General election day is Tuesday, when Mississippi voters will decide state and county races.
For candidates, that meant the last pre-election deadline for filing campaign finance reports was Oct. 31. Especially on the local level, many Lowndes and Oktibbeha candidates failed to get the memo.
In Oktibbeha County, eight of the 14 candidates required to file reports missed the deadline. In Lowndes, it wasn’t much better, as half of the 12 required to file a report actually did. In each county, two of the non-filers are incumbents.
So what happens when you fail to file campaign finance reports?
What are campaign finance reports?
Campaign finance reports are among a handful of forms candidates for public office are required to file during the course of a campaign.
On them, candidates are required to note their donations and spending, itemizing any individual contribution or expenditure of $200 or more for a specific filing period. Those reports should also include year-to-date totals and a candidate’s cash on hand.
This allows the public to see who is donating to certain campaigns and how candidates are spending those donations.
Candidates for state office file reports with the secretary of state’s office. County candidates file with the circuit clerk’s office and municipal candidates with city clerks.
Reports are due periodically throughout the campaign, with a schedule publicly available on the Mississippi secretary of state’s website. Some deadlines are specific to certain candidates, such as those opposed in a primary, those in a runoff or opposed candidates in a general election. For those periods, an unopposed candidate would not have to file a report.
What are the consequences for not filing?
According to Mississippi Code Ann. Section 23-15-811, willfully violating campaign finance laws is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $3,000 and as many as six months in prison.
Further, the winners are not supposed to be certified as elected until they file all required reports.
The legislature gave the law more teeth in the 2023 session, prohibiting any person with outstanding campaign finance reports within five years of the time they are to be qualified to appear on the ballot.
A spokesperson with the secretary of state’s office said the attorney general’s office and district attorneys all have the authority to prosecute campaign finance violations.
Scott Colom, 16th Circuit district attorney for Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay and Noxubee counties, said his office doesn’t handle misdemeanors, so those cases would be referred to county or city prosecutors, depending on the election.
In his eight years in office, however, he’s unaware of such a case being filed.
Why does it matter?
In short, according to Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk Tony Rook, because citizens have the right to know the information.
Both Rook and Lowndes County Circuit Clerk Teresa Barksdale said their offices collect reports and pass them on to the secretary of state’s office, which will “take it from there” if something is amiss.
For Rook, filing timely reports is no different than picking up campaign signs quickly after an election.
“People routinely ask me if (candidates) can’t do the simple things – like file campaign finance reports timely and accurately or follow sign ordinances – how are they going to handle more difficult tasks after they take office, like passing budgets?” Rook said. “It boils down to integrity, attention to detail and organizational skills.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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