Most of it
Instruction cards
A palm card that shows the ballot and both steps. For a write-in candidate this is not swag. It is the ballot access other candidates get printed for free.
Donate
Shoe leather
and printing costs.
I am a Conservative running as a write-in, funded by the people this campaign answers to, and it is not buying television. What money does here is simple and visible: cards that explain the two steps, signs, gas to get to the far townships, and the postage to reach people who will never see a Facebook post.
Where it goes
Small campaign. Visible spending.
I sit on a county board and read other people's spending for a living. I am not going to be vague about my own.
Then
Signs and postage
Yard signs, and direct mail to the households that do not use social media. Rural Marion County is a mail county.
And
Getting to the townships
Fuel and event fees. The outer townships are where the response-time complaints come from, and they deserve a candidate who shows up in person, not just on a mailer.
Contribute
Any amount helps. Small amounts help most.
Online giving is not open yet. When it opens, contributions will be processed securely by Anedot with an emailed receipt. This campaign has not yet reached the threshold in Illinois law that requires a candidate committee; if it does, that committee will be registered with the State Board of Elections and contributions reported as the law requires.
Online giving opens shortly. Until then, the most valuable thing you can give this campaign is not money. It is two minutes explaining the two steps to a neighbor who has never cast a write-in vote.
The rules, plainly
Contributions to a candidate committee in Illinois are not tax deductible. Contributions from foreign nationals are prohibited. You must be contributing your own funds, not funds reimbursed by someone else. Illinois law caps how much an individual, a corporation or union, and a political committee may give to a candidate committee per election cycle, and requires that contributions above a reporting threshold be publicly disclosed with the contributor's name, address, occupation, and employer.
Prefer to write a check, or want to give in person? Email [email protected] or call (706) 973-7697.
If money is tight
Then give the thing that is worth more.
Teach three people the two steps. In a write-in race that is worth more than a check, and it costs nothing.