Nevada special election reporting: 2nd district

On May 12, 2011, the Commission approved the filing dates for the Special General Election to fill the U.S. House seat in the 2nd Congressional District vacated by Senator Dean Heller to be held on September 13, 2011. At that time, the special general election ballot was to be open to all qualified candidates, regardless of party, and the candidate filing deadline for ballot access was May 25, 2011. On May 19, 2011, the First Judicial District Court of Nevada ruled that Nevada’s major political parties are to instead select their nominees for this election at meetings of their State Central Committees,and minor political parties are to select their nominees at executive committee meetings.

The two major political parties, Republican and Democratic, will select their nominees at meetings of their State Central Committees on June 18, 2011, and June 25, 2011, respectively. Note that at time of publication, the district court decision to allow the parties to select nominees for the Special General Election at Special Party Caucuses has been appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court. The Commission cautions that the need for filing deadlines for these caucuses may be affected by a decision of the Nevada Supreme Court. The Special General Election date will not be affected.

Candidate committees involved in these elections must follow the reporting schedule available at http://www.fec.gov/info/report_dates_2011.shtml. Please note that the reporting period for the Post-General election report spans two election cycles. For this report only, authorized committees must use the Post-Election Detailed Summary Page rather than the normal Detailed Summary Page.

PACs and party committees that file on a semi-annual schedule and participate in this election must also follow this special election reporting schedule. PACs and party committees that file monthly must continue to file according to their regular filing schedule.

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 registered or certified mail should keep its 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. 2 U.S.C. § 434(a)(5) and 11 CFR 104.5(e).

Overnight mail. Reports filed via overnight mail [FN1] 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 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 filing deadline. 11 CFR 100.19 and 104.5(e).

Forms are available for downloading and printing at the FEC’s website (http://www.fec.gov/info/forms.shtml) and from FEC Faxline, the agency’s automated fax system (202/501-3413).

48-Hour contribution notices

Note that 48-hour notices are required of the participating candidate’s principal campaign committee if it receives any contribution of $1,000 or more per source between May 30 and June 15, 2011, for the Special Republican Party Caucus, between June 6 and June 22, 2011, for the Special Democratic Party Caucus and between August 25 and September 10, 2011, for the Special General Election.

24- and 48-Hour reports of independent expenditures

Political committees and other persons must file 24-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $1,000 between May 30 and June 16, 2011, for the Special Republican Party Caucus, between June 6 and June 23, 2011, for the Special Democratic Party Caucus and between August 25 and September 11, 2011, for the Special General Election. This requirement is in addition to that of filing 48-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $10,000 or more during a calendar year.

Electioneering communications

The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Republican Party Caucus runs from May 19 through June 18, 2011. The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Democratic Party Caucus runs from May 26 through June 25, 2011. The 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special General Election runs from July 15 through September 13, 2011.

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 lobbyists/registrants or lobbyist/registrant PACs that aggregate in excess of $16,200 during the special election reporting period (see reporting schedule chart at http://www.fec.gov/info/report_dates_2011.shtml). 11 CFR 104.22(a)(5)(v). For more information on these requirements, see the March 2009 Record.

FOOTNOTES:

1 “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 online tracking system.