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How to find Presidential Information

How to Find Presidential Summary Page, FEC FORM 3P

SUMMARY OF REPORT OF RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS

  1. Start at the Commission’s Home Page: www.fec.gov
  2. Click "Press Office"
  3. On the right hand side of your screen, Under "Campaign Finance" heading,
    Click "Campaign Finance Summary Overviews"
  4. Under "Presidential Campaigns" heading, Click "Presidential Primary Campaign Finance Summaries"

 

How to find a Comprehensive List of Contributors and Expenditures for a Presidential Committee

There are two ways to obtain a comprehensive list of contributors and expenditures for a presidential committee. 

FEC Presidential Map - http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/mapApp.do
  • After clicking the link above, select the name of the appropriate candidate on the left-hand side of the screen.
  • In the lower right-hand corner, select “Export Contributor Data.”
  • Select ALL.zip.

The file contains the following data:

  • Individual contributions reported on Lines 17A of Form 3P
  • Transfers reported on Line 18 of Form 3P
  • Refunds to individuals reported on Line 28A of Form

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) - http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/ftpdet.shtml

  • After clicking the link above, select the "Contributions by Individuals" datafile (indivYY.zip), which contains all individual contributions greater than $200 and refunds.
    • Save the zip file to your desktop and extract all files.
    • Click here for help with extracting a zip file.
  • Once you open the extracted file you will need to remove any data not associated with the committee you’re looking at. Click here for help with this step.
    • The file can be sorted by the committee identification number.  
    • Please take note of the transaction type field, which in most instances will be numbered as 15 and 18 for contributions and 22 for refunds. 

Other Helpful Information

When reports are submitted to the Commission they are reviewed by our Reports Analysis Division (RAD) to ensure that campaign activity is in compliance with the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) and FEC regulations. RAD will send a committee a Request for Additional Information (RFAI) if it determines the activity is possibly in violation of federal campaign finance law. The RFAIs are disclosed on the FEC website.  Any potential excessive and/or prohibited contributions that are found by RAD are also disclosed at the end of the RFAI. It might be helpful for you to review these RFAIs.

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