Like many government programs, voter-owned elections have a vaguely Orwellian, name, a noble purpose, and a hefty bill. Voter-owned elections–more accurately, taxpayer-funded elections–are a hot topic in North Carolina, so consider this your brief overview of a heated issue.

What are voter-owned elections? Voter-owned elections are intended to end political corruption and a host of other political problems. The argument is simple: money is a tainting force in politics since it favors the already rich and well-connected candidates and makes politicians feel accountable to their largest donors. There ore, to even the playing field, the taxpayers should foot the bill for a public program that provides money to candidates who wish to avail themselves of it, provided they do not spend any private funds.

The exact mechanisms differ by location, but in general (and in North Carolina), the program features a matching funds trigger. Once a privately-funded candidate in the race passes a threshold in campaign expenditures, the publicly-financed candidate is given matching contributions. Eventually, of course, proponents of the system would like everyone to be using the same amount of taxpayer money.

What are the problems with voter-owned elections? Unfortunately good intentions alone cannot make good policy, especially expensive, convoluted, and potentially unconstitutional policy like voter-owned elections. First, voter-owned elections do not solve the problems they set out to tackle. There is no evidence they have decreased corruption, encouraged broader political participation, or evened the political playing field anywhere they have been implemented. There is no strong argument to suggest they ever will.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, specific provisions of voter-owned elections can run afoul of the Constitution. Money is necessary for political speech, whether it is for buying public ads, yard signs, or even a website. Voter-owned elections laws try to curtail individuals’ political speech by curtailing the amount of money they may spend on political campaigns. In short, the state determines “how much” political speech is necessary for each political race, and then makes candidates dependent on the state for financing. Sounds frightening.

Third, there are practical considerations. There is no reason to send money to political campaigns over public infrastructure, public safety, or public schools, particularly in an economic downturn when local and state governments are struggling to stay out of the red. Additionally, it is fundamentally unfair to force taxpayers to subsidize political campaigns they find uninformed or even offensive. Freedom of association is enshrined in our legal history for a reason.

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The most important part of fundraising is making sure that you’re abiding by applicable campaign finance laws. Here we’ll provide a broad overview of North Carolina campaign finance laws. Nothing can replace the advice of an experienced lawyer or treasurer, so take this as it’s intended: a starting resource for further investigation, not the end-all of the intricacies of campaign finance.

1. Know who to ask for help. When in doubt, contact the people who do this for a living: your County and/or the North Carolina State Election Board. They will either know the answer or direct you to someone who does.

2. Research what laws apply to you. You are running as a candidate at the municipal (e.g. Town Council), county (e.g. County Planning Board), state (e.g. NC State House), or federal (e.g. US House) level. There are different rules at every level,  so be aware of them. This determines your main regulatory body throughout the campaign.

3. Find a good treasurer. Every candidate committee must have a treasurer, and it can be anyone but your spouse. The treasurer is responsible for maintaining your financial records and filing required reports with the Board of Elections. Your treasurer must be trained by a Board of Elections course within three months of his/her appointment and once every four years after that.

4. Know when you have to file forms. North Carolina has deadlines for filing forms for your candidacy as well as filing campaign finance reports throughout the year. (As a fun fact, the filing fee is 1% of the annual salary of the office for which you are running; for the State House or Senate, that’s $207.) Know these dates. Don’t be late.

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Once you have been (rightfully) convinced that you should begin fundraising online, the next question is how to select an online contributions system. This system is a web-based solution that processes credit cards to transfer money from your donors to your campaign account. The number of these systems, though, is staggering. This post will hopefully be a quick overview with some general questions you should ask about every system, and then a more specific comparison of three major contribution systems on the base of price.

General Questions to Ask
1. How much will this cost? Online contributions systems generally make money in two ways. They charge a per-transaction fee, always less than fifty cents, on each contribution processed through your site. They also take a percentage of all your donations, usually less than 5 percent though oftentimes soaring to as high as 10 percent. Additionally you will find myriad fees for set-up, processing, and the like.

2. How will secure data be stored? You do not want to be responsible for keeping credit card numbers secure. Find out who will be responsible for secure data, where it will be stored, and who will address a security breach should one occur. Generally, online contributions systems process and store the credit card data on their end and then credit your account with the money.

3. How often will I be paid? The internet has made everything instantaneous, including the transfer of money. Many online contributions systems will deposit money in your campaign account as soon as the credit card information is processed. However, others will oftentimes distributed checks on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis.

4. Will I be able to collect the data I need? Check local, state, and federal campaign finance laws to determine the information you need to collect from donors. For example, candidates for federal office must collect the employer of every person who donates more than $200. Make sure that you will be able to customize your donation form to collect the necessary information to comply with campaign finance laws.

5. Will I be able to brand my donations portal? This is often a question for your technical team as it is for the contributions system you select. You want the transition from your website or online presence elsewhere to your donations portal to be as seamless as possible. The branding, graphics, colors, and other stylistic elements should remain as consistent as possible. Donors want to know that they are donating to the candidate they have selected. Additionally, sending them elsewhere is simply jarring, like inviting friends to a BBQ in your backyard only to traipse over to the neighbor’s living room.

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We’re kicking off another focus week on RunSmart2Win. This week we’re tackling fundraising.

As the famous saying goes, money is the mother’s milk of politics. While technology has leveled the political playing field somewhat, money is still one of the best predictors of Election Day success. How do you go about raising the funds your campaign needs to win? Here are 10 essential fundraising principles:

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Asking for money is the necessary evil of every political campaign. The trick is to do it concisely, politely, and—most importantly—effectively. So before you write an email to your supporters to ask for funds, consider the following guidelines.

1. Be clear. One email should convey one message. In a fundraising email, the message is “give me money because X.” Of course, the email does not—and should not—be as crude as that, but don’t let rhetorical decoration obscure your point. If, when the email is done, you cannot condense its point to one sentence, you are trying to say too much, no matter how prettily you are doing it.

Very clearly ask for a donation. Ask then ask then, possibly, ask again as the email progresses. Do not be shy about listing an amount, but think carefully first about who is receiving the email. Deep-pocketed donors can be tapped for big donations; everyone who signed up to receive your emails cannot.

2. Be concise. Make sentences direct, make paragraphs short, and make the body of your email as brief as possible. Your email is competing with an untold number of distractions, so it needs to be able to be read quickly and understood easily. But remember that short does not mean sparse, stilted, or half-finished. Channel Ernest Hemingway or even the authors of the Constitution. Make every word count.

3. Be compelling. There are two simple options: use emotion or a sense of urgency. Emotional emails tell a story and oftentimes include a video link; alternatively, they can encourage supporters to share their stories (hello, Obama 2008). These emails fall flat, though, if there is nothing truly moving or remarkable about the story you are sharing. Your campaign is the center of your life, but sadly, that’s not sufficiently interesting to your neighbor, your mailwoman, or your local dog catcher. So be wary of using this method and, above all, don’t fake it. Readers can tell, and you will be stung. Badly.

You can also use your fundraising appeal to highlight tasks your campaign must accomplish. Such tasks often include boosting numbers before an FEC filing deadline, readying your GOTV efforts, or getting the money for last-minute ads. Giving deadlines and, preferably, quantifying the effect of a contribution (e.g. $50 will equip one Election Day volunteer) will give supporters more reason to give you some of their hard-earned cash.

Finally, remember that you must be professional to be compelling. Proofread your email carefully for distractions: misspellings, improper grammar, and awkward sentence structures. It’s always okay to break rules for style or emphasis, but it’s always apparent when you know the rules and break them deliberately, and when you’re just winging it.

4. Most importantly, be honest. Supporters are not ATMs. Supporters cannot be tricked into giving money. So “speak” to your supporters candidly, get them excited and invested in your campaign, and you will be well-rewarded.

It’s no secret that President Obama benefited from millions of small contributions (under $200) to amass the largest campaign war chest in history. Now we’re learning more about how he did it and what the demographics reveal about the growing importance of going small in political fundraising.

Amy Harris, writing in Politics Magazine, reports on the BYU Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy (CSED) findings in “Uncovering Small Donors.” Here’s an excerpt:

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