Electioneering communications file description

The electioneering communications file contains disbursement transactions disclosed as electioneering communications. These are broadcast ads (radio, tv or satellite) that are:

• Sponsored by individuals or groups that are not political committees (i.e. not campaigns, PACs or parties)
• Distributed within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of the general election
• Make reference to a federal candidate and
• Are targeted to the relevant electorate

Electioneering communications are disclosed in two parts:

• The recipient, cost, purchase, and distribution dates of the expenditure
• The candidate or candidates identified in the communication

When more than one candidate is listed, the disclosure does not indicate how much of the expenditure should be allocated to each candidate listed. In an effort to help users work with this complicated data, the expenditure has been divided equally by the number of candidates named in the report. The resulting dataset shows the reported expenditure amount, the number of reported candidates and the calculated pro rata amount per candidate.

Possible duplicated data

For the current two-year cycle, electioneering communications are added to this file each morning. If an entity files an amendment to an original report, an automated process attempts to match the coverage and public distribution dates reported in order to include only the most up-to-date information in the file. We recommend that users check the actual electioneering communication filings to ensure that the same disbursement is not counted more than once.

This file includes all transactions with disbursement dates beginning January 1, 2007. Please note that this file includes only reports disclosing disbursement activity; reports disclosing only receipts or no activity are not included.

For prior election cycles, electioneering communications have already been streamlined to include only the latest amendment.

Electioneering communications file format