A question about these fundraising reports and the debates

[dsc]

Our first debate is at the end of June but before Q2 is over. We are using donation based metrics to determine eligibility for the stage. I know candidates have in the past released things before the quarterly reports. My question is this, when they release something early is it a report that has been filed or is it their data. If it is the latter, then what is to prevent a campaign from lying about donations to make the stage (especially if they are really close and only have to lie about a donation or two). I know they would get caught in the end, but the may think the risk is worth it and claim it was a mistake.

[SFnomad]

1. I've looked everywhere and can't find the page with the rules / qualifications but ...

There are two ways to qualify ... a threshold percentage in polls or a multi piece fundraising quotas

The fundraising goals include ...
Minimum number of total unique donors (65,000)
Minimum number of unique donors across a minimum of 20 states (200 per state)

Their submitted quarterly forms are not used to determine this.

I believe there were two companies (one being ActBlue) that could be used to show a campaign has reached those thresholds. Since many of the candidates use ActBlue as their portal for their fundraising ... it makes sense. They should have all the metrics necessary to determine if a campaign has reached those thresholds.

[TexasTowelie]

2. At this point, I don't see any reason why any of the candidates should lie

since the debates aren't until September.

That being said, I did receive a text message from the Julian Castro campaign asking for a donation so that he will be included in the debates.

[SFnomad]

3. The first debates are in June (Miami)

They are also scheduled for July and August with location TBD.

[TexasTowelie]

4. Thanks for the correction. nt

[SFnomad]

5. I finally found the page I had been looking for ... found it while looking something else up

DNC ANNOUNCES DETAILS FOR THE FIRST TWO PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY DEBATES
Excerpt about the verification of meeting eligibility ....

Grassroots Fundraising Method. Candidates may qualify for the debate by demonstrating that the campaign has received donations from at least (1) 65,000 unique donors; and (2) a minimum of 200 unique donors per state in at least 20 U.S. states. To demonstrate that the fundraising threshold has been reached, candidates must provide verifiable evidence, which they may do by authorizing ActBlue and/or NGP VAN to provide that evidence.