Federal Election Commission website accessed 22 August 2020.
https://www.fec.fiov/introduction-campaiRn-finance/understanding-ways-support-federal-candidates/presidential-elections/public-fundinfi-presidential-
elections/#:~:text=Under%20the%20presidential%20public%20funding,the%20primarv%20and%20gene ral%20elections.&text=Fund%20the%20maior%20partv%20nominees,assist%20eligible%20minor%20pa rtv%20nominees).
Sm An official website of the United States government Here's how you know'*'
Public funding of presidential elections
Under the presidential public funding program, eligible presidential candidates receive federal government funds to pay for the qualified expenses co of their political campaigns in both the primary and general Presidential elections
elections. The public funding program was designed to use tax dollars to:
Election and voting
• Match the first $250 of each contribution co from individuals that an information eligible presidential candidate receives during the primary campaign;
and y5d51:Lt?C!diQSwals_52
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• Fund the major party CD nominees' general election campaigns (and candidates assist eligible minor party co nominees).
Between 1976 and 2012, the program also funded the major parties' presidential nominating conventions and provided partial convention funding to qualified minor parties. In 2014, legislation^was enacted to end public funding reconventions.
PRIMARY MATCHING FUNDS
Primary matching funds
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Only candidates w seeking nomination by a political party tu to the office of President are eligible to receive primary matching funds CO. A presidential candidate must establish eligibility by showing broad-based public support. He or she must raise more than S5.000 in each of at least 20 states (that is, over S100,000). Although an individual may contribute up to a Specific limit to a primary candidate, only a maximum of $250 of each individual's contribution w is counted in determining whether a candidate has met the $5,000 threshold in each state. This means that a candidate must receive contributions from a minimum of 20 contributors in each of at least 20 states in order to establish eligibility for primary matching funds.
LEGAL CITATIONS Presidential candidates also must agree to:
• Limit campaign spending for all primary elections combined to S10 million plus a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). This national spending limit was S48.07 million in 2016.
• Limit campaign spending in each state to $200,000 plus COLA, or to a specified amount based on the number of voting age individuals in the state (plus COLA), whichever is greater, in 2016. state limits ranged from S96X:400 in Wyoming to $23,092,100 in California.
• Limit spending from personal funds to $50,000.
The campaign finance law exempts the payment of some expenses from the spending limits. Certain fundraising expenses (up to 20 percent of the expenditure limit) and legal and accounting expenses incurred solely to ensure the campaign's compliance with the law do not count against the expenditure limits.
GENERAL ELECTION FUNDS
THE $3 TAX CHECKOFF
MANDATORY AUDITS
REPORTS AND RESOURCES
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Even if they no longer campaign actively in primary elections, candidates may continue to request public funds to pay off campaign debts CD until the first Monday of March of the year following an election. However, to qualify for matching funds, contributions must be deposited in the campaign account by December 31 of the election year. Eligible candidates may receive public funds equaling up to half of the national spending limit for the primary campaign.
Learn more about eligibility to receive primary matching funds ►
Guideli nefor Presentation [n Good Order (for presidential candidal seeking primary matching funds)
Appendices io_Cuidcline for Presentation in Good Order (for presidential candidate seeking primary matching funds]
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Press releases on public funding of presidential candidates
General election funds
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Public funding for major party CP presidential nominees in the general election takes the form of a grant of S20 million plus the COLA. To he eligible to receive public funds, the presidential nominee of a major party must agree to limit spending to the amount of the grant and may not accept private contributions m for the campaign. Candidates may spend an additional 550,000 from their own personal funds, which does not count against the expenditure limit. In 1°76, each major party nominee received $21.8 million. By 2008 (the last year a major party candidate chose to accept a general election grant), that amount had grown to S84.1 million. (In 2020, the general election grant would have been S103.7 million.)
Minor party TO candidates and new party co candidates may become eligible for partial public funding of their general election campaigns. A minor party candidate is the nominee of a party whose candidate received between five and 25 percent of the total popular vote in the preceding presidential election. The amount of public funding to which a minor patty candidate is entitled is based on the ratio of the party's popular vote in the preceding presidential election to the average popular vote of the two major party candidates in that election. A new party candidate receives partial public funding after the election if he or she receives five percent or more of the vote. The entitlement is based on the ratio of the new party candidate's popular vote in the current election to the average popular vote of the two major party candidates in the election.
Learn more about the pubic funding grant for the general election ►
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The $3 tax checkoff
Once the FEC determines that a candidate has met the eligibility requirements, it certifies the amount of public funds to which the candidate is entitled. The U.S. Treasury then makes the payments using funds from the S3 tax checkoff.
The 1040 federal income tax form asks taxpayers whether they'd like to designate S3 of their taxes paid to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund tu. When taxpayers check "yes," three of their tax dollars are placed in the Fund. Checking the "yes" box does not increase the amount of tax that taxpayers owe, nor does it decrease any refund to which they are entitled. The tax checkoff is the sole source of funds for the public funding program.
Preside 11 tiill Election Campaign Fund lax check-off chart
Latest Presidential Election Campaign Fu_nd_status_report
Mandatory audits
The FEC audits all campaigns that receive public funds for either the primary or general
election. Candidates may owe a repayment to the Treasury if they used public funds tf\dcfj
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non-campaign related expenses, exceeded the expenditure limits, maintained a surplus of public funds, or received more public funds than they were entitled to receive.
Reports and resources
• Public funds received by candidates 1976-rji^osent (.xls)
• Presidential campaign finance summaries ■ Presidential_data_summaiy tables
• Public funds received by parties: 1976 through 2017
• IVeside_ntial_rnatchin$j fund submissions from 2004 through the present
• Monthly reports from the Dept. of Treasury of balance available for Presidential Election Campaign Fund: 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020
• Yearly long term budget estimates for Presidential Election Campaign Fund
• PresKkinjan^ubUc_FutKli^ (1993)
• Help for_presidential cani[>aigns_on_rjublic funding
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Record article: Convention
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funding eliminated