December 22, 2018

As you finish your 2018 campaign, make sure that you keep track of your campaign books. By law, you need to keep the records of the contributions to your campaign, including loans, and the expenditures that you've made from campaign funds for 5 years from the date of each contribution and expenditure.

If you or your treasurer used the ORCA filing software to report your 2018 campaign, it's a good idea to keep a backup file of your ORCA campaign too. Here's how to do that:

  1. On the home screen of ORCA, click Backup Campaign Data, and then select the committee name to be backed up.
  2. Click Ok.
  3. Type the file name you want to use for the backup, leaving the ".zip" extension on the end.
  4. Choose the location where you want the data saved (for example Drive G for a memory stick drive, desktop, etc.).
  5. Click Save.
  6. Name the .zip file with the campaign, year, and the date that the backup was made, like JANE DOE MAYOR 2018 12-17-2018.zip.
  7. Store the file in a secure location (not your everyday computer or the computer used to file your reports).