Frequently Asked Questions

After you make the decision to run for office, you must file a Campaign Treasurer Appointment. (Form CTA; judicial candidates need to use Form JCTA), and if you file with the Texas Ethics Commission (Commission), a Form Security-CF. This is required before you file an application for a place on the ballot, raise or spend any money for your campaign, or announce your candidacy publicly. Please be aware that becoming a candidate will trigger filing requirements. You can familiarize yourself with these requirements by consulting the appropriate campaign finance guide and filing schedule.

If this is your first time filing reports with the Texas Ethics Commission, you will be assigned a Filer ID from the Commission after the Commission has received your Campaign Treasurer Appointment. This Filer ID and a link to set your password will be emailed to the email you provide in the Form Security-CF, so make sure it is an email that is current and that you review often. The email from the Commission will also contain pertinent information on reporting requirements, late-filing penalties, and online locations of the Commission’s forms, schedules, and guides. Once you have a Filer ID and have set your password, you can electronically file your campaign finance reports.

Yes. The law requires every candidate except precinct chairs to file a campaign treasurer appointment, even if the candidate does not intend to raise or spend any money. You are permitted to appoint yourself as your treasurer.

If you are running for the same office and have not terminated your campaign treasurer appointment by filing a final report, you are not required to file another appointment of a campaign treasurer (Form CTA).

Contact the Secretary of State’s Elections Division or your local party for questions about the application for a place on the ballot.

Due dates for campaign finance reports can be found on the appropriate filing schedule. Make sure you use the filing schedule that applies to your candidacy, as due dates may differ.

Losing an election does not end your filing responsibilities with the Texas Ethics Commission or with your local filing authority.

If your situation meets all of the following criteria, you may file a final report to terminate your treasurer, which terminates future filing requirements:

• you do not currently hold an office;
• you lost the election; and
• you have no remaining funds or assets in your campaign account

The final report will cover the period beginning the day after your last report ended and ending on the day the final report is filed.

Filing a final report terminates your campaign treasurer appointment and terminates your status as a “candidate” for filing purposes.

Note: Please remember that you may not accept campaign contributions or make campaign expenditures without having a campaign treasurer appointment on file.

If you do not file a final report after the election, you will be required to file semiannual reports until you file a final report. Officeholders who have filed a final report may still have additional filing requirements. See the relevant campaign finance guide for additional information.

Each form has a companion instruction guide companion instruction guide that instructs you how to fill out the form line-by-line. Most questions about how to fill out the form can be answered by consulting these instructions. The instruction guide for Form C/OH also includes sections for Other topics like reporting expenditures from personal funds, reporting staff reimbursements, and reporting credit card expenditures are explained more fully in the reporting resources found in the Helpful Information section on the Campaign Finance Resources page. You can also watch various training videos here.

You may use your political funds to pay for most expenses you incur as a candidate or officeholder. The primary restriction in using campaign funds is that you cannot convert them to personal use. You can consult the Commission’s webpage on existing Commission opinions on permissible and impermissible uses of political funds.

Additional restrictions exist for payments to close family members, payments to a business of the candidate, and payments from judicial candidates and officeholders to candidates or political committees. These restrictions are discussed in more detail in the campaign finance guides.

A personal financial statement is a document disclosing a candidate or officer’s personal financial activity over the period of a calendar year (in contrast to a campaign finance report, which discloses a campaign’s financial activity).

Generally, the Texas Ethics Commission (Commission) does not have jurisdiction to determine whether a candidate for local office is required to file a personal financial statement. However, candidates for district attorney must file personal financial statements with the Commission. Other candidates should contact their local filing authority to determine whether they need to file a personal financial statement.

Most political advertising requires a political advertising disclosure statement, and signs designed to be seen from a road must contain a highway right-of-way notice. Additionally, non-incumbent candidates must use the word “for” before the name of the office they are seeking. Please see the Political Advertising Guide for more specific information.

The Texas Ethics Commission (Commission) generally does not regulate the placement or removal of political signs. The Commission primarily regulates the disclosure statements that must appear on political advertising signs. You may find this guide from TXDOT to be helpful.

Before distributing any political advertising, a candidate must have a treasurer appointment on file with the proper filing authority.

The answer to this question largely depends on where the signs are placed, and whether there are any local government restrictions set by the county, city, or HOA. For signs placed on city-owned public property, you may wish to contact the city attorney to see if the city has any restrictions. Signs placed on rural roads are regulated by Chapter 394 of the Texas Transportation Code and you may wish to contact TXDOT.

Note: Chapter 259 of the Election Code actually prohibits municipalities and HOAs from adopting and enforcing certain sign regulations, such as any 90 day restrictions, that prohibit the placement of certain political advertising signs within an HOA or on private property.

Where you file depends on whether you are running for a “local” office or one that is required to file with the Texas Ethics Commission. See the question below for more information.

Local offices may include:

• Certain county offices (county commissioner, tax assessor/collector, constable, justice of the peace, sheriff, etc.)
• City offices (mayor, council member, secretary, etc.)
• Political Subdivision offices (school board, community college trustee, municipal utility district, water district, etc.)

Statewide offices and other offices that file with the Texas Ethics Commission include:

• Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Railroad Commissioner, Land Commissioner, Agriculture Commissioner, State Chair of political party
• Texas Senate, Texas House of Representatives
• Multi-county District Attorney
• State Board of Education
• Supreme Court Justice, Court of Appeals Justice, Court of Criminal Appeals Judge, and district judges

Local candidates do not file with the Texas Ethics Commission (Commission). If you are a local candidate, you will file with your local filing authority.

The filing authority for a local candidate or officeholder depends on the nature of the office sought or held:

• County Clerk. The county clerk (or the county elections administrator or tax assessor, as applicable) is the appropriate filing authority for a candidate for:
  • a county office;
  • a precinct office;
  • a district office (except for multi-county district offices); or
  • an office of a political subdivision other than a county if the political subdivision is within the boundaries of a single county and if the governing body of the political subdivision has not been formed.
• Other local filing authority. If a candidate is seeking an office of a political subdivision other than a county, the appropriate filing authority is the clerk or secretary of the governing body of the political subdivision. If the political subdivision has no clerk or secretary, the appropriate filing authority is the governing body’s presiding officer.

To file with the Texas Ethics Commission (Commission), you need a Filer ID. This Filer ID is assigned to you by the Commission. The fastest way to get started is to fill out a Campaign Treasurer Appointment (Form CTA) (judicial candidates need to use Form JCTA) and a Form Security-CF. Email both documents to the Ethics Commission at treasappoint@ethics.state.tx.us. Your new Filer ID and a link to set your password will be emailed to the Primary Email address you provide in the Form Security-CF. The email from the Commission will also include pertinent information on reporting requirements, late-filing penalties, and online locations of the Commission’s forms, schedules, and guides.

Candidates will typically need to file a treasurer appointment (Form CTA) and periodic campaign finance reports (Form C/OH or Form JC/OH for judicial candidates) disclosing their candidate’s activity. The specific forms required will depend on what office you are seeking. Other forms may be required in less common situations, such as filing a Form COR-C/OH or amending a treasurer appointment (Form ACTA or Form AJCTA for judicial candidates).

All potentially required forms and their companion instruction guides can be found on the Forms & Instructions page.

More information can also be found in the C/OH Reporting training video. [ADD VIDEO LINK]

Filers who file with the Texas Ethics Commission (Commission) are required to file campaign finance reports electronically. A filer must request an electronic filing password using a Form Security-CF and email it to the Commission at formsecurity@ethics.state.tx.us to file the reports. An exception exists for filers who have limited activity and do not use computer equipment to keep track of their political activity. A filer claiming this exception must attach an affidavit of exemption to each report filed on paper. The appointment of a campaign treasurer form and any amendments to that form must still be filed on paper.

Filers who file with local authorities are not required to file electronically under state law. However, these filers should check with their local filing authority to determine whether that authority requires electronic filing.

By selecting the modified reporting schedule, you are indicating that you plan to stay under a certain threshold in both contributions or expenditures in connection with an election. That threshold is adjusted annually for inflation; it is $1,110 for 2025. The modified reporting schedule exempts you from filing 30-day and 8-day pre-election reports; it does not exempt you from filing all reports – all candidates must file a campaign treasurer appointment and at least one campaign finance report.

If you have selected the modified reporting schedule, you must still report activity during the entire period you were a candidate, either on a semiannual report or on a final report.

Note: the payment of a filing fee is not considered when calculating whether a filer has exceeded the expenditure thresholds.

If you do not have an opponent in the election whose name appears on the ballot, you do not have to file the 30-day and 8-day pre-election reports. If you selected modified reporting and are opposed, and you exceed the current threshold in either contributions or expenditures in connection with an election (see the question above for the current threshold) before the 30-day pre-election report is due, you must file the 30-day and 8-day pre-election reports. If you exceed the threshold after the 30-day pre-election report is due, you must file an “Exceeded Modified Reporting Limit” report within 48 hours of exceeding the threshold and, if the threshold is exceeded before the 8-day pre-election report is due, you must also file the 8-day pre-election report. Form C/OH (or Form JC/OH for judicial candidates) is used for all of these reports; check the appropriate box in Section 9 (ReportType) on the Cover Sheet.

Most reports are considered timely filed if they are postmarked or electronically submitted by the due date. If filing electronically with the Commission, a report must be filed by midnight Central time on the night of the due date to be considered timely filed. A 30-day, 8-day, or special pre-election report must be received by the filing authority no later than 5:00 pm on the due date to be considered timely filed.

You must deposit your political contributions in a separate account from any other account you maintain. State law does not require this account to be a particular type of account (e.g., a business account), but bank policies may restrict the type of account you can use. Please consult your financial institution.

The laws under the jurisdiction of the Texas Ethics Commission do not require a candidate or political committee to obtain a Tax Identification Number. Please contact the Internal Revenue Service and the Texas Workforce Commission for further information.

State law does not set contribution limits for most offices. Judicial candidates are subject to contribution limits under the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act, which are discussed further in the Campaign Finance Guide for Judicial Candidates. Some political subdivisions impose their own contribution limits, so a candidate should always check with their local authority to see if any relevant limits apply.

All candidates are prohibited from accepting contributions from a corporation or labor organization, and from accepting any cash contribution exceeding $100 during a reporting period. Candidates are also prohibited from accepting anonymous contributions, so for this reason, fundraising strategies like contribution jars are discouraged. For more information about fundraising, see the Political Fundraising Guide.

A filer may correct a report filed with the Texas Ethics Commission (Commission) or a local filing authority at any time. If you are required to file reports electronically with the Commission, reports can be corrected through the electronic filing software by selecting the option to “Correct a Filed Report.” If you qualify to file reports on paper with the Commission, then you will need to submit Form COR-C/OH, an affidavit for electronic filing exemption, and a completely new report including the pages of the report that are being corrected. If you are required to file reports with a local filing authority, you will need to submit Form COR-C/OH and a completely new report including the pages of the report that are being corrected.

Yes, for a surcharge. Campaign Finance Reports are available on the Commission’s website here; with the street address of contributors redacted; members of the public may obtain a complete, hard copy of a campaign finance report by making an open records request for specified copies of reports. There is a fee for copies.

Local filers may file electronically if your local authority has an electronic filing system for campaign finance reports. Check with your local authority to find out if electronic filing is an option. At this time, most local authorities do not offer electronic filing. There are, however, a few local filing authorities that offer, and in some instances even require, electronic filing. Local filers may use the Commission’s electronic filing application to draft their report; they must print the report, sign it and then file it locally. More information on how to do that can be found here.

Losing an election does not end your filing responsibilities with the Texas Ethics Commission or with your local filing authority.
If your situation meets all of the following criteria, you may file a final report to terminate your treasurer, which terminates future filing requirements:

• you do not currently hold an office;
• you lost the election; and
• you have no remaining funds or assets in your campaign account.

The final report will cover the period beginning the day after your last report ended and ending on the day the final report is filed.
Filing a final report terminates your campaign treasurer appointment and terminates your status as a “candidate” for filing purposes.

Note: Please remember that you may not accept campaign contributions or make campaign expenditures without having a campaign treasurer appointment on file.

If you do not file a final report after the election, you will be required to file semiannual reports until you file a final report. Officeholders who have filed a final report may still have additional filing requirements. See the relevant campaign finance guide for additional information.