Alabama 2017 special election reporting: Senate (rescheduled)

Alabama has rescheduled its Special Primary and General elections to fill the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Special Primary will now be held August 15, 2017, and the Special General will be held on December 12, 2017. Under Alabama law, in the event that one candidate does not achieve a majority vote in his/her party’s Special Primary Election, the top two vote-getters will participate in a Special Runoff Election held on September 26, 2017.

To find out which reports your committee must file in 2017, check the Filing frequency by type of filer section of our 2017 reporting dates web page. By default, campaign committees file quarterly reports, and PACs and party committees file on a semi-annual basis (if they filed quarterly reports in 2016) or a monthly basis (if they filed monthly in 2016 or engage in reportable federal election activity (FEA)). Most PACs and party committees have the option to change their filing frequency once per calendar year.

Filing schedule for candidates

Campaign committees involved in only the Special Primary (08/15/17) must file:

If only two elections are held, campaign committees involved in the both the Special Primary (08/15/17) and the Special General (12/12/17) must file: 

If three elections are held, campaign committees involved in the both the Special Primary (08/15/17) and the Special Runoff (09/26/17) must file: 

Campaign committees involved in the Special Primary (08/15/17), the Special Runoff (09/26/17) and the Special General (12/12/17) must file: 

Additional details are available at https://transition.fec.gov/pages/report_notices/2017/alsen.shtml.

Filing schedule for PACs and party committees

The schedule also applies to PACs and party committees that do not file monthly in 2017 and participate in these elections.

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.

Additional details are available at 82 Fed. Reg. 24124 (May 25, 2017).

Filing electronically

U.S. Senate committees file 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. Reports sent by registered or certified mail are considered to be filed on the date of their postmark. See 52 U.S.C. § 30104(a)(5); 11 CFR 104.5(e). Accordingly, 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); 11 CFR 100.19(b)(1), 104.5(a)(2). 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 before the Secretary of the Senate Public Records Office’s or the Commission’s close of business on the filing deadline. 11 CFR 100.19 and 104.5(e). (If the deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday, such filers should plan accordingly and file reports by the close of business on the last business day before the filing deadline.)

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 July 27 through August 12, 2017, for the Special Primary Election, between September 7 through September 23, 2017, for the Special Runoff Election (if held) and between November 23 through December 9, 2017, 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 $1,000 or more during the following periods:

• For the Special Primary: July 27 - August 13, 2017;
  
• For the Special Runoff (if held): September 7 - September 24, 2017; and
  
• For the Special General: November 23 - December 10, 2017.
  

Prior to those periods, committees and other persons must file 48-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $10,000 or more.

Electioneering communications

The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Primary Election runs from July 16 through August 15, 2017. The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Runoff Election (if held) runs from August 27 through September 26, 2017. The 60-day electioneering communications period for the Special General Election runs from October 13 through December 12, 2017.

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 $17,900 during the special election reporting periods. 11 CFR 104.22(a)(5)(v) and (b); 110.17(e)(2).

Resources:

• Alabama Senate special election prior notice
  
• 2017 reporting dates
  
• Alabama Senate special election compliance page
  
• Federal Register notice [PDF]