Candidate Filing Guide

2022/2023 Filing Guide for Candidate Committees

This guide is intended to give committees information and tips to complete successful filings as required under the Michigan Campaign Finance Act (MCFA). Committees are also encouraged to obtain further training by attending one of the instructional webinars that provide guidance in complying with the MCFA and its disclosure obligations. The webinars also give instruction on the use of the MERTS software.

Information Covered in this Guide:

• Filing Deadlines for 2022 and 2023 Calendar Years
  • Candidates NOT SEEKING OFFICE in 2022 or 2023
    • Annual Campaign Statement due January 31 (Rolls to next business day if applicable)
    • July Campaign Statement due July 25 (Rolls to next business day if applicable)
    • October Campaign Statement due October 25 (Rolls to next business day if applicable)
  • Candidates SEEKING OFFICE in 2022 or 2023
    • Annual Campaign Statement due January 31 (Rolls to next business day if applicable)
    • Pre-Election and Post-Election Campaign Statements
      • Annual Campaign Statement Exemptions
      • 48 Hour/Late Contribution Reports
• Coverage Dates of Statements
• Reporting Waiver Provisions
• Electronic Filing Requirement
• Tips for MERTS users
• Paper Forms
• Ensure Timely Filing
• Avoid Late Filing Fees!
• Accurate Campaign Statements Required
• Statement of Organization Amendments Required with Campaign Statement
• Identification Requirements
• Campaign Finance Compliance Affidavits
• Dissolution Information
• Filing Reminder Communications
• Questions?

Helpful Links:
Michigan Campaign Finance Act (MCFA)
Campaign Finance Website
Candidate Committee Manual and Appendices.

ANNUAL CAMPAIGN STATEMENT EXEMPTIONS

A committee that falls into one of the following categories is exempt from filing an Annual Campaign Statement:

• Files a Post-General Campaign Statement due in December immediately preceding the Annual CS due date.
• Currently has a Reporting Waiver or qualifies for and obtains a Reporting Waiver on or before the Annual CS Due Date.
• An officeholder whose salary is less than $100.00 a month and has not received any contributions or made any expenditures during the period of time covered by the Annual Campaign Statement.
• An incumbent judge or justice.

48 HOUR/LATE CONTRIBUTION REPORTS

FAILING TO FILE WILL BE EXPENSIVE!

A committee is required to file a 48 Hour/Late Contribution Report (48 Hour Report) if:

1)The candidate is seeking office for an election by appearing on a ballot, seeking nomination at a party convention/caucus or running a write-in campaign; and

2) The committee receives a single contribution or cumulative contributions including direct, loans or in-kind, of $500.00 or more from the same contributor during the 48 Hour reporting period of that election. This includes contributions (direct, loans and in-kind) the committee receives from the candidate!

A 48 Hour Report must be received by this office within 48 hours after the committee’s receipt of the contribution. A 48 Hour Report must contain the date and cumulative amount of the contribution along with the contributor’s name, street address, occupation, employer and principal place of business. The contribution must also be disclosed on the next Campaign Statement filed by the committee.

48 Hour Reports are NOT waived by a Reporting Waiver.

Committees required to file electronically (See the Electronic Filing Requirement section below) must use e-IDR (Immediate Disclosure Reporting) to file 48 Hour Reports. However, committees that file paper statements are encouraged to use the e-IDR program voluntarily.

For committees not required to file electronically and that choose not to use the e-IDR web application, the report may be submitted by email at Disclosure@Michigan.gov or any other written means. A 48 Hour Report need not contain an original signature. A form for filing a 48 Hour Report on paper is available.

Late filing fees will be assessed for contributions reported on a campaign statement that were not reported on a 48 Hour Report as required. When preparing the next campaign statements, the committee must take care to accurately report the receipt date of any contributions. Any contributions that meet the definition of a late contribution reported during the period that were not filed within the 48 hours will result in fees. A committee wishing to contest a fee must provide proof of the receipt date or other reason to context the fee.

A candidate, committee treasurer or designated record keeper who fails to file a 48 Hour required under the MCFA is responsible for the payment of a late filing fee up to $2,000.00. See Appendix E for details on how quickly this fee accumulates.

COVERAGE DATES OF STATEMENTS

A campaign statement’s opening date is the day after the closing date of the last campaign statement filed by the committee. If the committee has never filed a campaign statement, the opening date of the first Campaign Statement filed is the earlier of the following two dates:

• the committee’s formation date or
• the date the committee accepted its first contribution or made its first expenditure.

REPORTING WAIVER PROVISIONS

A committee is exempt from the campaign statement filing requirements if it currently has a Reporting Waiver or qualifies for and obtains a Reporting Waiver on or before the due date of a required campaign statement. A committee that does not expect to spend or receive more than $1,000.00 for any election and has assets and debt balances below $1,000.00 is eligible for a Reporting Waiver. More information on the Reporting Waiver can be found in Appendix C.

ELECTRONIC FILING REQUIREMENT

Committees that spend or receive, or expect to spend or receive $5,000.00 or more in a calendar year are required by law to file electronically. A committee may become subject to the electronic filing requirement mid-year if its contributions or expenditures equal or exceed $5,000.00. In this case, a committee is required to notify this office within 10 business days of reaching the threshold and must file all subsequent statements electronically. Once the electronic filing requirement is met, a committee is required to continue filing electronically even if the committee’s balance falls below $5,000.00. Committees that are not required to file electronically are encouraged to voluntarily file electronically. When filing electronically, a paper submission is not required. See Appendix D for more information.

Electronic filing software for filing Campaign Statements is provided free of charge. For additional information on filing electronically, go to www.mertsplus.com.

TIPS FOR MERTS USERS

Back up your MERTS file! Having an extra copy of your file on a separate removable media is essential to ensure the committee is able to file accurate statements in the event of a catastrophic loss of data. It happens more often than you think! The Bureau of Elections does not have a copy of the committee’s .DCF or back-up file.

Create only one file for the committee. After the initial set up of the committee file, always select “Open an Existing Committee” upon opening the software. To ensure accurate filings, the committee must create and use only one file in MERTS. A new report is created in the Reports Tab, not by creating a new committee file. (File names should be generic and not contain the name of the report, as one file will house all reports.)

Check the election cycle to ensure it is current. Check the election cycle to ensure it is current. If the candidate has entered a new election cycle, a new election cycle record must be created in the Elections Cycle tab. Simply go to the Elections Cycle Tab and create a new record, the MERTS software will calculate the election cycle once the next election year (the next year in which the office sought will be on the ballot) is added.

Start entering data early and file early. Start entering data early. Don’t wait for the Close of Books to begin adding information. The data can be saved and changed as needed before the filing deadline. Don’t forget to back-up the file after each session. You can file as early as the day after the Close of Books through the filing deadline without accruing fees. The sooner you file after the close of books, the better chance you will have to receive prompt assistance from the Bureau of Elections should you have issues with uploading.

PAPER FORMS

If the committee is eligible to file on paper, forms for filing Campaign Statements are available on the Campaign Finance website. All paper Campaign Statements must contain a cover page and summary page, along with any schedules to support what is reported on the summary page. When filing on paper, one original copy of the Campaign Statement is required.

ENSURE TIMELY FILING

• A campaign statement submitted on paper by a committee required to file electronically will not be accepted.
• A campaign statement that is filed by removable media will not be considered filed if it cannot be loaded due to circumstances that are not within the Department’s control including missing files, incorrect file attachments or corrupt files.
• A campaign statement will not be accepted if it is illegible, does not bear the proper signature(s), is not the proper size, does not contain the schedule(s) required to substantiate the information listed on the Summary Page or is presented in a computerized format that has not been pre-approved by the Bureau of Elections.

AVOID LATE FILING FEES

All filings are required to be filed timely. The MCFA does not allow for extensions of the filing deadlines; therefore, committees that file late are assessed late filing fees. Late Filing Fee assessment chart is available in Appendix E.

ACCURATE CAMPAIGN STATEMENTS REQUIRED

Be sure to include complete and accurate information on the statement forms. Notices will be sent to the committee if forms contain apparent errors or omissions. The committee is then required to respond to the notices in a timely manner. Further, Section 33 and Section 35 of the MCFA require accurate and complete statements. A committee candidate, treasurer or designated record keeper who knowingly files an inaccurate or incomplete campaign statement may be subject to penalties and late filing fees.

STATEMENT OF ORGANIZATION AMENDMENTS REQUIRED WITH CAMPAIGN STATEMENT

We urge you to review your committee’s Statement of Organization (SofO) before you file a campaign statement. If any information on the SofO has changed, be sure to file an amendment no later than the due date of the campaign statement. The committee is encouraged to file an amended SofO as soon as a change of information takes place. If a committee has a Reporting Waiver and is not required to file campaign statements, amendments to the SofO should be filed any time information on the form changes. All amendments to the SofO must be filed using the online Electronic Statement of Organization (eSofO) application. Email Disclosure@Michigan.gov to request an access code to file an amendment.

IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

Committees are required to add an identifier to printed matter, radio advertisements, television advertisements, mass mailings and prerecorded telephone messages (robo-calls). See Appendix J for additional information.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE COMPLIANCE AFFIDAVITS

Campaign Finance Compliance Affidavit – Pre-Election Michigan Election Law, MCL 168.558(4) requires any candidate filing for office at the state, county or local level to file an affidavit which states that on the date the affidavit was executed, “all statements, reports, late filing fees, and fines required of the candidate or a candidate committee organized to support the candidate’s election under the Michigan Campaign Finance Act … have been filed or paid.” This statement is a part of the Affidavit of Identity and Receipt of Filing form used to gain ballot access. Without the statement, the filing official will reject the filing and the candidate will be ineligible to appear on the ballot. A candidate who falsifies the statement is guilty of perjury punishable by a “fine of not more than $1,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than 5 years or both.”

Campaign Finance Compliance Affidavit – Post-Election (Elected Candidates Only) Michigan Election Law, MCL 168.848, requires any candidate elected to office on the state, county or local level to file an affidavit prior to assuming office which states that on the date the affidavit was executed, “all statements, reports, late filing fees, and fines required of the candidate or a candidate committee organized to support the candidate’s election under the Michigan Campaign Finance Act … have been filed or paid.” The form must be submitted to the filing official designated to receive the elected candidate’s campaign finance disclosure filings.

The Post-Election affidavit is not required of an elected candidate whose Candidate Committee did not receive or expend more than $1,000.00 during the election cycle. In addition, the affidavit is not required of a candidate elected to a U.S. Senate, U.S. House or a precinct delegate position.

An elected candidate who is required to file the statement who fails to submit the form is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a “fine of not more than $500.00 or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both.” An elected candidate who falsifies the statement is guilty of perjury punishable by a “fine of not more than $1,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than 5 years or both.”

DISSOLUTION INFORMATION

A committee that has not been dissolved and does not have a Reporting Waiver must continue to file campaign statements as required by the MCFA. To dissolve, committees without a reporting waiver must request dissolution from the Bureau of Elections. When a dissolution request is received, the Bureau of Elections will determine if the committee is eligible for dissolution and grant or deny the request. Reasons for dissolution denial include but are not limited to:

• The committee has unpaid Late Filing Fees owed.
• The committee has failed to file required campaign statements.
• The committee has outstanding Error or Omissions Notices.
• The last campaign statement filed by the committee indicates the committee has debts and or assets.

Committees who are denied dissolution, but qualify for the Reporting Waiver will be granted the waiver. However, committees who are denied dissolution and do not qualify for the Reporting Waiver will be required to continue to file campaign statements required by the MCFA. Please refer to Appendix W for additional details on dissolving the committee.

FILING REMINDER COMMUNICATIONS

The Bureau of Elections will no longer send postcard reminders prior to the due dates of the campaign statements. Instead, email reminders will be sent to the email addresses on file for the committee. (Be sure to update your SofO to supply the most current email for the committee.) These reminders are sent as a courtesy. Failure to receive correspondence from the Bureau of Elections is not a defense for failing to file a required statement timely. Because of this, it is imperative that the committee establish their own reminder of the due dates to ensure the statements are filed on time.

In addition to email reminders, the Bureau of Elections will post filing reminders on Twitter @MichCFR.

QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions, please contact us.