Title 16 — Elections and Electors

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Advertisement" means information or materials, other than nonpaid social media messages, that are mailed, e-mailed, posted, distributed, published, displayed, delivered, broadcasted or placed in a communication medium an…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. For the purposes of this chapter, "expressly advocates" means: 1. Conveying a communication containing a phrase such as "vote for," "elect," " reelect," "support," "endorse," "cast your ballot for," "(name of candidate) in (year)," "(name of ca…

A. A candidate for election or retention shall register as a candidate committee if the candidate receives contributions or makes expenditures, in any combination, of at least one thousand dollars in connection with that candidacy. B. For city and town elections, a candidate for …

A. A committee shall file a statement of organization with the filing officer within ten days after qualifying as a committee. B. A statement of organization shall include the following committee information: 1. The committee name, mailing address, e-mail address, website, if any…

A. A committee treasurer is the custodian of the committee's books and accounts. A committee may not make a contribution, expenditure or disbursement without the authorization of the treasurer or the treasurer's designated agent. B. All committee monies shall be deposited in one …

A. A political action committee may apply to the secretary of state for mega PAC status. B. A political action committee qualifies for mega PAC status if it receives at least ten dollars in contributions from at least five hundred individuals in the four-year period immediately b…

A. A person may make any contribution not otherwise prohibited by law. B. The following are not contributions: 1. The value of an individual's volunteer services or expenses that are provided without compensation or reimbursement, including the individual's: (a) Travel expenses. …

A. An individual may not contribute more than the following amounts per election cycle: 1. Six thousand two hundred fifty dollars to a candidate committee for city, town, county or district office. 2. Six thousand two hundred fifty dollars to a candidate committee for legislative…

A. A candidate committee shall not make contributions to a candidate committee for another candidate. B. A candidate committee may transfer unlimited contributions to any one or more other candidate committees for that same candidate under the following conditions: 1. A candidate…

A. A political action committee without mega PAC status may not contribute more than the following amounts per election cycle: 1. Six thousand two hundred fifty dollars to a candidate committee for city, town, county or district office. 2. Six thousand two hundred fifty dollars t…

A. A political party may not contribute more than the following amounts per election cycle: 1. Ten thousand dollars to the party's nominee for a city, town, county or district office. 2. Ten thousand dollars to the party's nominee for legislative office. 3. One hundred thousand d…

A. A corporation, limited liability company or labor organization shall not make contributions to a candidate committee. B. A corporation, limited liability company or labor organization may make unlimited contributions to persons other than candidate committees. C. A corporation…

A. A partnership may not contribute more than the following amounts per election cycle: 1. Six thousand two hundred fifty dollars to a candidate committee for city, town, county or district office. 2. Six thousand two hundred fifty dollars to a candidate committee for legislative…

A contributor shall not give and a committee shall not accept a contribution that has been earmarked for a candidate.

A. A person may make any expenditure not otherwise prohibited by law. B. The following are not expenditures: 1. The value of an individual's volunteer services or expenses that are provided without compensation or reimbursement, including the individual's: (a) Travel expenses. (b…

A. Any person may make independent expenditures. B. An expenditure is not an independent expenditure if either of the following applies: 1. There is actual coordination with respect to an expenditure between a candidate or candidate's agent and the person making the expenditure o…

A. A person that makes an expenditure for an advertisement or fundraising solicitation, other than an individual, shall include the following disclosures in the advertisement or solicitation: 1. The words "paid for by", followed by the name of the person making the expenditure fo…

A. A committee shall file campaign finance reports with the filing officer. The secretary of state's instructions and procedures manual adopted pursuant to section 16-452 shall prescribe the format for all reports and statements. B. A campaign finance report shall set forth: 1. T…

A. A political action committee and political party shall file a campaign finance report covering each reporting period as follows: 1. For a calendar quarter without an election, the political action committee or political party shall file a quarterly report. The quarterly report…

A. A person that is required to file any statements and reports required by this article and articles 1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 1.6 and 1.7 of this chapter shall file with the filing officer in charge of that election, as follows: 1. The secretary of state is the filing officer for …

A. In January of each odd-numbered year, the secretary of state shall increase: 1. The committee registration thresholds specified in section 16-905, subsections A and C by one hundred dollars. 2. The contribution limits specified in article 1.2 of this chapter by one hundred dol…

A. A committee that intends to terminate shall dispose of surplus monies as follows: 1. Return surplus monies to the contributor. 2. Contribute surplus monies pursuant to and within the limits prescribed in article 1.2 of this chapter. 3. In the case of a candidate committee, con…

A. A committee may terminate only when the committee treasurer files a termination statement with the filing officer with whom the committee's statement of organization was filed. B. In the termination statement, the committee treasurer shall certify under penalty of perjury that…

A. If a committee fails to timely file a complete report as prescribed by articles 1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 of this chapter, the filing officer shall send a written notice by e-mail to the committee within five days after the filing deadline that identifies the late rep…

A. Notwithstanding section 16-1021, on receipt of a complaint from a third party, a filing officer is the sole public officer who is authorized to initiate an investigation into alleged violations of this article and articles 1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 of this chapter, in…

(Caution: 1998 Prop. 105 applies) A. The people of Arizona declare our intent to create a clean elections system that will improve the integrity of Arizona state government by diminishing the influence of special-interest money, will encourage citizen participation in the politic…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a participating candidate: 1. Shall not accept any contributions, other than a limited number of five-dollar qualifying contributions as specified in section 16-946 and early contributions as specified i…

(Caution: 1998 Prop. 105 applies) A. The civil penalty for a violation of any contribution or expenditure limit in section 16-941 by or on behalf of a participating candidate shall be ten times the amount by which the expenditures or contributions exceed the applicable limit. B. …

(Caution: 1998 Prop. 105 applies) A. A candidate, or any other person acting on behalf of a candidate, who knowingly violates section 16-941 is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor. B. Any person who knowingly pays any thing of value or any compensation for a qualifying contribution a…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. A participating candidate may accept early contributions only from individuals and only during the exploratory period and the qualifying period, subject to the following limitations: 1. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, no contributor sh…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. During the qualifying period, a participating candidate may collect qualifying contributions, which shall be paid to the fund. B. To qualify as a qualifying contribution, a contribution must be: 1. Made by a qualified elector as defined in sect…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. A candidate who wishes to be certified as a participating candidate shall file, before the end of the qualifying period, an application with the secretary of state, in a form specified by the citizens clean elections commission. B. The applicat…

(Caution: 1998 Prop. 105 applies) A. A participating candidate shall conduct all financial activity through a single campaign account of the candidate's campaign committee. A participating candidate shall not make any deposits into the campaign account other than those permitted …

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. The commission shall not spend, on all costs incurred under this article during a particular calendar year, more than five dollars times the number of Arizona resident personal income tax returns filed during the previous calendar year. The com…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. A candidate who has made an application for certification may also apply, in accordance with subsection B of this section, to receive funds from the citizens clean elections fund, instead of receiving private contributions. B. To receive any cl…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. At the beginning of the primary election period, the commission shall pay from the fund to the campaign account of each candidate who qualifies for clean elections funding: 1. For a candidate who qualifies for clean elections funding for a part…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) Upon applying for clean elections funding pursuant to section 16-950, a participating candidate for the legislature in a one-party-dominant legislative district who is qualified for clean elections funding for the party primary election of the dom…

(Caution: 1998 Prop. 105 applies) A. At the end of the primary election period, a participating candidate who has received monies pursuant to section 16-951, subsection A, paragraph 1 shall return to the fund all monies in the candidate’s campaign account above an amount sufficie…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. Beginning January 1, 1999, an additional surcharge of ten per cent shall be imposed on all civil and criminal fines and penalties collected pursuant to section 12-116.01 and shall be deposited into the fund. B. At least once per year, the commi…

(Caution: 1998 Prop. 105 applies) A. The citizens clean elections commission is established consisting of five members. No more than two members of the commission shall be members of the same political party. No more than two members of the commission shall be residents of the sa…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. The commission shall: 1. Develop a procedure for publishing a document or section of a document having a space of predefined size for a message chosen by each candidate. For the document that is delivered before the primary election, the docume…

(Caution: 1998 Prop. 105 applies) A. If the commission finds that there is reason to believe that a person has violated any provision of this article, the commission shall serve on that person an order stating with reasonable particularity the nature of the violation and requirin…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. Any person who has previously reached the dollar amount specified in section 16-941, subsection D for filing an original report shall file a supplemental report each time previously unreported independent expenditures specified by that subsecti…

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. Every two years, the secretary of state shall modify the dollar values specified in the following parts of this article, in the manner specified by section 16-905, subsection H, to account for inflation: section 16-941, subsection A, paragraph …

(Caution: 1998 Prop. 105 applies) If a provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to …

(Caution: 1998 Prop 105 applies) A. The terms "candidate's campaign committee," "contribution," "expenditures," "exploratory committee," "independent expenditure," "personal monies," "political committee" and "statewide office" are defined in section 16-901. B. 1. "Election cycle…