Mississippi special election reporting: Senate (2018)

Mississippi will hold a Special General Election on November 6, 2018, to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Senator Thad Cochran. Under Mississippi law, a majority winner in a nonpartisan special election is declared elected. Should no candidate achieve a majority vote, a Special Runoff Election will be held on November 27, 2018.

Filing schedule for candidates

If only the Special General Election is held (11/06/18), candidate committees must follow this reporting schedule:

Candidate committees involved in both the Special General Election (11/06/18) and the Special Runoff Election (11/27/18) must follow this reporting schedule:

Additional details are available at https://transition.fec.gov/pages/report_notices/2018/mssen.shtml.

Filing schedule for PACs and party committees

Quarterly-filing PACs and party committees that participate in this election follow the same schedule, but do not file 48-Hour notices for last-minute contributions. PACs and party committees that file monthly should continue to file according to their regular filing schedule. Additional details are available in the Federal Register notice.

Filing electronically

U.S. Senate committees file on paper with the Secretary of the Senate and are not subject to the FEC’s mandatory electronic filing rules, but may file an unofficial copy of their reports with the Commission in order to speed disclosure. For other committees, 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

Pre-election reports sent by registered or certified mail must be postmarked on or before the mailing deadline to be considered timely filed; other reports must be postmarked by the filing deadline. See 52 U.S.C. §§ 30104(a)(2)(A)(i), (a)(4)(A)(ii), (a)(5); 11 CFR 100.19(b)(1), 104.5(a)(2), (e). A committee sending its reports by certified or registered mail should keep its mailing receipt with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) postmark as proof of mailing because the USPS does not keep complete records of items sent by certified or registered mail. 11 CFR 104.5(i).

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/filing deadline. “Overnight mail” includes Priority or Priority 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 online tracking system.

A committee sending its reports by Priority Mail or Priority Express Mail, or by an overnight delivery service, should keep its proof of mailing or other means of transmittal of its reports. 52 U.S.C. § 30104(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 or by the Secretary of the Senate before the close of business on the filing deadline. 11 CFR 100.19 and 104.5(e).

Please note that the FEC does not have authority to extend filing deadlines, even when they fall on weekends or federal holidays. In this case, the mailing deadline for the Pre-Runoff report falls on a federal holiday. Filers using registered/certified or overnight mail must ensure that report is postmarked before that date. Forms are available for downloading and printing at the FEC’s website at https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/forms/.

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 per source from October 18 through November 3 for the Special General Election, and from November 8 through November 24 for the Special Runoff Election (if held).

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 or more from October 18 through November 4 for the Special General Election, and from November 8 through November 25 for the Special Runoff Election (if held). This requirement is addition to that of filing 48-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $10,000 or more with respect to an election 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 October 18 for the Special General Election. For the Special Runoff Election (if held), the 48-hour reporting requirement applies to independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $10,000 prior to November 8.

Electioneering communications

The 60-day electioneering communications period for the Special General Election runs from September 7 through November 6. The 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Runoff Election (if held) runs from September 28 through November 27.

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 if they receive two or more bundled contributions from any lobbyist/registrant or lobbyist/registrant PAC that aggregate in excess of $18,200 during the special election reporting periods.

Citations

Statute:

52 U.S.C. § 30104(a)
Filing requirements

Regulations:

11 CFR 100.19 
Timely filed reports; electronically filed reports

11 CFR 100.29(a)
Definition of electioneering communication

11 CFR 104.4(b)(2) and (c) and 109.10(c) and (d)
Reports of independent expenditures made at any time up to and including the 20th day before an election and those made less than 20 days, but more than 24 hours before the day of an election

11 CFR 104.5
Filing dates

11 CFR 104.5(c)
Filing dates; committees that are not authorized committees of candidates

11 CFR 104.5(e)
Date of filing

11 CFR 104.5(f)
48-hour notification of contributions

11 CFR 104.5(h)
Special election reports

11 CFR 104.5(i)
Retaining proof of mailing

11 CFR 104.18(a)(2) and (e)
Mandatory electronic filing and validation program

11 CFR 104.22(a)(5)(v) and (b)
Disclosure of bundling by lobbyist/registrants and lobbyist/registrant PACs for runoffs and special elections; reporting requirement for reporting committees

11 CFR 110.17(e)(2)
Lobbyist/registrant and lobbyist/registrant PAC contribution bundling disclosure threshold

Resources

• Mississippi Senate special election prior notice 
  
• 2018 reporting dates 
  
• Mississippi Senate special election compliance page 
  
• Federal Register notice [PDF]
  
• Tip for treasurers on FEC zip codes for USPS and other delivery services