How to Research Political Campaign Contributions

In the landmark Supreme Court case of Buckley v. Valeo, the court ruled that campaign finance disclosure is the best way to reveal to the public how monetary contributions can influence politics. All campaigns are required to disclose to the Federal Elections Commission the names of groups and individuals who donate more than $200. The reports are public record and every citizen is allowed to research political campaign contributions.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Learn to Research Political Campaign Contributions

1. Make a list of political campaigns that you want to investigate. You'll want to make a note if the campaigns are for offices in Washington, D.C. or state offices. Different groups manage state and federal records.
2. Contact the Public Records Office of the Federal Elections Commission. Many records of recent campaign contributions are available online at the FEC's website (see Resources below). If you want to research a campaign that happened prior to 1993, you may have to contact the office and request the information.
3. Sort through the list of political campaign contributions. You may notice that an individual or group appears twice on the list of donors. Under federal laws, two donations are allowed to be given to Presidential candidates. The first donation is for party elections and the second is for the general election.
4. Contact the Office of Campaign and Political Finance in your state for other records. States are required to keep records of reports submitted by campaigns, political groups, state ballot question committees and municipal party committees. You may find in these records that contributions of less than $200 are reported.
5. Remember that it is your right as a citizen to research and view political campaign contributions. If you believe that records are being withheld from you, you may submit a handwritten, sworn to and notarized complaint to the Federal Elections Commission. The FEC is required to respond to all complaints within 5 days of receiving them.

Tips & Warnings

• If you contact the FEC office to request congressional campaign contribution records, you may be asked to specify the records by year and quarter.
• The names, addresses and occupations of donors are current as of the date they were reported and may not be current today.
• Journalists like to request reports and judge the health of a campaign by the reported "money on hand."
• If you find a record that reports a contribution as "in kind," it may mean that the contributor donated time by volunteering to help out the campaign. These contributions are not required to be assessed a monetary value.