Incurring electoral expenditure

Incurring electoral expenditure

The term electoral expenditure has a specific meaning for local government elections – it's incurred for a campaign purpose and can include the cost of expenses like:

• opinion polling or research
• advertisements broadcast at a cinema, on radio or television, or on the internet
• billboards and signs.

This is not an exhaustive list. All third parties and their agents should read the ECQ’s fact sheets and handbooks for more detailed information about what is and is not electoral expenditure, as not all campaign expenses will be considered electoral expenditure.

Third parties who incur $500 or more in electoral expenditure must disclose the amounts to the ECQ in real-time, as well as in an election summary return after the election.

There are limits on the amount of electoral expenditure that can be incurred during the capped expenditure period for an election. Please choose on the Electoral Expenditure Caps tab above for more details.

Video overviews

• Incurring electoral expenditure
• When is electoral expenditure incurred?

Links to further information:

• Fact sheet 12 – Definition of electoral expenditure