Idaho Secretary of State Launches New Campaign Finance Reporting System

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Download the Press Release PDF

Date: January 10, 2024
Contact: Chelsea Carattini, Communications Director
Phone: (208) 332-2849

(Boise, Idaho) – Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane is pleased to announce the launch of a new system for reporting campaign finance donations and expenditures for political candidates and political action committees (PACs) and rich data for the public to track political influence. The new system, called Sunshine, is a user-friendly platform designed to bring transparency, accessibility, and accountability to campaign finance in Idaho.

Year-end Candidate and PAC reports for 2023 must be filed with the Secretary of State today, January 10th. The 2023 year-end report data for all candidates running in 2024, state candidates, and PACs can be found on the new Sunshine portal. The search feature on the site offers quick and easy access to common searches for data.

Local candidates who are not on the ballot in 2024 will file the 2023 annual report in the previous campaign finance system. Data for those candidates, as well as historical data can be found at sos.idaho.gov until the data is migrated to the new platform. Federal campaign finance data can be found at the Federal Election Commission website.

Secretary McGrane remarked, “The launch of Sunshine marks a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to enhance transparency in Idaho’s electoral process. By providing easy access to campaign finance information, we are empowering voters and promoting a more open and accountable political landscape.”

To explore the new system, visit sunshine.voteidaho.gov.

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ABOUT PHIL McGRANE
Phil McGrane was elected Idaho’s twenty-eighth Secretary of State and took office on January 2, 2023. McGrane served as elected Clerk of Ada County from 2019-2022. McGrane holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, a juris doctorate, and a Master of Public Administration. As a fourth-generation Idahoan, Phil has dedicated his career to making elections in the state of Idaho accessible, secure and transparent.

System Upgrade In Progress

Campaign Finance, Lobbyist Reporting, and Online Voter Tools are expected to be offline from April 9th at 5:00 p.m. MDT, through April 12th at 8:00 a.m. MDT to complete a system upgrade.

Per Idaho Code 67-6607, campaign finance is reported monthly during a campaign’s election year. The deadline for the March report falls on Saturday, April 10th. Due to the interruption caused by this upgrade, political treasurers will be allowed to file the March report until 11:59 p.m. MDT on Monday, April 12th.

While we do our best to ensure compliance with all deadlines in statute, the timing of this release is critical to ensure minimal (or no) impact to the May election cycle. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.