SPECIAL ELECTION REPORT NOTICE

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

IF ONLY THE SPECIAL GENERAL (09/01/09) IS HELD, POLITICAL COMMITTEES MUST FILE:

POLITICAL COMMITTEES IN BOTH THE SPECIAL GENERAL (09/01/09) AND SPECIAL RUNOFF (11/03/09) MUST FILE:

IF TWO ELECTIONS ARE HELD, POLITICAL COMMITTEES INVOLVED IN ONLY THE SPECIAL GENERAL (09/01/09) MUST FILE:

WHO MUST FILE

Principal Campaign Committees

Congressional candidates 3 (including unopposed candidates and candidates whose names do not appear on the ballot) who seek nomination in the special election must file the above reports and notices. 4 Before a committee can stop filing with the FEC, it must file a termination report with the Commission. Committees must continue to file reports until the Commission notifies them in writing that their termination report has been accepted.

Unauthorized Committees -- Political Action Committees (PACs) and Party Committees

PACs and party committees filing on a semi-annual basis in 2009 are subject to special election reporting if they make previously undisclosed contributions or expenditures in connection with a special election by the close of books of the applicable report(s).  

METHOD OF FILING

Electronic Filing

Reports filed electronically must be received and validated by the Commission by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the filing deadline. For additional information, call the FEC's Electronic Filing office at (800) 424-9530 or (202) 694-1642.

Under the Commission’s mandatory electronic filing regulations, U.S. House committees that receive contributions or make expenditures in excess of $50,000 in a calendar year, or that have reason to expect to do so, must file all reports and statements with the FEC electronically. Other U.S. House committees may voluntarily file electronically; however, any entity that files electronically, whether required to do so or not, must comply with the electronic filing rules.

Registered & Certified Mail

Reports sent by Registered or Certified Mail must be postmarked on or before the mailing deadline to be considered timely filed. A committee sending its reports by Certified Mail should keep its certified mailing receipt with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) postmark as proof of filing because the USPS does not keep complete records of items sent by Certified Mail. A committee sending its report by Registered Mail should keep its proof of mailing. Please note that a Certificate of Mailing from the USPS is not sufficient to prove that a report is timely filed using Registered, Certified or Overnight Mail.

Overnight Mail

Reports filed via overnight mail will be considered timely filed if the report is received by the delivery service on or before the mailing deadline. "Overnight mail" includes Priority or Express Mail having a delivery confirmation, or an overnight service with which the report is scheduled for next business day delivery and is recorded in the service’s on-line tracking system.

Other Means of Filing

Reports filed by any other means--including first class mail and courier--must be received by the Commission before the close of business on the last business day before the filing deadline.

Link to forms for candidates and authorized committees

48 HOUR NOTICES ON CONTRIBUTIONS

Notices are required if the committee receives any contribution (including in-kind gifts or advances of goods or services; Loans from the candidate or other non-bank sources; and guarantees or endorsements of bank loans to the candidate or committee) of $1,000 or more per source, during the period of:

The notices, which may be filed using Form 6 [PDF], must reach the appropriate federal filing office within 48 hours of the committee’s receipt of the contribution(s).  Campaign committees that file electronically MUST submit their 48-hour notices electronically.  U.S. House candidates faxing 48-hour notices should transmit them to the FEC at (202) 219-0174.

NOTE FOR FILING POST-ELECTION REPORT

The reporting period for the Post-General Election Report spans two election cycles. For this report only, committees should instead use the Post-Election Detailed Summary Page (FEC Form 3, Pages 5-8 [PDF]) instead of the normal Detailed Summary Page.

COMPLIANCE

Treasurer Responsibility. Treasurers of political committees are responsible for both the timeliness and the accuracy of all reports. They may be subject to monetary penalties if reports are inaccurate or are not filed on time. For additional information, see the Commission’s Statement of Policy Regarding Treasurers Subject to Enforcement Proceedings [PDF].

Administrative Fine Program. Under the Administrative Fine Program, political committees and their treasurers who fail to file their reports on time may be subject to civil money penalties up to $16,000 (or more for repeat late- and non-filers). 5

Report Format. In addition, political committees that file illegible reports or use non-FEC forms (except for FEC-approved, computer-generated forms) will be required to refile their reports.

Electronic Filers Must File Electronically. Electronic filers who instead file on paper, or who submit an electronic report (either by direct transmission, 3.5” diskette or CD) that does not pass the validation program by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the filing deadline, will be considered non-filers and may be subject to enforcement actions, including administrative fines.

DISCLOSURE OF LOBBYIST BUNDLING ACTIVITY

Campaign committees, party committees and Leadership PACs that are otherwise required to file reports in connection with the special elections must simultaneously file FEC Form 3L [PDF] if they receive two or more bundled contributions from lobbyists/registrants or lobbyist/registrant PACs that aggregate in excess of $16,000 during the special election reporting periods (see charts above). For more information on these requirements, March 2009 Record [PDF].

IMPORTANT FILING INFORMATION - PAPER FILERS

In response to the anthrax threat, the U.S. Postal Service is irradiating mail directed to many federal agencies, including the FEC. This process has not only delayed mail delivery, it has also damaged and in some cases destroyed pieces of mail. As a result, committees that file reports with the FEC may want to consider submitting their reports by some means other than U.S. mail. Alternative methods include electronic filing, overnight mail service, and hand delivery.

FOOTNOTES:

1 These dates indicate the beginning and the end of the reporting period. A reporting period always begins the day after the closing date of the last report filed. If the committee is new and has not previously filed a report, the first report must cover all activity that occurred before the committee registered as a political committee with the Commission up through the close of books for the first report due.

2 Notice that this filing deadline falls on a weekend. Filing deadlines are not extended when they fall on nonworking days. Accordingly, reports filed by methods other than Registered, Certified or Overnight Mail, or electronically, must be received before the Commission’s close of business on the last business day before the deadline.

3 Generally, an individual becomes a candidate for federal office (and thus triggers registration and reporting obligations) when his or her campaign exceeds $5,000 in either contributions or expenditures. If the campaign has not crossed the $5,000 threshold, it is not required to file reports. See 11 CFR 100.3(a).

4 If a candidate has more than one authorized committee, the principal campaign committee must also file a consolidated report on Form 3Z [PDF].

5 Penalties for late- and non-filing of 48-hour notices are based on the amount of contributions not timely disclosed. As a result, these penalties may exceed $16,000, even for first-time violations.

FOR INFORMATION, CALL: (800) 424-9530 or (202) 694-1100