Recounts and contested elections

Funds raised and spent by a candidate or a state party committee to pay recount and election contest expenses resulting from the general election are subject to the amount limitations, source prohibitions and reporting requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act, but are not contributions or expenditures.

Therefore, donations to a recount fund established by a federal candidate may not exceed $3,300 per person or $5,000 per multicandidate political committee. Donations to a federal candidate’s recount fund are not “contributions” and therefore are not aggregated with contributions to the candidate for the general election.

A federal candidate may establish a recount fund either as a separate bank account of the candidate’s authorized committee, or as a separate entity. If the recount fund is a separate account of the federal candidate’s authorized committee, then its receipts and disbursements must be reported on the authorized committee’s report as “other receipts” and “other disbursements.” If the recount fund is a separate entity established by the federal candidate, then the separate entity must report as an authorized committee.