Alabama special election reporting: 1st district (2013)
The Special Election to fill the U.S. House seat being vacated by Congressman Jo Bonner in the First Congressional district of Alabama will be held on December 17, 2013. The Special Primary will be September 24, 2013, and the Special Runoff, if needed, will be November 5, 2013. In the event that a Special Runoff Election is not necessary, the Special General Election will be held on November 5, 2013, instead of December 17, 2013.
Candidate committees involved in this election must follow the reporting schedule posted at https://transition.fec.gov/pages/report_notices/2013/al01.shtml. That schedule also applies to PACs and party committees that file on a semi-annual basis in 2013 and participate in this election.[FN1] PACs and party committees that file monthly should continue to file according to their regular filing schedule. Please note that the FEC does not have authority to extend filing deadlines, even when they fall on weekends or holidays.
Filing electronically
Reports filed electronically must be received and validated by the Commission by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the applicable filing deadline. Electronic filers who instead file on paper or submit an electronic report that does not pass the Commission’s validation program by the filing deadline will be considered nonfilers and may be subject to enforcement actions, including administrative fines.
Timely filing for paper filers
Registered and 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. 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. 2 U.S.C. § 434(a)(5) and 11 CFR 100.19 and 104.5(e) and (i).
Overnight mail. Reports filed via overnight mail [fn2] will be considered timely filed if the report is received by the delivery service on or before the mailing deadline. A committee sending its reports by Express or Priority Mail, or by an overnight delivery service, should keep its proof of mailing or other means of transmittal of its reports. 2 U.S.C. § 434(a)(5) and 11 CFR 100.19 and 104.5(e).
Other means of filing. Reports sent by other means—including first class mail and courier—must be received by the FEC before the Commission’s close of business on the last business day before the filing deadline. 11 CFR 100.19 and 104.5(e).
Forms are available for downloading and printing at the FEC’s website and from FEC Faxline, the agency’s automated fax system (202/501-3413).
48-Hour contribution notices
A participating candidate’s principal campaign committee must file a 48-hour notice each time it receives a contribution of $1,000 or more between September 5 and October 21 for the Special Primary. If only two elections are held, 48-hour notices are required between October 17 and November 2 for contributions received for the Special General. If a Special Runoff is held, 48-notices are required for contributions received between October 17 and November 2 for the Special Runoff and between November 28 and December 14 for the Special General.
24- and 48-Hour reports of independent expenditures
Political committees and other persons must file 24-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $1,000 between September 5 and September 22 for the Special Primary. If only two elections are held, committees must file 24-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $1,000 between October 17 and November 3 for the Special General. If a Special Runoff is held, committees must file 24-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $1,000 between October 17 and November 3 for the Special Runoff and between November 28 and December 15 for the Special General. This requirement is in addition to that of filing 48-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $10,000 or more during the calendar year up to and including the 20th day before an election. The 48-hour reporting requirement applies to independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $10,000 prior to September 5 for the Special Primary. If only two elections are held, the 48-hour reporting requirement applies to independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $10,000 prior to October 17 for the Special General. If a Special Runoff is held, the 48-hour reporting requirement applies to independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $10,000 prior to October 17 for the Special Runoff. For the Special General, the 48-hour reporting requirement applies to independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $10,000 prior to November 28.
Electioneering communications
The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Primary runs from August 25 through September 24. If two elections are held, the 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special General runs from September 6 through November 5. If a Special Runoff is held, the 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Runoff runs from October 6 through November 5. The 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special General runs from October 18 through December 17.
Disclosure of lobbyist bundling activity
Campaign committees, party committees and leadership PACs that are otherwise required to file reports in connection with the special election must simultaneously file FEC Form 3L if they receive two or more bundled contributions from any lobbyist/registrant or lobbyist/registrant PAC that aggregate in excess of $17,100 during the special election reporting period. 11 CFR 104.22(a)(5)(v) and (b). For more information on these requirements, see the March 2009 Record.
1. Since PACs and parties must aggregate activity on a calendar-year basis, they must disclose activity for reporting periods that span 2013 and 2014 using two separate reporting forms. If the Special General is held December 17, 2013, these committees will file their Post-General report on two forms—one form to cover the 2013 activity (labeled as the Year-End report) and another to cover only 2014 activity (labeled as the Post-General report). Both reporting forms must be filed by the filing date for the Post-General report on January 21, 2014.
2. “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.
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