Transcript: MDCRIS Video Series: Public Viewing/Disclosures
[Video Title]: MDCRIS VIDEO SERIES: Public Viewing/Disclosures. From Part 13 of the video: MDCRIS: An Overview
[Music plays softly]
[Narrator]: Public Viewing/Disclosures. The great thing about having the CRIS website is not only can you file your campaign reports from anywhere as long as you have internet access, you also have up until 11:59pm to file it on the report deadline. You can look at other political campaign reports too as soon as they file it. We have multiple ways to search and view political committee information.
[MDCRIS’s main page is displayed.]
[Narrator]: On the main page of the CRIS website on the left hand side, click on the box for “Disclosures.”
Let’s begin with: Viewing Contributions/Loans:
Click on the box to “View Contributions/Loans.”
On the next screen, click on “Continue.” Now you will see a screen where you can enter in your search criteria for what you are looking for. The easiest way to search is by going down to where it says “Receiving Committee Name.” If it is a candidate, start typing in the candidate last name and you will get a drop down box where you can select the candidate committee.
If looking for a PAC, please leave out if it starts with Maryland. Choose the next part of the name to search. The reason for this is because we have a lot of PAC’s that have Maryland in it and leaving that out will help in your search.
If you want to see all contributions that they have received, go down and click on “Search” and CRIS will pull that up on the screen. If you want to narrow your search, you can tweak the search filters by looking for a certain year or a report, specific dollar amounts, etc. Once you have pulled up your information, you can then download it into a Excel, Word, PDF or CVS file.
And now moving on to: Viewing Expenditures/Outstanding Obligations.
[Video Chapter Title:] MDCRIS VIDEO SERIES: Part 13: Public Viewing/Disclosures. Viewing Expenditures/Outstanding Obligations.
[Narrator]: Click on the box to “View Expenditures/Outstanding Obligations.”
On the next screen click on “Continue.” Now you will see a screen where you can enter in your search criteria for what you are looking for. The easiest way to search is by going down to where it says “Committee Name (Payer).” If it is a candidate, start typing in the candidate last name and you will get a drop down box where you can select the candidate committee.
If looking for a PAC, please leave out if it starts with Maryland. Choose the next part of the name to search. The reason for this is because we have a lot of PAC’s that have Maryland in it and leaving that out will help in your search. If you want to see all expenditures they have made, go down to click on “Search” and CRIS will pull that up on the screen.
If you want to narrow your search, you can tweak the search filters by looking for a filing year or report, specific dollar amount, etc. Once you have pulled up your information, you can then download it into a Excel, Word, PDF or CVS file.
And now moving on to Viewing Committees.
[Video Chapter Title:] MDCRIS VIDEO SERIES: Part 13: Public Viewing/Disclosures. Viewing Committees.
[Narrator]: Click on the box to “View Committees.”
On the next screen click on “Continue.” Now you will see a screen where you can enter in your search criteria for what you are looking for.
The easiest way to search is by going down to where it says “Candidate/Committee Name.” If it is a candidate, start typing in the candidate last name and you will get a drop down box where you can select the candidate committee.
If looking for a PAC, please leave out if it starts with Maryland. Choose the next part of the name to search. The reason for this is because we have a lot of PAC’s that have Maryland in it and leaving that out will help in your search.
Select the political committee from the drop down box and click on “Search” and CRIS will pull that up on the screen. If you do not know the name of the political committee, you can tweak the search filters by looking for Committee Type, Responsible Officer, Registered Date Range, etc. Once you have pulled up your information, you can then download it to a Excel, Word, PDF or CVS file.
Where it states “Candidate/Committee Name,” you can click on the link and it will open up the political committee’s registration page so you can see their information. You will be able to view current and past officer information, what reports they have filed and if they had any late fees which would be located under “Violations.”
And now moving on to View Filed Reports.
[Video Chapter Title:] MDCRIS VIDEO SERIES: Part 13 Public Viewing/Disclosures. View Filed Reports.
[Narrator]: Click on the box to “View Filed Reports.”
On the next screen click on “Continue.” Now you will see a screen where you can enter in your search criteria for what you are looking for. The easiest way to search is by going down to where it says “Committee Name.” If it is a candidate, start typing in the candidate last name and you will get a drop down box were you can select the candidate committee.
If looking for a PAC, please leave out if it starts with Maryland. Choose the next part of the name to search. The reason for this is because we have a lot of PAC’s that have Maryland in it and leaving that out will help your search. If you want to see all the reports they have filed, go down and click on “Search” and CRIS will pull that up on the screen.
If you want to narrow your search, you can tweak the search filters by looking for Filing Period Name, Election Cycle, specific date range, etc. Once you have pulled up your information, you can then download it to an Excel, Word, PDF or CVS file.
Where it states Filing Method, you can click on the link and CRIS will download the PDF of that report for you to open and view.
Please note we only have State, County and Baltimore City candidates in our database. If you are looking for a candidate running for a federal office, you can find them at www.fec.gov. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the Division of Candidacy and Campaign Finance at 410-269-2880 or send us an email at [email protected]. And thanks for watching!