Louisiana rescheduled primary elections

On September 3, 2008, due to Hurricane Gustav, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal issued an executive order postponing the Congressional and local elections scheduled for September 6, 2008. On September 4, 2008, the Louisiana Governor rescheduled the party primaries to October 4, 2008. The majority winner of the Primary Election is declared nominated to run in the General Election on November 4, 2008, along with the qualified independent candidates. Should no candidate achieve a majority vote in the October 4, 2008, Primary Election, a Primary Runoff Election will be held on November 4, 2008, with a General Election on December 6, 2008, in these affected Congressional Districts.

Candidate committees involved in this election must follow the reporting schedule on page 5. Please note that the reporting period for the Post-General report spans two election cycles. For this report only, authorized committees must use the Post-Election Detailed Summary Page rather than the normal Detailed Summary Page.

PACs and party committees that file on a quarterly schedule and participate in this election must also follow this schedule. PACs and party committees that file monthly should continue to file according to their regular filing schedule.

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

Reports sent by registered or certified mail must be postmarked on or before the mailing deadline to be considered timely filed. 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 filing because the USPS does not keep complete records of items sent by certified mail.

Overnight mail

Reports filed via overnight mail¹ will be considered timely filed if the report is received by the delivery service on or before the mailing deadline. A committee sending its reports by Express or Priority Mail, or by an overnight delivery service, should keep its proof of mailing or other means of transmittal of its reports.

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 filing deadline. 2 U.S.C. §434(a) (5) and 11 CFR 104.5(e). Forms are available for downloading and printing at the FEC’s web site (http:// www.fec.gov/info/forms.shtml) and from FEC Faxline, the agency’s automated fax system (202/501-3413).

48-hour contribution notices

Note that 48-hour notices are required of the participating candidate’s principal campaign committee if it receives any contribution of $1,000 or more per source less than 20 days—but more than 48 hours— before any election in which the candidate is running.

If no primary runoff is necessary

48-hour notices are required for contributions received between September 15 and October 1 for the Primary and between October 16 and November 1 for the General.

If primary runoff is necessary

48-hour notices are required for contributions received between September 15 and October 1 for the Primary, between October 16 and November 1 for the Primary Runoff and between November 17 and December 3 for the General.

24- and 48-hour reports of independent expenditures

Political committees and other persons must file 24-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $1,000 per source during the last 20 days—up to 24 hours—before an election.

If no primary runoff is necessary

24-hour reports of independent expenditures are required between September 15 and October 2 for the Primary and between October 16 and November 2 for the General.

If primary runoff is necessary

24-hour reports of independent expenditures are required between September 15 and October 2 for the Primary, between October 16 and November 2 for the Primary Runoff and between November 17 and December 4 for the General.

This requirement is in addition to that of filing 48-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $10,000 or more at other times during a calendar year.

Electioneering Communications

If no primary runoff is necessary

The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Primary Election runs from September 4 through October 4, 2008, and the 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the General Election runs from September 5 through November 4, 2008.

If primary runoff is necessary

The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Primary Election runs from September 4 through October 4, 2008, the 30-day electioneering communications period for the Primary Runoff Election runs from October 5 though November 4, 2008, and the 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the General Election runs from October 7 through December 6, 2008.

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 on-line tracking system.