Post-General Reporting for Traditionally Financed Candidates

Campaign Finance Reports Due

Report

 Deadline Reporting Period
42-Day Post-General Report Tuesday, December 15, 2020 by 11:59 p.m. October 21 - December 8, 2020

 

Helpful links for eFiling

Close Out Your Campaign and File Early!

Close Out Your Campaign. If you want the 42-Day Post-General Report to be your final report, your campaign must show a remaining cash balance of $100 or less, with no outstanding debts or loans. If you have more than $100 in surplus funds or outstanding obligations, see below for guidance.

File Early. You don't have to wait until the reporting period ends on December 8 to file your report. You can file at any time before the deadline when you have:

  • Made all of your expenditures and have paid all of your bills;
  • Made all reimbursements to yourself and your volunteers and staff; and
  • Entered all your transactions (contributions, expenditures, loans, debts) into the report.

Filing Semiannual Reports

If you have a reported cash, debt, or loan balance of more than $100 on your 42-Day Post-General Report, you will be required to file semiannual reports every July 15 and January 15 until the balance is disposed of. The first semiannual report after the 2020 general election is due by July 15, 2021.

Reduce Your Cash Balance

After the election, candidates may spend their remaining funds to discharge existing debts or loans incurred for the campaign, pay outstanding bills, or to dispose of surplus funds. A cash surplus greater than $100 cannot be converted to personal use and must be disposed of according to the Maine Election Law, within four years of the election for which the funds were received.

Refer to the guidelines for the Disposition of Surplus Funds or contact your Candidate Registrar with questions.

Reducing Loan or Debt Balances

If you have an outstanding loan or debt balance of more than $100, you may:

  • Use campaign funds to reduce the amount of the obligation as much as possible. Candidates are permitted to raise funds post-election only to retire existing loans or debts.
  • Outstanding loans: the lender may choose to forgive the remainder of the loan, which converts it to a contribution. The $400 contribution limit does apply to forgiven loans, but there is no limit to what the candidate or their spouse/domestic partner may contribute to their own campaign. Many candidates who have loaned personal funds to the campaign choose to simply forgive the remainder to avoid having to file semiannual reports.
  • Outstanding debts: the candidate may use personal funds to pay the creditor of the debt, i.e., the vendor. In eFiling, you will report first a cash contribution from the candidate to the campaign in the amount of the payment and then edit the debt to show the payment.