Illinois special election reporting: 18th district
Illinois will hold special primary and general elections to fill the U.S. House seat in Illinois’ 18th Congressional District vacated by Representative Aaron Schock. The Special Primary will be held on July 7, 2015, and the Special General will be held September 10, 2015.
Candidate committees involved in these elections must follow the reporting schedule posted at https://transition.fec.gov/pages/report_notices/2015/il18.shtml.
That schedule also applies to PACs and party committees that file on a semi-annual basis in 2015 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.
Filing electronically
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. 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. A committee sending its reports by certified mail should keep its certified mailing receipt with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) postmark as proof of filing because the USPS does not keep complete records of items sent by certified mail. A committee sending its report by registered mail should keep its proof of mailing. Note that a certificate of mailing from the USPS is not sufficient to prove that a report is timely filed using registered, certified or overnight mail. 52 U.S.C. § 30104(a)(5) and 11 CFR 100.19 and 104.5(e) and (i).
Overnight mail. Reports filed via overnight mail [fn1] will be considered timely filed if the report is received by the delivery service on or before the mailing/filing deadline. A committee sending its reports by Priority Mail Express, 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 by the FEC before the Commission’s close of business on the prescribed filing date. (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.) 11 CFR 100.19 and 104.5(e).
Forms are available for downloading and printing at the FEC’s website and from FEC Faxline, the agency’s automated fax system (202/501-3413).
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 between June 18 and July 4 for the Special Primary, and between August 22 and September 7 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 between June 18 and July 5 for the Special Primary, and between August 22 and September 8 for the Special General. This requirement
is in addition to that of filing 48-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $10,000 or more during the calendar year up to and including the 20th day before an election. The 48-hour reporting requirement applies to independent expenditures
that aggregate at or above $10,000 prior to June 18 for the Special Primary, and prior to August 22 for the Special General.
Electioneering communications
The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Primary Election runs from June 7 through July 7. The 60-day electioneering communications period for the Special General Election runs from July 12 through September
10.
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 $17,600 during the special election reporting periods. 11 CFR 104.22(a)(5)(v) and (b). For more information on these requirements, see the March 2009 Record.
1 “Overnight mail” includes Priority or 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.
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