Running a Candidate Committee

A lot of campaign finance trouble in Idaho starts small: a volunteer treasurer who never heard of the 48-hour rule, a candidate who paid the sign printer from a personal card and forgot to log it, or a report filed four days late. The fixes are boring and they work. This lesson puts them in order. For what the finished reports look like from the outside, see Reading a Report Step by Step.

When you become a candidate

Under Idaho Code 67-6602(1), you are a candidate once you announce, file for office, receive a contribution to promote your candidacy, or spend money, sign a contract or reserve space to promote it. Any one is enough. Incumbents are presumed to be candidates for re-election until the filing deadline passes without them.

Testing the waters is allowed. The Secretary of State's Disclosure Manual quotes Attorney General Opinion 77-29: people who use personal funds to travel and ask for advice about running are not yet candidates. Broad public contacts about the race, or contacts mainly aimed at recruiting staff, volunteers or money, make you one.

Office	When the reporting duty starts	Treasurer
Statewide (governor through superintendent) and legislative	Before any contribution or expenditure	Appoint and register on the portal first
District, appellate and Supreme Court judges	On receiving or spending $500	Appoint when the $500 threshold is met
County, city, school and special district offices	On receiving or spending $500; cumulative report within 7 calendar days, then every scheduled report	The declaration of candidacy serves as the treasurer form until then

Sources: 67-6603, 67-6608(1) and the Disclosure Manual.

The $500 exemption covers reporting, not the rest of the law. A county candidate at $300 still may not take more than $1,000 from one donor, still may not accept anonymous money, and still must put "paid for by" on her signs.

The treasurer

67-6603 requires every candidate to appoint a political treasurer who is a registered Idaho voter. A candidate may be their own treasurer, and one person may serve several campaigns if each has separate records. No contribution may be received and no expenditure made except "by or through" the treasurer. If the treasurer quits or dies, the candidate appoints a successor before more money moves. On the Sunshine portal you appoint the treasurer while creating the account, and the Secretary of State's office certifies it; the manual says the treasurer's residential address must match their voter registration and stays off the public site.

Under 67-6604, the treasurer is the office's official contact, keeps detailed accounts, keeps them current within seven days of each gift or payment, and files every report. Every statement must be signed and certified as true and correct (67-6624). Pick someone who will open email from the Secretary of State and who can balance a checkbook. The manual says reminders from the office are a courtesy, and a missed reminder is no excuse for a late report.

The bank account

House Bill 930, a House Ways and Means Committee bill signed April 10, 2026, rewrote the account rules in 67-6604(2), effective July 1, 2026. Now:

• The treasurer must keep at least one checking account at a financial institution, and all money the campaign receives goes into it.
• Campaign funds "shall be segregated from, and may not be commingled with, any other account."
• Idle money may be invested only in certificates of deposit, money market accounts or other cash-equivalent accounts in the campaign's name. No stocks or other equity securities.
• A candidate who lends the campaign more than $1,000 of personal money must move it into the campaign account.

Interest the account earns is reported as a contribution from the bank, the manual says. The Secretary of State's tip sheet warns that banks must obtain an Employer Identification Number to open the account, and some banks also want a business filing. Get the EIN from the IRS on Form SS-4 before you go to the bank.

Recording contributions

The manual tells treasurers to get the full name and complete address of every contributor, whatever the amount. Under 67-6607(1)(a), anyone whose gifts add up to more than $50 in the calendar year is itemized by name, address and amount; smaller gifts may be reported as one total. In-kind gifts are itemized at any size and listed twice, as a contribution and as an expenditure, so they do not change the cash balance.

Idaho does not ask for a donor's occupation or employer. Federal committees must make "best efforts" to collect it for donors over $200. If you want to know whether twelve gifts on one day came from one company's employees, an Idaho report will not tell you.

Record the date the candidate, chair or treasurer received the gift, and its designation, primary or general. The Sunshine system adds up each donor's gifts and prompts you to itemize once they pass $50. Use it; do not keep a parallel spreadsheet that drifts.

Spending money, and what you may not spend on

Idaho Code 67-6610C(1) lets a candidate use contributions for campaign expenses, ordinary and necessary expenses of holding office, gifts to 501(c)(3) and other section 170(c) charities, unlimited transfers to party committees, donations to other state and local candidates within the law, and any other lawful purpose not barred as personal use.

The ban in 67-6610C(2) uses the same test as federal law: spending is personal use if it pays a commitment, obligation or expense "that would exist irrespective of" the campaign or the office. The statute lists examples:

• Mortgage, rent or utility payments
• Clothing, except de minimis items such as campaign shirts or hats
• Non-campaign car expenses, vacations and other non-campaign trips
• Country club, health club and recreational facility dues
• Tuition
• Tickets to sporting events, concerts and shows not tied to the campaign
• Meals and groceries, except campaign events, official functions and tickets to support another candidate

The statute does not answer every case. A candidate paying their own company for campaign services, for example, is not addressed by name in 67-6610C. Document the market price and the work done, or avoid it.

For every expenditure or encumbrance of $25 or more, the report lists the payee's name and address, amount, date and purpose, and the treasurer keeps an invoice, receipt or canceled check for a year after the report is filed (67-6607(1)(b)). Smaller items may be lumped together. When the candidate pays a vendor personally and the campaign reimburses, the manual says to report the vendor as payee with the right expense code, not the candidate. A credit card balance not paid off in the reporting month goes on the report as debt.

Vendors keep records too. Idaho Code 67-6613 requires newspapers, broadcasters, direct mail companies, printers and ad agencies that take money from a political treasurer to keep a current record, available to the public, of what each campaign paid and owes.

Loans and debt

A candidate may lend or give the campaign any amount (67-6610A(1)). A loan from anyone else counts against that lender's limit, repaid or not. In the Sunshine portal, a candidate loan entered as source "Self" can later be repaid from donations or forgiven. Forgiving it does not change cash on hand.

Debt left after the election may be paid with new gifts designated for that past election, within its limits (67-6610B). The manual's example: a donor who gave a legislative candidate $500 for the last general election may give up to $500 more toward its debt, and the campaign must pay $500 of debt with it in the same reporting period.

Reports and deadlines

Report	Who	Due	Rule
Monthly	Candidates on the 2026 ballot	By midnight on the 10th of the following month (January 2026 activity due February 10; December 2026 due January 10, 2027)	67-6607(2)(a)
Annual	Candidates not on the ballot that year	January 10 for the prior year (2026 due January 10, 2027)	67-6607(2)(b)
48-hour notice	Any candidate or committee	Within 48 hours of receiving a contribution of $1,000 or more, any time of year	67-6607(3)
Cumulative first report	Local and judicial candidates	Within 7 calendar days of reaching $500	67-6608(1)
No-activity report	Anyone with a scheduled report and nothing to report	Same deadline as the regular report	67-6609

Source: the Secretary of State's 2026 reporting schedule.

The manual says 48-hour notices apply to all contributions of $1,000 or more, including the candidate's own money and in-kind gifts. Record the gift once in the portal and the system builds both the notice and the monthly report.

There are no extensions. Under 67-6625A, a late filer owes $50 a day beginning 48 hours after the deadline until the report is filed, and the Secretary of State or county clerk must notify the filer by phone or electronic means within 24 hours of the missed deadline. The manual says fines may be waived only for a technical problem reported to the office before the deadline. Other violations carry civil fines of up to $250 for an individual and up to $2,500 for any other person under 67-6625; knowing and willful violations are misdemeanors.

Local candidates: where you file

The Secretary of State's Campaign Finance 101 page says that since 2020, campaign finance at all levels is reported to the Secretary of State through the Sunshine portal. Idaho Code 67-6615(1) states the legislature's intent to put filings for all offices and measures in one central online database. A county commissioner, city council member or school trustee files on the same portal as a governor.

The county clerk still has a job. Under 67-6615, 67-6616 and 67-6623(3), the clerk of the home county inspects local candidates' and local measures' statements within two days of filing, examines them within three months after the election, investigates complaints about local races and reports suspected violations to the county prosecutor. For local reports from before 2020, the Secretary of State says the county or city that ran the race holds them.

Records, leftover money and closing

Keep the accounts for at least one year after the election or one year after the last statement, whichever is later (67-6604(4)). Federal committees keep records three years, per the FEC. Three years is a better habit for an Idaho campaign too, since a prosecution must start within two years of a violation (67-6625(4)) and questions often come late.

Leftover money may go to the uses in 67-6610C(1): a charity, a party, other candidates within the limits, officeholder expenses, a future campaign, or another lawful purpose that is not personal use. Not into the candidate's pocket; that is the conversion 67-6610C(2) bans. Reports continue until the account shows no balance and no debt (67-6607(5)). Then the candidate, chair or treasurer asks the Secretary of State's office to terminate the account. A defeated candidate who still has cash or debt may ask to move to an annual schedule in the meantime.

Questions and answers

New candidates and treasurers ask these most often. Questions about who may give how much are in lesson 2, and the give-to-whom matrix is in lesson 13.

Can I be my own treasurer?

Yes. Idaho Code 67-6603(a) says "a candidate may appoint himself his own political treasurer," and the treasurer must be a registered Idaho voter. It is legal and common in small races. The cost is that nobody else checks your math, so set a calendar reminder for the 10th and have someone look over each report before you file.

Do I have to file a report in a month when nothing happened?

Yes. 67-6609 requires a statement saying no contribution was received and no expenditure made, filed by the same deadline as the regular report. A missed no-activity report starts the same $50-a-day late fee under 67-6625A as any other.

What happens if I file a day late?

Under 67-6625A, the fee is $50 a day starting 48 hours after the deadline and running until the report is filed, so a report filed one day late usually costs nothing and one filed four days late usually costs $100. The Secretary of State or county clerk must notify you and your treasurer by phone or electronic means within 24 hours of the missed deadline. The manual says waivers are limited to technical problems reported to the office before the deadline.

A supporter gave us $1,200 worth of printing. Is that a 48-hour notice?

Yes. The Disclosure Manual says the 48-hour notice in 67-6607(3) applies to all contributions of $1,000 or more, including in-kind gifts and the candidate's own money. It is also $200 over a legislative or local candidate's $1,000 limit for one election, so the campaign either pays the supporter $200 or designates the excess to the other election if the supporter agrees.

Can the campaign pay a lawyer, and what about free legal help?

Yes, and both are reported. The Secretary of State's February 25, 2026 guidance says paid legal services are expenditures, and services given free or at a discount are in-kind contributions at their value, reported once the value is known. A legal defense fund set up by or for a candidate is not exempt: gifts to it are contributions and payments from it are expenditures.

Can the campaign pay for my mileage, a new suit or a babysitter?

Mileage for campaign trips is a campaign expense under 67-6610C(1)(a); ordinary commuting and other non-campaign car costs are personal use under 67-6610C(2). Clothing is listed as personal use except de minimis items such as campaign shirts or hats, so the suit is out. Idaho's statute does not name child care, and the federal rule is more detailed than Idaho's; ask the Secretary of State's elections division before spending on anything the statute does not list, and keep the answer.

Can I take money before I file my declaration of candidacy?

Yes, but taking it makes you a candidate. Under 67-6602(1)(c), receiving a contribution to promote your candidacy is one of the four acts that make you a candidate, and 67-6603(c) says no contribution may be received until a treasurer is appointed and certified. So the order is treasurer, Sunshine account and bank account first, then the first check.

I lost the primary. When can I close the account?

When a filed report shows zero cash and zero debt (67-6607(5)). Return any general election contributions first, since the manual says they must go back when a candidate loses the primary. Pay the remaining bills, give any surplus to a use allowed by 67-6610C(1), file the zero report and ask the Secretary of State's office to terminate the account. Until then, a defeated candidate with cash or debt may ask to move to an annual schedule.

Hard questions

Why should a volunteer treasurer face $50 a day in late fees?

Because the fee is the only thing that makes deadlines real, and the reports matter most right before an election. Idaho Code 67-6601 says the chapter exists to promote public confidence and openness in government, and a pre-election report filed after the election serves neither. The law is gentler than it looks: the fee starts 48 hours after the deadline, the office must notify the filer within 24 hours. The burden on unpaid volunteers is real. The fix the law offers is a simple online form and a free training video.

Isn't "personal use" too vague to enforce fairly?

The test in 67-6610C(2) is the same "irrespective" test the FEC uses for federal candidates, and Idaho's statute lists nine concrete examples, from rent to health club dues. Hard cases remain, such as paying a candidate's own company, and the statute does not name them. In practice most Idaho cases end the way the 2022 haircut case did: the campaign repays and no fine is pursued. A candidate who wants certainty can ask the Secretary of State before spending.

Why doesn't Idaho ask donors for occupation and employer, as the FEC does?

The statute never has. 67-6607(1)(a) asks only for the full name, complete address and amount of each donor over $50. Supporters of the federal rule say employer data shows when a company's workers give as a bloc. Supporters of Idaho's rule say it keeps small donors' jobs out of a public database and keeps reports simple for volunteer treasurers. Readers lose a useful clue either way, and a reporter who sees a cluster of same-day gifts has to do the employer research by hand.

Why may a candidate put unlimited personal money into a campaign? Doesn't that favor the wealthy?

Idaho's law follows the Supreme Court. In Buckley v. Valeo (1976) the Court struck down federal limits on what candidates may spend from their own funds, reasoning that a candidate cannot corrupt himself. Idaho's 67-6610A(1) exempts the candidate's own contributions and loans from the limits. The cost is real: a candidate with money can outspend one without it. Idaho's answer is disclosure. Every dollar of the candidate's own money is reported, and every candidate gift or loan of $1,000 or more needs a 48-hour notice.

Records only have to be kept one year, but a prosecution can start two years later. Isn't that backward?

It is a real gap in the text. 67-6604(4) requires accounts to be kept at least one year after the election or the last statement, whichever is later, and 67-6607(1)(b) keeps receipts for one year after a report is filed. 67-6625(4) lets civil and misdemeanor cases start within two years of a violation. A treasurer who throws out records after one year has followed the statute and may still be unable to answer a complaint. Keep everything three years, as federal committees must.