A. A candidate or campaign committee that has received contributions or made expenditures of five hundred dollars ($500) or more shall file with the secretary of state a report of all contributions received and expenditures made on a prescribed form, and the report shall be filed in the same or similar electronic system as that used for the Campaign Reporting Act [1-19-25 to 1-19-36 NMSA 1978]. Except as otherwise provided in this section, all reports pursuant to the School District Campaign Reporting Act shall be filed electronically and electronically authenticated by the candidate using an electronic signature in conformance with the Electronic Authentication of Documents Act [14-15-1 to 14-15-6 NMSA 1978] and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act [Chapter 14, Article 16 NMSA 1978].

B. A candidate or campaign committee shall file a campaign report of all contributions received and expenditures made during an election cycle and not previously reported by midnight on the twenty-first day before the election and on the thirtieth day following the election.

C. If a reporting date set by Subsection B of this section falls on a holiday, the report shall be filed on the next business day.

D. If a candidate or campaign committee has not received any contributions and has not made any expenditures since the last report filed with the secretary of state, the candidate or campaign committee shall only be required to file a statement of no activity, which shall not be required to be notarized, in lieu of a full report when that report would otherwise be due.

E. A report of expenditures and contributions filed after a deadline set forth in this section shall not be deemed to have been timely filed.

F. Except for candidates and campaign committees that file a statement of no activity, each candidate or campaign committee shall file a report of expenditures and contributions pursuant to the filing schedules set forth in this section, regardless of whether any expenditures were made or contributions were received during the reporting period. Reports shall be required until the candidate or campaign committee delivers a report to the secretary of state stating that:

(1) there are no outstanding campaign debts;

(2) all money has been expended in accordance with the provisions of Section 1-22A-10 NMSA 1978; and

(3) the bank account for campaign funds maintained by the candidate or campaign committee has been closed.

G. A candidate who does not ultimately file a declaration of candidacy and does not file a statement of no activity shall file reports in accordance with Subsection B of this section.

H. A candidate may apply to the secretary of state for exemption from electronic filing in case of hardship, which shall be defined by the secretary of state.

History: Laws 2013, ch. 180, § 3; 2018, ch. 79, § 37.

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, changed the dates by when candidates or campaign committees must file campaign reports, and revised a statutory reference; in Subsection B, after "reported by midnight on the", deleted "second Monday in April" and added "twenty-first day before the election and on the thirtieth day following the election"; in Subsection C, after "falls on a", deleted "weekend or"; and in Paragraph F(2), after "Section", deleted "6 of the School District Campaign Reporting Act" and added "1-22A-10 NMSA 1978".