Campaign Cited For Failure to File Pre-Primary Report

WASHINGTON - North Carolina will be holding primary elections on July 20, 2004 , to select candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

  Provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act require committees supporting candidates involved in the primary to file reports of their financial activity 12 days before the election.

  As of 5 p.m. , July 15, 2004 , disclosure reports from the following committees had not been filed:

   NC/05.JOE BYRD FOR CONGRESS.SCOTT BARNES, TREAS.JOSEPH H. "JOE" BYRD.REP

  The reports were to include financial activity occurring from April 1, 2004 through June 30, 2004 . If sent by certified, registered or overnight mail, the reports should have been postmarked by July 5. Otherwise, the due date was close-of-business July 8. Mandatory electronic filing requirements became effective as of January 1, 2001 . Any committee that receives contributions or makes expenditures in excess of $50,000 in the current calendar year, or that reasonably expects to do so, must submit its reports electronically. These rules became effective for reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2001 .

  Some individuals and their committees have no obligation to file reports under federal election law, even though their names may appear on state ballots. If an individual raises or spends less than $5,000, he or she is not considered a "candidate" subject to reporting under the FECA.

  The FEC notified committees involved in the primary of their potential filing requirements on June 14. Those committees which did not file on the due date were notified on July 9 that reports had not been received and that their names would be published if they did not respond within four business days.

  Other political committees supporting House candidates in elections (those which are not authorized units of a candidate''''s campaign) also are required to file pre-primary reports, unless they report monthly. Those committee names are not published by the FEC.

  Further Commission action against non-filers and late filers falls under the Administrative Fine Program. Political committees and treasurers who fail to file their reports on time may be subject to civil money penalties ranging from $30 to $16,000 (or more for repeat late- and non-filers).

  The next regularly scheduled disclosure reports for candidate committees will be the quarterly report, due October 15. It will cover activity from July 1 through September 30.

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