Massachusetts special election reporting: 5th district

Massachusetts will hold Special Elections to fill the U.S. House seat in Massachusetts' 5th Congressional District vacated by Representative Martin T. Meehan. The Special Primary Election will be held on September 4, 2007, and the Special General Election on October 16, 2007.

Candidate committees involved in one or both of these elections must follow the reporting schedule on page 9. 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 rather than the normal Detailed Summary Page.

PACs and party committees that file on a semiannual schedule and participate in one or both of these elections must follow the same schedule on page 9. 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 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). Paper forms are available 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 authorized committees that receive contributions of $1,000 or more between August 16 and September 1, for the Special Primary Election; and between September 27 and October 13, 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 at or above $1,000 between August 16 and September 2, for the Special Primary, and between September 27 and October 14, 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 at other times during a calendar year.

Electioneering communications

The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Primary Election runs from August 4 through September 4, 2007. The 60-day electioneering communications period for the Special General Election runs from August 17 through October 16, 2007.

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.