California special election reporting: 48th district (2005)

The Special General Election to fill the U.S. House seat in California’s 48th congressional district, vacated by Representative Christopher Cox, will be held on October 4, 2005. Under California law, a majority winner in a special election is declared elected. Should no candidate achieve a majority vote, a Special Runoff Election will be held on December 6, 2005, among the top vote-getters of each qualified political party, including qualified independent candidates.

Candidate committees involved in one or both of these elections must follow the reporting schedule on page 7. 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 (FEC Form 3, pages 5-8) rather than the normal detailed summary page. These committees must also file the Form 3Z-1 with their Year-End report.

PACs and party committees that file on a semiannual schedule and participate in one or both of these elections must follow the same schedule, except that they need not file the October Quarterly report. These committees must instead file the next scheduled report following the Pre-General (the Post-General, Pre-Runoff or Year-End report, as appropriate) covering a reporting period that begins on September 15 and ends on the “close of books” date for that report. PACs and party committees that file monthly should continue to file according to their regular filing schedule.

Filing methods

Reports filed electronically must be submitted by midnight on the filing date. A committee that is required to file electronically but instead files on paper reporting forms will be considered a nonfiler and may be subject to enforcement action, including administrative fines.

Reports filed on paper and sent by registered or certified mail must be postmarked by the mailing date. Committees should keep the mailing receipt with its postmark as proof of filing. If using overnight mail, the delivery service must receive the report by the mailing date. “Overnight mail” includes Priority or Express Mail having a delivery confirmation, or an overnight delivery service with an online tracking system. Reports sent by other means must be received by the Commission’s close of business on the filing date.

48-Hour Notices of contributions

Note that 48-Hour notices are required of authorized committees that receive contributions of $1,000 or more between September 15 and October 1, for the Special General Election, and between November 17 and December 3, for the Special Runoff Election, if that election is held.

24- and 48 Hour Notices of independent expenditures

Political committees and other persons must file 24-Hour notices of independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $1,000 between September 15 and October 2, for the Special General, and between November 17 and December 4, for the Special Runoff, if that election is held. This requirement is in addition to that of filing 48-Hour notices of independent expenditures that aggregate $10,000 or more at other times during a calendar year.

Electioneering communications

The 60-day electioneering communications* period in connection with the Special General Election runs from August 5 through October 4, 2005, and the electioneering communications period for the Special Runoff Election, if that election is held, runs from October 7 through December 6, 2005.

—Amy Kort

*Individuals and other groups not registered with the FEC who make electioneering communications costing more than $10,000 in the aggregate in the calendar year must disclose this activity to the Commission within 24 hours of the distribution of the communication. See 11 CFR 100.29 and 104.20. For more information, see the December 2003 Record, page 5.