The votes are cast. The yard signs are coming down. And the TV ads you’ve been muting for months are finally gone.

But if you gave money to a candidate this year, the election may not be done with your wallet.

Some donations don’t stop at one. A box you never noticed may have turned a single gift into a weekly or monthly charge that keeps coming long after the last vote is counted.

This isn’t new, and it isn’t one party’s problem. In 2021, attorneys general in New York, Connecticut, Maryland and Minnesota questioned both major fundraising platforms — WinRed for Republicans and ActBlue for Democrats — about pre-checked boxes that sign donors up for repeat gifts.

That same year, the bipartisan Federal Election Commission unanimously asked Congress to require disclosures to donors about recurring contributions. According to Bloomberg Government, the commission wanted campaigns to get a donor’s affirmative consent first.

A bipartisan bill to do that, first introduced in 2024, was reintroduced in July 2025. But earlier this year, Hearst Newspapers reported that Congress still hadn’t acted.

So it’s up to you. I’ve spent decades as a consumer reporter watching companies profit from fine print, and this is fine print with a flag on it. Here are five things to check now that the votes are in.

1. A pre-checked box may have made your gift repeat

Here’s how it happens. You tap a link in a text, pick an amount and hit “donate.” Somewhere on that page sat a box, already checked, that made the gift repeat.

It’s not a small problem. The FEC told Congress that in many cases, donors who contact it don’t recall authorizing recurring contributions, Bloomberg Government reported.

The New York Times reported in 2021 that President Donald Trump’s 2020 operation — his campaign, the Republican National Committee and their shared accounts — refunded about $122 million, many of those refunds coming after donors complained to their banks and card companies.

ActBlue used pre-checked recurring boxes back then, too, according to The NonProfit Times.

Hearst Newspapers reported this year that ActBlue now bars candidates from pre-checking the box unless the donor already agreed to repeat gifts. WinRed hasn’t. WinRed says it “never charges without your permission.”

The fix: Pull up the last few months of statements for every card and bank account you’ve used to give. Look for small charges that repeat, carrying the name of a campaign, a PAC or a fundraising platform.

Do it this week. As you’ll see below, some refund and dispute windows are only 60 days long.

2. Cancel it where it started

Canceling your credit card works, but it’s a sledgehammer. Every legitimate bill tied to that card breaks, too. Start with the platform that processed the gift instead.

If you gave through ActBlue, every monthly receipt email has an “Edit payment details” link at the bottom. Click it, and you can cancel the rest of the recurring gift.

Lost the email? ActBlue’s contribution lookup page will find the gift if you enter your card number, the donation amount, your ZIP code, the date and your last name.

If you gave through WinRed, its donor support page has a form for help with a recurring charge. WinRed says it will cancel any future donation so you aren’t charged again.

Gave some other way? Dig up the confirmation email from your first gift, or contact the campaign or group directly and tell it to stop the charges.

3. Ask for your money back — and watch the clock

Canceling stops the next charge. It doesn’t return the ones you’ve already paid. For those, you have to ask.

WinRed says it will refund any donation you didn’t intend to make, up to 60 days after the charge. After that, it says, you’ll need to go to the campaign itself, because WinRed doesn’t keep the money.

ActBlue says its customer service team will help fix an unintended recurring contribution. Its help page walks you through finding and canceling the gift.

If you hit a wall, go to your card company. Federal law gives you the right to dispute billing errors on a credit card, and the Federal Trade Commission lists unauthorized charges among them.

The catch: Your letter has to reach the card issuer within 60 days after the first bill with the error was sent to you. Mail it to the billing-inquiries address, not the payment address. The FTC explains the steps here.

Once the issuer gets your letter, the FTC says, it has 30 days to acknowledge it and 90 days to resolve it. Gave from a debit card or straight from your bank account? Call your bank right away and ask what it can do.

Quick promise — no jargon, no upsells, no eye-glazing lectures. Just clear money advice that respects your time and your intelligence. Sign up for the free Money Talks Newsletter. 10 seconds to join, unsubscribe anytime, spam never.

4. Your name is now on a list

Here’s what nobody tells you when you give: Your name, number and giving history are worth money to other people.

A guide on scam PACs posted on the Maryland secretary of state’s website warns that once you donate, that information may be sold or shared with other organizations. That’s how one gift can open the floodgates.

And not every group that comes calling is what it seems. The same guide says the most common occupation listed in federal donor reports of known scam PACs is “retired.”

Before you give to a group you don’t know, check it out. I showed how in “The FBI Flagged 4 Midterm Voting Scams,” and the same steps work after the election, too.

5. Make the texts stop — or at least slow down

Political texts sent to your cellphone with an autodialer need your prior consent, the Federal Communications Commission says. You can take that consent back anytime by replying “stop.” Campaign texts and calls are exempt from the Do Not Call Registry, though.

There’s a bigger loophole: The FCC says texts sent manually can go out without your consent at all. And WinRed says the fundraising texts come from the campaigns and groups you’ve supported, not from the platform. So “stop” silences one sender, not the whole list.

For texts you never asked for, the FCC says to forward them to 7726, which spells SPAM. For more ways to cut the noise, see “8 Ways to Shut Down the Spam Texts and Robocalls That Are Driving You Crazy.”

And don’t tap donation links in texts, even ones that look real. The guide on the Maryland site says it’s safer to go to the group’s website in your browser than to follow a link in a text.

Give on purpose, not by default

I’m not telling you to stop giving. Backing a candidate you believe in is your right, whatever your politics.

Just give on purpose. Go to the campaign’s official website, read every checkbox before you click and uncheck anything you didn’t choose. Then put a reminder on your calendar to check next month’s statement.

While you’re combing through those statements, look for other money leaks, too. Here are 12 bills retirees keep paying that financial advisors would cancel on day one.