A little taste of the campaign finance requirements:
Anonymous contributions
North Carolina law bars all state and county/municipal referendum committees from accepting anonymous contributions.
Cash contribution limit
North Carolina requires all state and county/municipal referendum committees to limit cash contributions to $50.
Corporate/labor contributions
North Carolina allows corporations and labor unions to donate to all state and county/municipal referendum committees.
North Carolina bans corporations and labor unions from donating to candidates, candidate committees, and political action committees in support or opposition to a candidate.
Contributions
Contributions are anything of value that support or oppose the nomination or election of one or more clearly identified candidates. Contributions may be monetary or non-monetary. Loans, pledges, gifts, proceeds or sales of services, in-kind transfers, use of any supplies, office machinery, vehicles, aircraft, office space or related services, goods, or personal or real property are all contributions. All contributions are
subject to the regulations of the North Carolina General Statutes. A contribution that is made by the candidate or candidate’s family would still be subject to the same disclosure as any other contribution received by the candidate.
Limitations for non-judicial candidates
A candidate may not accept and a contributor may not give more than four thousand dollars ($4,000) per election. Therefore, if there is a primary for the office of the candidate and a general election, the candidate may receive four thousand dollars ($4,000) through the day of the primary and four thousand dollars ($4,000) from the day after the primary through the general election. If the candidate is on the ballot in
a second primary, the candidate would be entitled to receive an additional four thousand dollars ($4,000) from the day after the primary through the day of the second primary. If a candidate is not on the ballot for the second primary, they would not be entitled to the additional four thousand dollars ($4,000). A candidate, the candidate’s spouse, parents, brothers and sisters may contribute unlimited amounts to the candidate and are not subject to the limitations. Any national, state, district or county executive committee of any political party (recognized under N.C.G.S. §163-96) is exempt from the contribution limitations as well.
Prohibitions
It is unlawful for any corporation, business entity, labor union, professional association, or insurance company to directly or indirectly contribute to a candidate. This includes donating items to committees for fundraisers and sponsoring holes at golf tournaments. Political committees not registered with North Carolina are also
prohibited from contributing.
A registered political committee, other than those exempt political party committees, may contribute four thousand dollars ($4,000) per election to non-judicial candidate committees.
Registered referendum committees that received any contribution from a corporation, labor union, insurance company, business entity, or professional association or have received contributions in excess of the contribution limitations for PACs may not contribute to a candidate committee.
Anonymous contributions are prohibited in North Carolina. This includes any funds raised for which contributor contact information is not obtained, such as “pass-the-hat” collections. Contributions made in the name of another are also prohibited. In addition, all checks or money orders must contain a specific designation of the intended recipient chosen by the contributor.
All contributions in excess of $50 must be made by check, draft, money order, credit card, debit, or other noncash method.
Any such contributions received shall be turned over to the Board for deposit into the NC Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund.
Reporting Contributions
All contributions must be reported. If the candidate committee has certified to remain under the one thousand ($1,000) threshold, all contributions must be documented and maintained internally. Upon the request of the Campaign Finance Office of the State Board of Elections, these documents would be required to be produced by the committee.
Committees not filing under the threshold are required to report all contributions. All contributors contributing over $50 for the election must be reported with the name of the contributor, the address and occupational information.
If an individual exceeds the $50 for the election, the treasurer would be required to disclose the name of that individual on the next required disclosure report and all contributions made by that individual since the date of the last election or primary election. Additionally, contributions received at a fundraiser from the sale of items such as dinner tickets, t-shirts, buttons, or hotdogs would also require disclosure and count toward an individual’s $50 threshold for identity reporting.
Contributions received from an individual that have not exceeded $50 since the day after the last election or primary election does not require the reporting of the name, address or occupational information of the individual. The date, amount, payment method, account, and election sum-to-date shall be disclosed for all contributions, regardless of amount.
In-kind contributions are reported as any other contribution. The contributor should provide the committee with a statement setting forth the fair market value of the in-kind contribution. The contribution is reported on the appropriate form (Contributions from Individuals (CRO- 1210) or Contributions from Political Party Committees (CRO-1220) or Contributions from Other Political Committees (CRO-1230) or Other Receipt Sources (CRO-1250)) and also on the In-Kind Contributions form (CRO-1510). The reporting on the In-Kind Contributions form (CRO-
1510) serves to balance the account. Since the in-kind contribution is not actually monetary, when it is reported as a receipt it inflates the balance of the account. The In-Kind Contribution form balance is recorded in the expenditure portion of the reporting. Therefore, the amount of the receipt is subtracted from the total, balancing the account and providing accurate disclosure as to the amount of money in the
account.
