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Merrill Announces Campaign Finance Violations

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill
legislature.state.al.us
Rep. John Merrill (R-Tuscaloosa)

Alabama's secretary of state says nearly 100 political candidates and donation groups have broken state campaign finance rules.

Yesterday, Secretary John Merrill publicly released the names of all the candidates and political action committees that failed to disclose donations by this year's January cutoff date. He says the release is intended to compel the offending PACs and candidates to file financial records of campaign contributions they either received or spent in 2016.

Merrill's statement says there currently aren't any administrative penalties that can be used against the 92 parties. A formal monetary fee structure has already been set up for the 2018 election cycle.

Individuals or groups that raise or spend more than $1,000 in a campaign year are required to submit a report.

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