign treasurer

A candidate must appoint a single campaign treasurer who must be a registered voter in Virginia. Every treasurer so appointed must accept the appointment, in writing on the statement of organization, prior to the filing thereof.

All contributions and expenditures received or made by any candidate, or received or made on his behalf or in relation to his or her candidacy by any person, except independent expenditures, must be paid over or delivered to the candidate's treasurer or must be reported to the treasurer. The candidate or his or her treasurer must keep detailed and accurate accounts of all contributions turned over to and expenditures made by the candidate or his treasurer on behalf of the candidate or his campaign committee, or reported to any candidate or his treasurer. This account must set forth the date of the contribution or expenditure, its amount or value, the name and address of the person or committee making the contribution or to whom the expenditure was made, and the object or purpose of the contribution or expenditure.[9]

Large pre-election contributions

Any single contribution of $5,000 or more for a statewide office, $1,000 or more for the General Assembly, or $500 or more for any other office, knowingly received or reported by the candidate or his treasurer on behalf of his candidacy on and after the 12th day preceding a primary and before the primary date, on and after the 12th day preceding a general election and before the general election date, or on and after the 11th day preceding any other election in which the individual is a candidate and before the election day, must be reported in writing or electronically to the State Board of Elections.[10]

Campaign finance reports

A candidate for statewide office must file the reports required with the State Board of Elections. A candidate for the General Assembly may file reports required with the State Board of Elections by computer or electronic means. Non-electronic reports for the General Assembly must be filed with the State Board of Elections and with the electoral board of the locality where the candidate resides.

A candidate for any other office who files reports in non-electronic format must file with the electoral board of the locality in which the candidate resides.[11]

Each campaign finance report must include the following:[12]

  • the total number of contributors, each of whom has contributed an aggregate of $100 or less, including cash and in-kind contributions, as of the date of the report, and the total amount of contributions from all such contributors
  • for each contributor who has contributed an aggregate of more than $100, including cash and in-kind contributions, as of the ending date of the report, the campaign committee must itemize each contributor on the report and list the following information:
    • the name of the contributor, listed alphabetically
    • the mailing address of the contributor
    • the amount of the contribution
    • the aggregate amount of contributions from the contributor to date
    • the date of the contribution
    • the occupation of the contributor
    • the name of his employer or principal business
    • the city and state where employed or where his business is located
    • for each such contributor, other than an individual, the principal type of business and place of business of the contributor must be reported (for each such contributor other than an individual, it will be sufficient to list the address of the contributor one time on the report of receipts)
  • for each designated contribution received by the campaign committee from a political committee, out-of-state political committee, or federal political action committee, the candidate's campaign committee must list the name of the person who designated the contribution and provide the information required by this subsection

Campaign finance reports must also include the following information for all expenditures:[12]

  • the name and address of the person paid
  • a brief description of the purpose of the expenditure
  • the name of the person contracting for or arranging the expenditure
  • the amount of the expenditure
  • the date of the expenditure

Independent expenditures

An independent expenditure is an expenditure made by a candidate campaign committee (i) that is not related to the candidate's own campaign and (ii) that is not made to, controlled by, coordinated with, or made with the authorization of a different candidate, his campaign committee, or an agent of that candidate or his campaign committee.[13][14]

An independent expenditure report is required if the campaign committee makes independent expenditures that support, oppose or benefit a different candidate, in excess of $1,000 or more to a candidate for statewide office or in excess of $200 or more to any other candidate in the aggregate during an election cycle.[13][14]

Independent expenditure reports are due within 24 hours after the committee has made the expenditure or when the advertisement supporting or opposing the clearly identified candidate is disseminated, whichever is first.[13][14]

Campaign finance legislation

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


Election-related agencies

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

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

  • Virginia State Board of Elections
Why: This agency provides and processes nominating petitions, declaration of candidacy forms and campaign finance forms.
Washington Building, First Floor
1100 Bank Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-3497
Telephone: 804-864-8901
Toll-free: 800-552-9745
Fax: 804.371.0194
Website: http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Index.html
Email: [email protected]
  • Clerk of the House of Delegates
Why: This office oversees filing processes for Virginia House of Delegates candidates.
P.O. Box 406
Richmond, Virginia 23218
Telephone: 804-698-1619
Website: http://virginiageneralassembly.gov
Email: [email protected]
  • Clerk of the Virginia Senate
Why: This office oversees filing processes for Virginia State Senate candidates.
P.O. Box 396
Richmond, Virginia 23218
Telephone: 804-698-7400
Website: http://sov.state.va.us
Email: [email protected]

Counties

See also: Counties in Virginia

Sometimes, a candidate running for local office may have some contact with county offices. Individual county contact information can be found below. To provide information for this table, please email us.

Recent news

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

Campaign finance requirements in Virginia - 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. ↑ Election Code of Virginia, "Section 24.2-947.1," accessed February 10, 2014
  8. ↑ Election Code of Virginia, "Section 24.2-947.2," accessed February 10, 2014
  9. ↑ Election Code of Virginia, "Section 24.2-947.3," accessed February 10, 2014
  10. ↑ Election Code of Virginia, "Section 24.2-947.9," accessed February 11, 2014
  11. ↑ Election Code of Virginia, "Section 24.2-947.5," accessed February 11, 2014
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Election Code of Virginia, "Section 24.2-947.4," accessed February 11, 2014
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Virginia State Board of Elections, "2014 Candidate Reporting Deadlines," accessed February 11, 2014
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Election Code of Virginia, "Section 24.2-945.2," accessed February 11, 2014
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