- After
you file your petitions, you will be required to fill out a Designation
of Treasurer form.
This simply sets up your account with the Board of Elections
for any financial matters dealing with your campaign.
You may serve as your own treasurer or you may want to let
your spouse or a supporter of your campaign.
You may NOT spend or receive any money for your campaign
until you have filed this form with the Board.
Therefore, if you wish to start collecting donations or
making expenditures for your campaign prior to filing your
petitions, you should go ahead and file your Designation
of Treasurer form.
- Candidates
for township offices, school board and village or city offices
paying less than $5,000 annually have the option, within ten days of
filing their petitions, to sign and file a Local
Candidate Finance Report Waiver.
By signing this waiver, you are indicating that you do not
intend to spend or receive over $2,000 for your campaign nor will
you accept donations over $100 from any single contributor.
By indicating this, you are exempted from having to file
campaign finance reports. If
you do exceed these limits, you must file the required reports, but
there is no penalty for having signed the form.
- Candidates
for countywide office or municipal offices paying more than $5,000
annually must file campaign finance reports if they spend or
receive money for their campaign.
The reports generally just require the candidate to show
their receipts and expenditures.
The process is very similar to balancing a checkbook.
Reports are required before and after the primary and the
general election. For
candidates wishing to keep an account open even after the election,
an annual report is also required. (Follow this
link for a complete list of upcoming campaign reporting
deadlines.)
- Generally,
anyone running for elected office should keep all of their receipts
and keep track of the donations to their campaign. A separate checking account should be established in the
name of the campaign committee.
Cash donations should be discouraged. Even if a Local
Candidate Finance Report Waiver has been filed, a
candidate should keep careful account of their campaign finances in
case a question is ever raised.
- For
more information, call our office at (419) 282-4224 or visit the Ohio
Secretary of State's web page.
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