08 Feb 2024 $5 will help candidates qualify for funding through the Maine Clean Election Act
CLEAN ELECTIONS: Three Things To Know
COMBATS BIG MONEY
Candidates who qualify receive funding so that they:
- Have more time to talk with constituents
- Spend less time fundraising
- Don’t need to take $$ from special interest groups or wealthy donors
REQUIRES OUR HELP
Candidates must prove community support:
- $5 from each of us is all it takes
- Contributions must come from constituents
- Help all our candidates who declared receive their funds
HOW TO TAKE ACTION
The first deadline is in April. The next in Oct. The earlier the better!
- Contribute online here
- Don’t forget the seed money! (in addition to the $5 qualifying contribution, consider chipping in a little extra to candidates directly to help get them started)
HOW TO DONATE ONLINE
Ready to make your contribution online?
Please click the link below. Otherwise read on for more information or contact your candidates directly to make your contribution in person.
Clean Elections in More Detail
As you may know, many Democrats run as Clean Elections candidates so they don’t need to accept money from wealthy donors or special interests — but they do need our help to qualify for Clean Election funding.
Qualifying candidates receive funding that allows them to spend their time reaching out to constituents rather than raising money. In order to qualify for public funds under the Maine Clean Election Act (MCEA), a candidate must demonstrate a threshold amount of community support by collecting a minimum number of $5 contributions from individuals, not businesses.
For legislative candidates, the contributions must be made by registered voters in the candidate’s district. Maine house candidates need 60 individual contributions and senate candidates need 175 individual contributions. Gubernatorial candidates require 3,200 individual contributions. Clean Elections funded candidates may also raise a certain amount of seed money to help get their campaigns started. These funds should be made directly to the candidate.
Note: Only legislative and gubernatorial candidates are eligible to opt in for this funding, so please consider making a traditional donation should a Democratic candidate ask.
Make your Clean Elections contribution(s) online. The system will tell you which candidates are accepting qualifying contributions and you choose the candidate(s) to contribute $5 to and pay online. If you prefer to give a check or cash, you must contact the candidate directly to make payment.
TIP: Please make $5 contributions on behalf of every member of your Democratic household! Every person counts separately toward certification!
Deadlines for Certification
Candidates for the legislature must submit their qualifying contributions and the accompanying receipt and acknowledgement forms to the commission in April of an election year.
Deadlines for Supplemental Fund Qualification
Legislative candidates may also request up to eight supplemental payments of MCEA funds by continuing to collect additional qualifying contributions and submitting them to the commission by mid-October. But the earlier then can max out their contributions, the better. So please don’t delay!
NOTE: You may make a qualifying contribution only once per candidate per year, additional contributions will not help your specific candidates with recording additional qualifying contributions, but they will help fund the Clean Election Fund account.
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