The "Paid for by" Disclaimer: Rules Every Campaign Must Follow

The disclaimer is the seatbelt of campaign communications: trivial to wear, expensive to skip. Here is the plain-language version of what the rules require, including the formatting details campaigns miss most often.

The baseline rule

Public-facing campaign communications must say who paid for them. For a federal candidate's own committee that means "Paid for by [committee name]" on the website, typically in the footer of every page. State and local races are governed by state law, which usually mirrors the federal structure and sometimes adds requirements like treasurer names or addresses.

The formatting rules people miss

Federal regulation (11 CFR 110.11) does not just require the words; it regulates how they appear.

• Printed materials must box the disclaimer. On printed public communications (mailers, yard signs, flyers, print ads), the disclaimer must be set apart inside a printed box, in a legible type size with reasonable color contrast against the background. A disclaimer that fails the box, size, or contrast test can be treated as no disclaimer at all.
• Websites must be clear and conspicuous. The web standard is that a reader must be able to find and read it without difficulty. Tiny gray-on-gray footer text invites complaints. Best practice, and what many professional campaigns do, is to carry the printed-box convention onto the website: an outlined, legible disclaimer box in the footer of every page. Ballot Page renders every generated site's disclaimer this way by default.
• TV and radio have spoken requirements. Broadcast ads carry stand-by-your-ad audio (and for TV, visual) statements with their own timing and format rules. Do not reuse web disclaimer text for broadcast without checking those rules.
• Authorized vs. unauthorized language differs. A candidate committee says "Paid for by [committee]". A PAC or party communication that is not authorized by a candidate must also state that it is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Using the wrong form is itself a violation.

Where campaigns get burned

• The redesign that dropped the footer. The most common violation is not defiance, it is a web edit that silently removed the disclaimer. This is why Ballot Page enforces the disclaimer at the platform level: our editor, including the AI, cannot remove it even when asked.
• Unreadably small or low-contrast text. The regulation's legibility and contrast standards exist precisely because campaigns tried to technically comply invisibly.
• Missing from fundraising pages. The donate page is a communication too, and it is the page opponents screenshot.
• Forgetting texting rules. If you collect mobile numbers, TCPA consent language belongs on the form, and your texts have their own disclosure requirements.

The practical standard

Treat the disclaimer as permanent infrastructure, not content: boxed, legible, on every page, impossible for anyone on your team (including your software) to accidentally delete.

Important: this article is general information about commonly applicable rules, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reviewing current FEC regulations, your state's election code, or advice from a campaign finance attorney. Requirements differ by office, state, and communication type, and rules change. Ballot Page provides software, not legal counsel; compliance responsibility rests with the committee.