Allocated Federal Election Activity
State, district and local party committees may allocate between their federal and their Levin funds expenses arising from two types of Federal Election Activity (FEA) :
- Type 1: Voter registration activity between 120 days before a regularly scheduled federal election and the date of the election.
- Type 2: Voter identification , get-out-the-vote and generic campaign activity conducted in connection with an election in which a federal candidate appears on the ballot.
Freedom Party State Committee has raised both Levin funds and federal funds, and now intends to use them to pay for a Voter ID drive prior to the Illinois primary election in March 2020. This activity will begin on February 20, 2020, and will cost $10,000.
Allocation ratio (Schedule H1)
A state or local party committee uses Schedule H1 to state its fixed percentage allocation ratio in the first report of a calendar year disclosing an allocated disbursement for FEA. Under the fixed percentage allocation ratio, the minimum percentage of federal funds depends upon which federal offices appear on the ballot during the relevant even-numbered election year (and in the preceding year).
Freedom State Party Committee selects “Presidential and Senate Election Year,” because both a presidential candidate and a Senate candidate will appear on the ballot in the next scheduled general election in their state.
Payments (Schedule H6)
The committee uses Schedule H6 to itemize all payments for allocated Federal Election Activity.
Freedom State Party Committee reports the federal and Levin share of their Voter ID payment on Schedule H6 of their March Monthly Report, allocating at least 36% of their expenses to the federal account according to their allocation ratio.
(The federal and Levin payment totals that appear on Schedule H6 are entered on Lines 30(a)(i) and (ii) of the Form 3X Detailed Summary Page.)
Transfers from Levin account (Schedule H5)
The committee discloses transfers received from the Levin account to the federal account to pay the allocated Levin portion of Types 1 or 2 FEA. All such transfers must occur not more than 10 days before or 60 days after the payments for which they are intended are made, and must be itemized on Schedule H5.
Using Schedule H5 on their April Monthly Report, Freedom Party State Committee reports the transfer received from the Levin account to pay the Levin portion of their allocated Voter ID payment ($6,400).
(The total amount of transfers itemized on Schedule H5 is entered on Line 18(b) of the Detailed Summary Page.)
Reporting Levin fund disbursement (Schedule L-B)
In addition to showing the receipt of the Levin funds on Schedule H5, the Committee must also disclose the disbursement from the Levin account to the federal account on Schedule L-B.
Using Schedule L-B on their April Monthly Report, Freedom Party State Committee reports the transfer made from the Levin account to the federal account to pay the Levin portion of their allocated Voter ID payment ($6,400).
(The total amount of transfers for allocated Voter ID activity itemized on Schedule L-B is entered on Line 4(b) of the Schedule L Aggregation Page.)
The L schedules do not affect totals on the actual Summary and Detailed Summary Pages for the federal account. Schedule L must be filed with all reports that disclose Levin receipts or disbursements.
Note: while all independent expenditures and certain coordinated party expenditures qualify as FEA and must be paid with 100 percent federal funds, they must be reported on Schedule E and Schedule F, respectively.
Public communications that do not qualify as exempt party activity or Federal Election Activity, refer to a clearly identified federal candidate, and expressly advocate the election or defeat of the federal candidate are be disclosed as:
- an in-kind contribution to the candidate;
- an independent expenditure; or
- a coordinated party expenditure.
Monthly reporting
Any state, district or local party committee that engages in reportable Federal Election Activity must file monthly.
Reporting with FECFile
Allocation ratio (Schedule H1)
To create a Schedule H1 go to the Summary Page tab, right click on “H1 Method of Allocation for shared expenses” and select ”new.” Choose "State / Local Party Committee" and the applicable fixed allocation ratio.
Disbursements (Schedule H6)
To create an allocable disbursement on Schedule H6 go to the Summary Page tab, right click on “Line 30(a) Shared Federal Election Activity" and select “new.” Enter the payee, date, total amount and select the appropriate type of allocable Federal Election Activity from the list of events. Click the "calc" button to automatically calculate the federal share of the disbursement based on the ratio defined on Schedule H1.
Transfers received from Levin account (Schedule H5)
To create a transfer from the Levin account to the federal account on Schedule H5, go to the Summary Page tab, right click on "Line 18(b) Transfers from Levin Funds" and select "new." Choose the account name, enter the date, and amount attributed to each type of allocated Federal Election Activity.
Transfers made to federal account (Schedule L-B)
To create a transfer to the federal account from the Levin account on Schedule L-B, go to the Summary Page tab, right click on “SL Levin Funds” and select “new.” Choose the account name and select “OK.” Right click on the appropriate type of allocable Federal Election Activity and select “new.” Choose the recipient account name, enter the date, amount and description. To add additional receipts or disbursements of Levin Funds, go to the Reports Page tab, click on the “Schedule L: Levin Funds” line beneath the report being completed, and then go to the Summary Page tab. Right click on the appropriate Levin fund receipt or disbursement line and select “New.”