It shall be understood that a political party avails itself of the benefits of the Election Fund for Administrative Expenses from the date its Central Governing Body, through its president or secretary, so requests under oath to the Office of the Election Comptroller. Said application shall be enclosed with a certification of the bank account to be used by the party for such purposes. The party shall be entitled to access the Election Fund for Administrative Expenses after it certifies to the Office of the Election Comptroller that it has raised one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) in the preceding calendar year of the Election Fund it wishes to access. Not later than the business day following the filing of the application with the Office of the Election Comptroller, the latter shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury that such requirement has been met. The certification shall be submitted to the Office of the Election Comptroller on or before December 31 st of each year to have access to the election fund of the following year; however, to have access to the 2015 Election Fund, political parties shall have until March 31 st, 2015 to certify the amount required by this chapter. Once it is thus certified and the political party complies with the certification of funds raised, the Secretary of the Treasury shall make the fund immediately available, and allow said party to access the Election Fund for Administrative Expenses, as provided in this subchapter.
The funds raised by political parties as certified to the Office of the Election Comptroller must be private funds raised by the political party certifying it. Neither public fund balance available to political parties in the Election Fund at the time of filing the certification with the Office of the Election Comptroller nor the matching fund system established in this chapter shall be taken into account for such purposes.
History —Nov. 18, 2011, No. 222, § 9.001; Dec. 19, 2014, No. 233, renumbered as § 8.001 and amended on Dec. 19, 2014, No. 233, § 59.