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VoterFocus How_to_File_Financial_Reports_Online 2017 How to File Financial Reports Online: A Handbook for Candidates & Committees Last update to this document: November 15, 2016 The content of this document is confidential and a proprietary trade secret. It is therefore not subject to open disclosure under Florida Public Records laws. This document is provided solely for the use of licensed users of Voter Focus. The content, in whole or in part, is not to be disclosed to any unauthorized person. The information in this document is subject to change without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of VR Systems Inc. Campaign ToolBox is a trademark of Adjutant Workshop, Inc. © 1995-2015 VR Systems Inc. All rights reserved. How to File Financial Reports Online A HANDBOOK FOR CANDIDATES & COMMITTEES Contents What’s shown in an online financial report? ........................................ 1 What do I need to create reports online? ............................................ 3 How do I start? ................................................................................... 4 What you see when you log in. ............................................................ 6 Let’s look at the current reporting period. .......................................... 8 About those command buttons... ......................................................... 9 How do I view and maintain contributions? ...................................... 10 Adding a new contribution is easy. .................................................... 11 Adding expenditures is a similar process. ......................................... 13 A few notes about adding contributions and expenditures… ............. 17 Want to see how the report is adding up? Just do a preview. ........... 18 How do I record a distribution? ......................................................... 21 What about fund transfers?............................................................... 24 How do I import data from my campaign application? ...................... 26 Finished entering all data? Then submit the report. .......................... 29 My county requires paper reports ..................................................... 30 My county requires electronic reports ............................................... 32 Let’s look at a submitted report. ....................................................... 36 When will my report appear on the elections website? ..................... 37 How do I save a copy of the report on my computer? ....................... 39 What about changing a report that’s already been filed? .................. 40 Oops! I didn’t mean to create an amended report! ............................ 43 How do I change or delete an item on the original report? ............... 44 What if I don’t have any contributions or expenditures for the period?47 Why are some reports locked? .......................................................... 49 How do I export data to a spreadsheet? ........................................... 50 What reporting is required at campaign end? ................................... 51 How do I enter a photo and biographical info? .................................. 53 What if I forgot my password? .......................................................... 57 How do I change my password or PINs? ........................................... 58 Don’t forget to log out! ...................................................................... 60 VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 1 What’s shown in an online financial report? As you know, Florida law requires that candidates and political committees file monthly reports with the Supervisor of Elections. These reports detail all contributions received and expenditures made by or on behalf of the candidate/committee. The Voter Focus Campaign Financial Reporting system gives campaign treasurers an easy way to complete and, optionally, file these required reports, online. Each report generated by the Campaign Financial Reporting system is a PDF file that can be viewed in Adobe® Acrobat® Reader. The PDF can be printed if your county requires hard-copy filing. In counties that accept electronic filing, the PDF can be submitted online, signed by the candidate’s and treasurer’s electronic personal identification numbers (PINs). Once a report is accepted by the Supervisor of Elections, it will appear on the elections website and can be viewed by the public. Along with the financial reports, you have the option of providing a short description (or “bio”) of the candidate/committee and a photograph. Here’s an example of a monthly report: Then, an itemized list of contributions Next, a list of expenditures First, there’s a summary page VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 2 Then, a list of distributions And finally, a list of fund transfers VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 3 What do I need to create reports online? • A computer equipped with: — An Internet connection. — A web browser configured to accept cookies and with pop-up blockers disabled. In this document, the examples shown use Internet Explorer. — Adobe® Acrobat® Reader, which you will need to view and print your reports. If you don’t have the Reader software on your computer, you can download it free of charge from:  a link in the Campaign Financial Reporting System (see page 19) or  www.adobe.com — A printer, if your county requires you to file a hard copy of the report or you want a hard copy of the report for your records. • A candidate ID and password. This will be provided to you by the elections office. Candidates need a new ID each time they run for office, even when they are running for reelection to the same office. Committees also need a new ID for each election. Committees of continuous existence typically are allowed to keep the same ID, but this varies from county to county. Some counties prefer to assign committees of continuous existence a new ID for each election. The password can be changed after you log in, if you wish. • PINs for the candidate and campaign treasurer password. If your county permits electronic submission of financial reports, two 4-digit PINs will be provided to you by the elections office. You can change the PINs after logging in, if you wish. (See page 57 for instructions.) Your county might have other requirements, so check with the elections office before you begin. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 4 How do I start? Log into the Campaign Financial Reporting system like this: 1 Type this web address into your browser: https://www.voterfocus.com/ws/WScand/candidate_pb.php?county=<county> replacing the text <county> with your county name. You can enter lowercase or uppercase letters...the letter case doesn’t matter here. 2 Press the Enter key on your keyboard or click the “go” icon in your web browser. You’ll then see the Candidate Log In page: 3 Enter your candidate ID and password here. The password is case-sensitive. That means you have to enter the password in exactly the form given to you by the elections office: if a letter is uppercase, you must enter it in uppercase; the same goes for lowercase letters. Your password might also have numbers. By the way...you can change your password once you get on the system. We’ll explain how to do this on page 57. 4 Click . Your county may require that you change your password the first time you log in. If that is the case, after you click Login, you will see the Candidate Reset Password page: For example, if your county is Holmes, you would enter: https://www.voterfocus.com/ws/WScand/candidate_pb.php?county=holmes Enter a new password in the New Password field. You’ll need to enter the same password in the Re- enter Password field to confirm the new password. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 5 Enter a new password in the fields and then click Reset Password. On the Candidate Log In page, re-enter your candidate ID and your new password and click Login again. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 6 What you see when you log in. This is the main page of the Campaign Financial Reporting System. It shows the reporting periods for the campaign. We call this page the Report List. Time periods when financial reports are required. Colors indicate reporting periods: (beige) (green) (blue) The reporting periods are color-coded to help you choose the correct period for reporting data. Your name Office or issue Election Your candidate ID VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 7 The past and future reporting periods are locked to prevent you from inadvertently entering current data into a past or future report. If you need to enter past or future data, you can easily unlock the report by clicking . The colors of the reporting periods switch automatically at midnight on the due date of the current report. If any of your reports are overdue or the due date is less than 10 days away (that is, 9 or fewer days from today), you’ll see a message like this at the top of the page: And the due/overdue report(s) will be highlighted as well. If a report is overdue, you need to take immediate action to file the report. After 180 days, overdue reports are no longer highlighted as late. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 8 Name of reporting period Let’s look at the current reporting period. Start and end dates of reporting period Date when report is due Contributions so far Expenditures so far Status of the report. In this example, the candidate has started entering some of their contributions for the current reporting period, but hasn’t entered their contributions or submitted their report yet to the elections office. Command buttons for entering data. We’ll look at these more closely on the next page. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 9 About those command buttons... If you use campaign finance reporting software like Campaign ToolBox™, you can import contributions and expenditures directly from that application. Page 26 explains how. To manually enter contributions and expenditures, click here. Create and view a draft copy of your report for this period prior to submitting to the elections office. Submit your report to the elections office. If your county requires submission of paper reports, the button will look like this instead: Create a spreadsheet of the contributions and expenditures entered in this reporting period. We’ll talk more about manual entry on the next page. Click here to manually enter fund transfers and distributions. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 10 How do I view and maintain contributions? Click to bring up a list of the contributions recorded so far: Edit lets you modify details on an existing contribution. Click Add Contribution to bring up the form for entering contributions. Return to Report List Takes you back to the list of reporting periods. Delete lets you delete the contribution altogether. The Totals rows show you a breakdown of In- Kind and Monetary contributions along with the combined total. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 11 Adding a new contribution is easy. If the contributor is an organization rather than an individual, enter the organization name in the Last field. And leave the First and Middle fields blank. Most of the entry fields are self- explanatory. The blue column has tips on what’s required. When you’ve completed the form, click Submit. If the system says you’ve omitted required information, you must provide it before the contribution can be saved. After the contribution is saved, you’ll get another blank form where you can add the next contribution. Click Cancel and return to list when you’ve saved the last contribution you want to add right now. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 12 should be one of these: Carry Over Funds Remaining “carry over funds” from an election that has ended. This option is for use by candidates only. Cash Cash or cashiers check. Check Traditional paper check, wire transfer, PayPal, credit card, or another type of electronic funds transfer. In-kind An item of value other than money or volunteer services. In-kind Description: Enter a specific description of the in-kind contribution. Example: Food and beverage Interest Money earned on campaign or interest- bearing accounts. Loan Money loaned to the campaign rather than given outright. Membership Dues Membership dues regardless of the form (cash, check, etc.). Money Order Contribution made by money order. Multiple Uniform Contributions Multiple uniform contributions from the same person This option is for use by committees only. Refund Bad checks or contributions returned (in whole or in part) to the contributor. Refunds must be entered as a negative amount. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 13 Adding expenditures is a similar process. Click to bring up a list of the expenditures recorded so far: Click Edit to modify details on an existing expenditure. Click Delete to remove the entry altogether. Click Add Expenditures to bring up the form for entering expenditures. Takes you back to the Report List. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 14 Not sure which Expenditure Type to choose? Click this link to the Dept. of State website for more information. When you’ve completed the form, click Submit. After the expenditure is saved, you’ll get another blank form where you can add the next expenditure. Click Cancel when you’ve saved the last expenditure you want to add right now. If the vendor is an organization rather than an individual, enter the organization name in the Last field. About Petty Cash In Expenditure Type, notice that there are two types for petty cash: • Use Petty Cash Withdrawn when withdrawing funds from the campaign account for petty cash. This will add an expenditure of the entered amount to your report. • Use Petty Cash Spent to record an expense out of petty cash. Petty Cash Spent does not add an expenditure to the report because the expenditure was already recorded as Petty Cash Withdrawn. It’s important to keep accurate petty-cash records so your final report will balance. And leave the First and Middle fields blank. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 15 should be one of these: Disposition of Funds Pro-rata refunds to contributors, donations to charitable organizations, donations to the State general revenue fund, or the return of matching funds to the State. Disposition of Funds expenditures are for use by candidates only and are only used on Termination Reports. They are not part of the Monthly Total Monetary amounts. Disposition of Funds to Future Campaign Funds transferred to an account for a future campaign. Disposition of Funds expenditures are for use by candidates only and are only used on Termination Reports. They are not part of the Monthly Total Monetary amounts. Disposition of Funds to Petition Verification Funds transferred to pay for previously unpaid petition verification fees. Disposition of Funds expenditures are for use by candidates only and are only used on Termination Reports. They are not part of the Monthly Total Monetary amounts. Disposition of Funds to Political Party Funds given to the political party that the candidate is a member of. Disposition of Funds expenditures are for use by candidates only and are only used on Termination Reports. They are not part of the Monthly Total Monetary amounts. Monetary General expenditure type used when a specific type does not apply. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 16 Petty Cash Spent Petty cash spent during a reporting period. Expenditures made from petty cash are not required to be reported individually. Petty Cash Withdrawn Petty cash withdrawn during a reporting period. Petty cash expenditures are realized when the funds are withdrawn for petty cash. Therefore, the referenced item is not included in the total. Refund A refund of money from a vendor or other source. Refunds must be entered as a negative amount. Reimbursements Compensation made to a person or group by a check drawn on the campaign account for expenses incurred in connection with campaign activities. Transfer to Office Account Funds transferred to an office account when the candidate has been elected. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 17 A few notes about adding contributions and expenditures… If you enter a contribution or expenditure outside of the range of the reporting period you are working with, they system will automatically try to find a reporting period that contains that date you are reporting. If a report for that range is found, the system will let you know. If the contribution or expenditure date falls within the date range of a report that has already been filed, you can add the contribution or expenditure to the report and file an amended report in one easy step. If no report exists that includes the date you are trying to report on, the system will let you know that too. Click the report that you would normally have filled the transaction under and then click Select. Click Close and then either change the transaction date or contact your county Campaign Finance Administrator for assistance. Click the report that you would normally have filled the transaction under and then click Select. A confirmation message will appear letting you know that the amended report has been filed. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 18 Want to see how the report is adding up? Just do a preview. Previewing of reports isn’t required. But it’s a good idea to preview the report before you submit it, to catch any data entry errors, missing transactions, or other anomalies. You can preview a report as many times as you like, make changes, and preview it again until you are confident it is correct and complete. Then you can submit the finished report to the Supervisor. Once a report has been submitted, it cannot be changed, so you want to be sure you preview each report carefully. Previewing a report DOES NOT submit the report to the Supervisor. To preview your report so far: Click to bring up this page: Click to total the contributions and expenditures for this reporting period. You’ll be returned to the Report List, which now has a banner like this: VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 19 If you haven’t installed Acrobat Reader on your computer, you must do it now. Click the Acrobat Reader icon to go to the download site. Click in the banner to bring up a PDF of your report. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 20 On the Report List, notice that the Prepare Totals button is now labeled Preview. You can click Preview at any time you want to look at the report. If transactions are added, the button label will switch back to Prepare Totals, which means you need to total the new transactions into the report before you can preview it again. The preview version of the report has a DRAFT watermark on each page. The elections office cannot accept a draft report. You must submit a final report. We’ll explain how to do this on page 29. Forgot to add a contribution or expenditure? That’s OK: You can continue to add them after doing the preview. Check the draft report carefully to verify everything is correct and complete. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 21 How do I record a distribution? A transaction is a distribution only if it is a: Credit Card Payment—Linked to the expenditure that represents payment of the credit card bill on which the purchase appears. Only statewide candidates may use this type of distribution. Each purchase made with the credit card will be itemized under and linked to the expenditure that represents payment of the credit card bill on which the purchase appears. The credit card may be used only for travel-related expenses. Prepaid Distribution—Reserved for up-front, lump sum payments to be disbursed to different entities at a later date. (For example, payment to a media consultant who then makes disbursements to newspapers and television stations.) Related entries under will be reported and linked to the expenditure as they occur. Reimbursement—Reimbursement for authorized expenses made in connection with the campaign. (For example, Candidate Smith paid for printing of campaign signs with his own money. A check to reimburse him for the cost would be recorded as a Reimbursement.) Distributions do not add to your report totals. They are used only to report pro-rata amounts of an already recorded expenditure to provide detail for: • Refunds to contributors • Donations to charitable organizations • Contributions to political parties • Donations to the State general revenue fund • Return of matching funds to the State. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 22 To record a distribution: Click to bring up a page with describing the requirements for a distribution transaction. Click to see this page: Click Add Distribution to bring up the form for entering distributions. If the entity receiving the distribution is an organization rather than an individual, enter the organization name in the Last field. Enter the amount and the purpose of the distribution. If the distribution is a contribution to a candidate, be sure to indicate the office they are running for. If the distribution is related to a previously reported expenditure, enter: • The year when the expenditure was reported. • The Report Type from the first page of the report (example, M4). • The Sequence Number (from the first column of the report’s expenditures page. Enter the date the distribution occurred. This date does not have to be within the current reporting period. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 23 When you’ve completed the form, click Submit to save the information. After the distribution is saved, you’ll get another blank distribution form. Click Cancel when you’ve saved the last distribution you have right now. You’ll see the distributions you added highlighted in yellow, as in the example below. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 24 What about fund transfers? Fund transfers are typically used only by candidates for state and federal offices. They are used to report the transfer of funds between the primary depository and separate interest-bearing accounts. Click to bring up this page: Click Add Fund Transfer to bring up the form for entering transfers. Enter the financial institution where the account is held. Select From if the transfer is from the institution account to the campaign account. Select To if the transfer is from the campaign account to the institution account. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 25 When you’ve completed the form, click Submit to save the information. After the transfer is saved, you’ll get another blank transfer form. Click Cancel when you’ve saved the last transfer you have right now. Transfers are not shown on the Reports List because the funds have simply been moved within the campaign or committee, rather than expended or distributed elsewhere. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 26 How do I import data from my campaign application? Candidates or committees using campaign finance reporting software such as Campaign ToolBox™ can import contribution, expenditure, distribution, and fund- transfer data from a file created by the application directly into the Campaign Financial Reporting system. When you import data from a file, the transactions are added to the report you are working in. Be sure to review the report prior to submission to verify the data matches what you intended to import, and make any adjustments manually. Import File Requirements The system can import any file that meets the Division of Elections Campaign Finance Reporting File Specifications: Dos.myflorida.com/elections/candidates-committees/campaign-finance/filing-campaign- reports/ For a list of State-approved software vendors for electronic filing, see: Dos.myflorida.com/elections/candidates-committees/campaign-finance/filing-campaign- reports/vendors/ VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 27 To import data for the current reporting period: Important: When you import a file from your campaign finance reporting software, if there are existing entries in the Campaign Financial Reporting system for the reporting period you are importing entries in to, these entries will be replaced with the information from your file. Before importing a file, verify that you have not manually entered contributions, expenditures, distributions, or fund-transfer data in to the Campaign Financial Reporting system. If so, verify that these entries also exist in your campaign finance reporting software. On the main page, locate the row for the current reporting period (look for the green row) and click . Current reporting period is shown in green. Import Entries brings up the Upload Report page. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 28 On the Upload Report page, click and find the file you want to import. Then click . You’ll see a display of the transactions imported from the file, as in this example: When you’ve finished importing entries for the reporting period, preview, and submit the report as described on page 18. To import data for a past reporting period: If you’ve already submitted the report for the past reporting period, you’ll need to unlock it and create an amendment. Then you’ll need to unlock the amendment and do an Import Entries command, following the instructions beginning on page 27. To import data for a future reporting period: Unlock the reporting period and do an Import Entries command, following the instructions beginning on page 26. Name of file to import. Click Upload Report to import the file into the system. Contributions Expenditures VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 29 Finished entering all data? Then submit the report. The steps you take depend on whether your county requires a hard copy of the report signed by the candidate and treasurer, or requires submission of reports “signed” by the electronic PINs of the candidate and treasurer. Instructions for filing a paper report: Go to page 30 Instructions for filing by electronic PIN: Go to page 32 IMPORTANT Make sure you have entered ALL contributions and expenditures correctly before you click Submit Report. Clicking Submit Report closes the report. Once you have done this, the report cannot be changed, although it can be amended. We’ll look at amendments on page 40. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 30 My county requires paper reports (If your county requires electronic reports, skip to page 32.) What happens when you submit a report: • Removes the DRAFT watermark from the report pages. • Seals the report: you cannot add, change, or delete contributions or expenditures once you have submitted the report. • Files the report online with the elections office. Some counties require you to also provide with elections office with a signed hard copy of the report before your filing is considered complete. To finalize the report: Click to bring up instructions: Are your entries for this reporting period finished? If not, click Cancel. If you are ready to file, click . VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 31 Clicking returns you to the Report List with green banners at the top indicating submission. Notice that the report’s status is now Submitted. You’ll also see a confirmation number. And, the command buttons have changed. To display or print the report: Click or on the banner to display the PDF. Sign the report and deliver it to the elections office prior to the deadline for this reporting period. Note that the report requires two signatures: from the candidate and from the campaign treasurer. If the county has your email address in the administrative section of the Campaign Financial Reporting System, you will automatically be sent an email when the Supervisor of Elections accepts or rejects your report. Confirmation number Data can be viewed but cannot be changed. The new status of the report is Submitted. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 32 My county requires electronic reports (If your county requires paper reports, go back to page 30.) To finalize the report: Click to bring up instructions: Are your entries for this reporting period finished? If not, click Cancel. If you are ready to file, click . VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 33 Clicking brings up the Electronic Signature PINs page with a reminder that the report has not yet been submitted... ...followed by an online view of the report. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 34 On the PINs page, you have these options: • Enter both PINs in the space provided and click Assign PIN to submit the report to the Supervisor of Elections. • Enter just one of the PINs and click Later. This will return you to the report list. The message will appear in the report’s Status column and the report will be locked, which means no changes can be made. When the report is ready to be signed with the other PIN, click Assign PIN(s) to bring up the PIN page again. Enter the missing PIN and click Assign PIN to submit the report to the Supervisor of Elections. Enter Candidate’s PIN Enter Treasurer’s PIN Then, click Enter Candidate’s or Treasurer’s PIN Then, click VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 35 • If you want to remove the PINs and unlock the report so you can make changes, click VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 36 Let’s look at a submitted report. The DRAFT watermarks are gone... and your confirmation number is displayed in the Office Use Only box along with the date and time you submitted the report. Notice that the Original box is selected in the Report Identifier section. It indicates that this is the original report for this reporting period. Should you later file an amendment to this report, the Amendment box will be selected instead. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 37 When will my report appear on the elections website? That depends on your county’s procedures. Most counties reserve the right to review reports before releasing them to the public. Typically, when the report status changes to Received, the report is available on the website, but this can vary, so check with your county to find out what you can expect. To get to your candidate page, website visitors select your name from the list of candidates running in a selected election. (The elections office will explain how to navigate to this list—it varies by county.) Election selected here. Candidate selected here. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 38 Your candidate page will list all reports that the elections office has released to the website: Did you know?...A photograph and biographical information can also appear on your page, if you choose to provide them. We’ll explain how to do this on page 53. Website visitors can click the report name in the Report Views Transactions column to to bring up a list of all transactions reported so far grouped by type: Contributions from persons with protected-address status are not shown in reports. Instead, the notation ***Protected*** will be seen in place of the address. The Campaign Financial Reporting system scans the county’s voter registration database for voters with protected addresses and automatically redacts those addresses from campaign reports, so they cannot be seen by the public or the Supervisor’s staff. If you are aware of a contributor with a protected address who is not in your local county’s voter database, please advise your Supervisor of Elections. The newly received report is listed here. Display list of all campaign transactions. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 39 How do I save a copy of the report on my computer? A copy of all the reports you file will continue to be available on the Campaign Financial Reporting system. If you want to keep a copy on your local computer, just save the PDF to a folder on your computer or network. To save copy of the report to your computer: Click to display a PDF of the report in Acrobat Reader. Click . Save the PDF to a location on your computer or network. You might consider giving the copy a different file name; names assigned by the system are cryptic. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 40 What about changing a report that’s already been filed? After a report has been submitted to the elections office, you cannot change it, but you can make an amendment. An amendment is a separate report for the reporting period. On the amendment’s first page, you’ll see a checkmark in the Amendment box. You can amend a report any time after you submit it. When the original report’s status is Submitted, you can add new contributions and expenditures, but you cannot change data on the original report. To change original data, the original report’s status must be Received. You can create an amendment to a report for any reporting period. The steps to do this are the same for all reporting periods with one exception; for past reporting periods, you must first unlock the report following the instructions beginning on page 42. To create an amendment to a report in the current reporting period: In the current reporting period (the green row), click to bring up this page: Then click . The Amendment box is automatically checked when you create an amended report. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 41 When the Report List reappears, To create an amended report, you can: • Manually enter new contributions (page 11) and expenditures (page 13). • Import new contributions or expenditures (page 26). • Change or delete items listed on the original report (page 44). When you are finished entering items, preview the report (page 18) and submit it to the elections office (page 29). You’ll see a new confirmation number for the amendment. If your county requires a hard copy of amended reports, print the report (page 31), sign it, and deliver it to the elections office. If you need to change a report after submitting the amendment, talk to the elections office. Some counties require a second amended report. Other counties have different procedures. notice that there’s now a new row for the current reporting period. Enter the new data using these buttons, just like you did on the original report. The totals of items on the amended report are displayed just as they were for the original report. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 42 To create an amendment to a report in a past reporting period: In the past reporting period (the beige row), click Unlock this report. When the confirmation message appears, click OK. The Amend button for the past reporting period becomes available. Create an amended report following the instructions beginning on page 40. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 43 Oops! I didn’t mean to create an amended report! That sometimes happens. If you begin creating an amended report, notice that the list of commands on the Report List includes the command Delete Report. To back out of the report, first delete all the transactions you have entered for the amended report. Then, once there are no transactions for the amended report, you can click Delete Report to delete it from the system. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 44 How do I change or delete an item on the original report? First, verify that the status of the original report is Received: To change data that was entered on the original report, the original report’s status must be Received. To change a contribution or expenditure: In the current reporting period (the green row), click to bring up this page: Then click . When the Report List reappears, notice that there’s now a new row for the current reporting period. Enter the new data using these buttons, just like you did on the original report. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 45 On the next page, click Amend Item from Orig Report. to bring up a list of items (for example, contributions) reported in the current month: Highlight the item you want to change and click to bring up the detail page for the item. To change an item, highlight it. Then click Amend Item. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 46 Type the changes where they are needed. If you want to delete the contribution or expenditure, simply zero-out the Amount field. When you’ve finished, click . On the next page, you now have two entries (in yellow) representing the changed item: • The first entry deletes the item as it was filed in the original report. (Notice the word Delete in the Amend column.) • The second entry adds the item with the changed values. (Its Amend column says Add.) In the example here, we changed the contribution amount from $50.00 in cash to $100.00 by check. This completes the change to the original item. From here, you can change another item, add a new item, or return to the Report List. This page shows the details for the item as they were entered into the original report. To change an item, just make your changes in the appropriate fields. To delete an item, type a zero (0) in the Amount field. When finished, click Submit. Deletes the original item. Adds the changed item in its place. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 47 What if I don’t have any contributions or expenditures for the period? To submit a waiver if your county requires paper reports: On the Report List, find the reporting period you want to submit a waiver for. Click On the next page, click Submit Report. You must submit a Waiver of Report. A waiver is a one-page report that you fill out and submit to the elections office. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 48 You’ll return to the Report List, where you can see the confirmation number at the top of the page: and the status of Submitted for the report: Click , display the Waiver of Report, and print it out. Some of the fields on the waiver are completed for you, but you will need to review it carefully and complete any fields that are not filled out. Then deliver the report to the elections office prior to the reporting deadline. Waivers can be amended, just like any other report. So if you later discover you had contributions or expenditures for a reporting period, simply amend the waiver as you would amend any report (page 40). To submit a waiver if your county requires electronic reports: On the Report List, find the reporting period that you want to submit a waiver for. Click On the next page, click to bring up the Electronic Signature PINs page with a reminder that the report has not yet been submitted. Enter both PINs in the spaces provided and click Assign PIN to submit the waiver to the Supervisor of Elections. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 49 Why are some reports locked? Have you noticed that reports for past and future reporting periods have an button? These buttons prevent you from accidentally entering data for the current reporting period into a past or future period. If you find that you need to amend a past report or enter data for a future report, click . For past reporting periods, you’ll then get command buttons for amending the report. And for future reporting periods, you’ll see the usual buttons for entering data. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 50 How do I export data to a spreadsheet? The system has two ways to export your financial data to a Microsoft Excel comma- separated values (.CSV) file: collects all data for the selected report. collects all data from all reports in this election. Both options create a file named CFinExport.csv in your C:\Temp folder. When you click either button, you’ll see a message asking if you want to open or save the file. You can view the file immediately or save it to a different name and location, if you like. The spreadsheet file contains this information: • Date the item was recorded • Whether it’s a contribution (C) or an expenditure (E) • Contributor or vendor name and address • Contribution type • Contributor’s occupation • Item type • Description • Amount • Whether the item was recorded in the original report (blank) or an amendment (A) VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 51 What reporting is required at campaign end? On the Report List, you will see a section for the termination report, which is the absolute last report that will be submitted by your campaign. This report states the financial status of your campaign after all contributions and expenditures have been reconciled. It also should also show how any surplus funds were disposed of. The termination report might not appear in the Report List at the beginning of the campaign, but the elections office will add it to your reporting dates at the appropriate time. Note that it might not be named Termination Report. The elections office can give it any name, such as 2015-Final, like the example here. When it’s time to file the termination report, its row will turn green. To file this report, you will need to add any outstanding contributions and expenditures that haven’t been reported in an earlier report. If surplus funds remain in the campaign account, the termination report should include an expenditure that disposes of those excess funds. When you enter this expenditure, be sure to select Disposition of Funds for the Expenditure type. To report on the disposition of surplus funds, select one of the Disposition of Funds options in the Expenditure type field. For a description of each type, see page 15. Campaigns sometimes confuse Disposition of Funds and Enter Distributions. Remember that Disposition of Funds is a type of expenditure, whereas a distribution is a type of transaction referring back to a previously recorded expense. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 52 When you return to the list of expenditures for the termination report, you will see the item listed, but the amount will not be reflected in the total expenditures for the period. Nor will the amount be included on the Report List—in the Total Exp column— although it will be counted as an “item.” This design is in accordance with Division of Elections requirements. Preview the report and submit it as you have previous reports for the campaign. When you look at the report, notice that the Disposition of Funds amount is not reflected in box 7 of the Report Summary page. But the amount will be included in box 10 of the Summary Report. And it will appear on the Itemized Expenditure page with an expenditure type of DI. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 53 How do I enter a photo and biographical info? You can place a JPEG file, such as a photo, and descriptive text on the page that voters see when they visit the Campaign Financial Reporting system. A photo and text about the candidate or committee are nice to have, but they are not required. If you don’t provide them, here is what voters will see: The item in the photo area need not be a photograph. Committees might prefer to show their logo instead. But the file placed in this area must be a JPEG file. That is, the file’s 3-character file extension must be .JPG. The system won’t accept a JPEG file that’s larger than 500 KB. It’s best to use an even smaller file if you can, because smaller files display more quickly to website visitors than large ones, especially if a visitor has a slow Internet connection. Note Images with large dimensions (that is, large pixel sizes) might not display properly in certain older browsers. Photo of candidate Biographical information VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 54 To enter a photo: On the main page, click the yellow button. to bring up the Candidate/Committee Bio page: Click Browse and navigate to the JPEG file you want to use. Then click Upload Photo. The file path will be displayed here. Then click Upload Photo. Click Browse and find the photo file. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 55 When the file has copied to the system, you’ll see this message along with the photo file: Click Return to Main Menu to return to the main page of the system. To enter candidate or committee text: On the main page, click the yellow button. to bring up the Candidate/Committee Bio page: In the Candidate/Committee Biographical Information pane, type the information you want to display to voters. You can enter up to 5,000 characters. The system will show VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 56 you—in the Characters box—how many characters you have typed so far. When you are finished, click Update. If you ever want to change the photo or bio, just return to the Candidate/Committee Bio page and upload a different photo or edit the bio text. To see how your photo and bio appear to voters, enter this address in your web browser, replacing <county> with your county name: https://www.voterfocus.com/ws/WScand/candidate_pr.php?c=<county> You might not see your photo and bio immediately. Your county might reserve the right to review your information before it is released to the public on their website. Check with the elections office for your county’s policy on this. Type the biographical data here. When finished, click Update. The system will show you how many characters you’ve already typed, so you’ll know when you’re reaching the limit. Be sure you conform to the Supervisor’s policy on appropriate content here. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 57 What if I forgot my password? If you’ve forgotten your password, you can simply reset it by clicking the Forgot Password link on the Log In page. On the Candidate Forgot Password page, enter your Candidate ID number and click the Reset Password button. An email similar to the one below will be sent to the email address associated with your account. If for some reason there is not an email address associated with your Candidate ID, you’ll need to contact the Supervisor of Elections office. On the Candidate Reset Password page: The password can be up to 12 characters—letters and/or numbers—and is case- sensitive. Then click the Reset Password button and proceed back to the Log In page. Enter a new password in the New Password field. You’ll need to enter the same password in the Re-enter Password field to confirm the new password. Click the link provided in the email. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 58 How do I change my password or PINs? You can change the password assigned to you by the elections office, if you like. A password can be any combination of letters and numbers. If your county required electronic filing of reports, your campaign has been issued PINs for the candidate and treasurer. You can also change these PINs, if you wish. To change your password: On the Report List, click Change Password/PINs. In the Enter Old Finance System Access Password field, enter your current password. You need to do this even if you don’t want to change the password, but only want to change one or both PINs. If you want to create a new password, enter and reenter it in the two fields provided for the new password. The password can be up to 12 characters—letters and/or numbers— and is case-sensitive. If you don’t want to change your password, don’t make any changes to the password fields. If you want to change a PIN, enter and reenter the new PIN in the two fields provided for the new PIN. Then enter your new password in the other two fields. Click Change Password/PINs when you are finished. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 59 From now on, you will log on with your new password. Keep in mind: if you set up the Candidate Log In page to automatically fill in your password, you will need to retype the password there the next time you log in. When you do, you might see this message: Simply click Yes to proceed into the Campaign Financial Reporting system. Should you forget your new password, follow the instructions on page 57. If you forget your PINs, contact the elections office. They will be able to retrieve them for you. Type your current password here. Type your new password here. To finish changing the password and PINs, click here. Type your new candidate PIN here… …and your new treasurer PIN here. VR Systems Confidential/Proprietary Trade Secret 60 Don’t forget to log out! When you are finished with a session on the Campaign Financial Reporting system, be sure to log out so that unauthorized persons cannot modify your report data. To log out of the system: On the Report List, click . Click here to log out of the system.