A political action committee that makes contributions in excess of five thousand dollars ($5,000) to candidates for statewide office or makes independent expenditures in excess of five thousand dollars ($5,000) that affect contests for statewide office must file electronically.
All other political action committees must file electronically that show a cumulative total of more than $10,000 in contributions, loans, or expenditures during an election cycle.
Political action committees that are required to file electronically but fail to do so are subject to penalties.
A complete list of forms for manual filing may be found at www.ncsbe.gov/ncsbe/Campaign-Finance/reporting-forms.
Electronic filing is an alternative for all committees and a requirement for some committees. Electronic filers use software to generate an electronic file, which is then attached to an e-mail sent to the State Board of Elections. The faxing or e-mailing of a pdf or word document is not electronic filing.
Filing electronically through the free software provided by the State Board of Elections has built-in advantages. It provides:
an audit feature that identifies possible violations or discrepancies as the report is being compiled
tracking of all transactions entered into the system
tracking of election sum totals for each contributor
function for including only those transactions required for a given reporting period
One-on-one software training is available at the State Board of Elections office in Raleigh or via phone. For more information on filing electronically, please contact our office at 919-733-7173 or visit our website.