Any individual, trust, partnership, committee, association, corporation, or any other organization or group of persons which receives or spends more than $3,000 on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate or question of public policy, meets the definition of a political committee and must comply with all provisions of the Illinois Campaign Financing Act, including the filing of campaign disclosure reports.

Yes, if he spends more than $3,000.

Yes. The forms may be obtained from either the State Board of Elections or your county clerk or they may be downloaded from the Campaign Disclosure Forms section of our website.

Yes. These publications are available from either the State Board of Elections or your county clerk. You may download manuals and brochures from our site.

No, no limits exist under the Illinois Campaign Financing Act. However, if contributions are made to local candidates in either Cook County or the City of Chicago, contact those offices. In certain circumstances, some contribution limits may apply.

No.

Yes, section 5/9-8.10 outlines prohibited uses of campaign expenditures. The Campaign Disclosure Act is available for download.

Corporations and unions may contribute from their treasuries without limits and have no filing obligations. However, if political contributions are solicited by the corporations and unions, filing obligations apply once the $3,000 threshold is met.

Yes, if certain requirements are met. If a political committee is on file with our office as a political committee, and has no outstanding civil penalties or unfiled overdue reports, it may submit a notarized raffle application to the Board for approval in order to conduct a raffle. The License Application to Conduct a Raffle is available for download.  For each raffle held by a committee, a separate Raffle Report must be filed to document the gross receipts, expense, and net proceeds from the raffle.

Yes.

If such a committee exceeds the $3,000 filing threshold at either the state or the local level, it must file a D-1 Statement of Organization with the Illinois State Board of Elections if it is contributing to state candidates and both the State Board of Elections and the county clerk if it is contributing to local candidates. It is not required to file any other disclosure documents.

It is a voluntary statement that candidates and political committees may file prior to an election stating that they will conduct a positive campaign. State candidates file it with the Board of Elections. Local candidates file it with their local county clerk. The Code of Fair Campaign Practices is available for download.

Electronic filing is required for all political committees that during a reporting period (i) had at any time a balance or an accumulation of contributions of $10,000 or more, (ii) made aggregate expenditures of $10,000 or more, or (iii) received loans of an aggregate of $10,000 or more. Once a committee exceeds the threshold that requires it to report electronically, it must continue thereafter to report electronically until it dissolves, whether or not its accumulation, receipts or expenditures fall beneath the levels set by statute for mandatory electronic filing.

Yes, voluntary electronic filing is encouraged.

Yes, the Illinois Disclosure Information System (IDIS) program is available at no cost from the Board of Elections on diskette or cdrom or as a download from the website.

The IDIS software is primarily a record-keeping and reporting program. Campaign management software is available for purchase from several private vendors.

Yes, these training sessions are held periodically. Training is hands-on and each attendee works at his own computer. Pre-registration is required. For more information contact the State Board of Elections.

Yes, the data is available in a searchable format. It may be accessed in a number of ways by selecting from the options available on the Campaign Disclosure home page. Search tips are provided for each type of search.
In addition, all itemized receipts for statewide candidates, legislative candidates, and legislative leadership committees for the period from July 1, 1994 through December 31, 1998, may be searched.

It is not downloadable; however, it may be printed. The data is also available for a small fee from the Board on cdrom.

All disclosure reports may be viewed in either the Chicago or Springfield offices. Reports may also be obtained by mail by contacting either office.

Yes, Summary totals are available for all committees, not just those filing electronically.

The entire amount is reported as a contribution from the original source, not from the fundraising entity; any charge for the use of the service provided shall be reported separately as an expenditure.