Party phone banks

In some cases, phone banks are governed by unique allocation rules. These unique rules apply to a phone bank conducted by a national, state, district or local party committee that:

• Refers to a clearly identified federal candidate;
  
• Does not refer to any other clearly identified federal or nonfederal candidate;
  
• Includes another reference that generically refers to other candidates of the federal candidate’s party without clearly identifying them (for example, “Come out and vote for President John Doe and our great Party team.”);
  
• Does not solicit any contribution or donation or any other funds from any person; and
  
• Is not exempt from the definition of contribution or expenditure.

If the phone bank satisfies all of these conditions, then 50 percent is attributed to the federal candidate as an in-kind contribution or coordinated party expenditure (or may be reimbursed by the candidate or the candidate’s authorized committee) and must be paid for with federal funds. The remaining 50 percent is not attributed to any candidate, but must also be paid for with federal funds.