What Your Partner’s FEC Documents Can Reveal
So, you found a couple on a dating app, joked pleasantly enough, and considered this person worthy of at least a few hours of personal communication. It is only natural that you want to know as much as possible about your partner; after all, they are your potential future spouses. But what do you do when their Instagram is down and LinkedIn doesn’t exist? Look no further than FEC.gov.
The US Federal Election Commission was created in 1974 to enforce the laws of the Federal Election Law during the election campaign. But 48 years later, its usefulness has gone far beyond campaign finance disclosures to the realm of online dating. Here are some important pieces of information you can get from this unconventional Internet investigative method.
Political affiliation
According to a recent Pew Research Center poll , 71% of Democrats and 47% of Republicans said they were probably not considering a serious relationship with someone who voted for the opposition party in the 2016 presidential election. Most people on their dating profile report their political affiliation, but what do you do when you run into someone who doesn’t offer that information? (Or, even worse, declare your position “moderate”).
Their FEC documents will not only show you which political party they have donated to, but which specific candidates. Do with this information what you want.
Career
Over the past few years, LinkedIn has become an essential social network for those looking for love . But what if the person you like has abandoned professional convention and decided to live without LinkedIn? You’re in luck: when making a political donation, you must provide information about your employer and occupation. Looking up your date on the FEC website can tell you if they work in one of your occupations.
net income
Looking up someone’s political donations won’t give you the same insight into their finances as looking at their W2, but it will allow you to read the tea leaves. The maximum donation an individual can make to a nominee committee is $2,900 per year. So if you see your dates spanning multiple candidates, it’s safe to assume that they don’t have many problems to make ends meet.
City and state of residence (past and present)
If you met someone on a dating app, it’s safe to say that you know what city and state they currently live in. But by looking at your partner’s political donations, you can see where they’ve lived throughout their adult lives. You can use this information to find out if you’ve lived in any common cities or regions, potentially giving yourself a talking point if there’s a lull in conversation on a date.
First dates evoke a wide range of emotions. If knowing a little more about your enigmatic beau helps ease your nerves, by all means take a look at their FEC documents. Just don’t forget that there’s always a back-up plan – ask your date directly.