Louisiana special election reporting: 1st and 6th districts
Louisiana will hold Special Elections on the same days to fill vacancies in the Louisiana U.S. House seats in the 1st and 6th Congressional districts vacated by Representatives Bobby Jindal and Richard H. Baker, respectively. The Special General Elections will be held on May 3, 2008. The Special Primary Elections will be March 8 and the Special Primary Runoff Elections, if needed, will be April 5. In the event that a Special Runoff Election is not necessary, the Special General Election will be held on April 5, 2008, instead of May 3, 2008.
Candidate committees involved in these elections must follow the reporting schedule at left. 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 mail(1) 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 (https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/forms) 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 two elections are held: 48-hour notices are required for contributions received between February 18 and March 5 for the Special Primary and between March 17 and April 2 for the Special General.
If three elections are held: 48-hour notices are required for contributions received between February 18 and March 5 for the Special Primary, between March 17 and April 2 for the Special Primary Runoff and between April 14 and April 30 for the Special 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 two elections are held: 24-hour reports of independent expenditures are required between February 18 and March 6 for the Special Primary and between March 17 and April 3 with respect to the Special General.
If three elections are held: 24-hour reports of independent expenditures are required between February 18 and March 6 for the Special Primary, March 17 and April 3 for the Special Primary Runoff and between April 14 and May 1 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 with respect to an election at other times during a calendar year.
Electioneering communications
If two elections are held: The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Primary runs from February 7 through March 8, 2008, and the 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special General Election runs from February 5 through April 5, 2008.
If three elections are held: the 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Primary runs from February 7 to March 8, 2008, the 30-day electioneering communications period for the Special Runoff runs from March 6 through April 5 and the 60-day electioneering communications period for the Special General runs from March 4 through May 3, 2008.
