Government and civic life
🗳️ Elections and Campaign Finance Reports
Learn how Idaho runs its elections from registration to certification, how ballots are tested and audited, and how to read Idaho Sunshine and FEC campaign finance reports well enough to check claims about money in a race and describe them fairly.
- 1Who Runs Idaho Elections, and WhenThe offices that run Idaho elections, the two consolidated election dates, candidate filing windows, and how Idaho's closed party primaries work.14 min
- 2Registering, ID and Absentee Voting in IdahoIdaho's registration deadlines, election-day registration, the voter ID list and affidavit (changed in 2026), and the rules for requesting and returning absentee ballots.14 min
- 3From Election Night to Certified: Canvass and RecountsWhat happens between polls closing and official results in Idaho: unofficial counts, the county canvass, the state board of canvassers, and how recounts are requested, paid for and run.15 min
- 4Election Security and Audits in Plain TermsHow Idaho's paper ballots, tabulators, logic and accuracy tests and post-election audits work, and how to weigh claims about election security against the evidence.16 min
- 5Campaign Finance Basics: Limits, PACs and Dark MoneyThe vocabulary of money in elections: contributions and their limits in Idaho and federal races, PACs, independent expenditures, Super PACs, electioneering communications, dark money and why disclosure is contested.17 min
- 6Idaho Sunshine Law ReportsWhat Idaho's campaign finance law (Title 67, Chapter 66) requires candidates, PACs and independent spenders to report, when, where to find the reports, recent changes, and how violations are enforced.16 min
- 7Federal Reports: FEC Filings, Schedules and Super PACsHow federal campaigns, PACs and Super PACs report to the FEC: Form 3 and its schedules, Form 3X, independent expenditure reports, the 2026 filing calendar, and how to search FEC.gov and OpenSecrets.16 min
- 8Reading a Report Step by StepA full walk through one invented Idaho candidate report: adding up contributions, checking cash, spotting out-of-state money, clustered gifts, loans, in-kind gifts, missing 48-hour notices and a late filing, with every calculation shown.20 min
- 9Following the Money Into Ads, and Describing It FairlyHow to trace an ad back to the reports that paid for it, the questions campaign finance records can answer, and the habits that keep claims about money from implying more than the records show.18 min