Massachusetts special election reporting: Senate vacancy

Massachusetts will hold a Special Election to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy. The Special Primary will be held on December 8, 2009, and the Special General will be held January 19, 2010.

Candidate committees involved in this election must follow the reporting schedule below. 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 semi-annual schedule and participate in this election must also follow the schedule below.

PACs and party committees that file monthly must continue to file according to their regular filing schedule.

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 registered or certified 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. 2 U.S.C. §434(a)(5) and 11 CFR 104.5(e).

Overnight mail.

Reports filed via overnight mail 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. 2 U.S.C. §434(a)(5) and 11 CFR 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 filing deadline. 11 CFR 100.19 and 104.5(e). Forms are available for downloading and printing at the FEC’s web site (Forms) and from FEC Faxline, the agency’s automated fax system (202/501-3413).

Filing electronically

U.S. Senate committees that file with the Secretary of the Senate are not subject to the mandatory electronic filing rules, but may file an unofficial copy of their reports with the Commission in order to speed disclosure.

For other political committees, 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.

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 between November 19, 2009, and December 5, 2009, for the Special Primary Election, and between December 31, 2009, and January 16, 2010, 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 November 19, 2009 and December 6, 2009, for the Special Primary Election, and between December 31, 2009, and January 17, 2010, for the Special General Election. This requirement is in addition to that of filing 48-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $10,000 or more during a calendar year. The period for 48-hour reports of independent expenditures runs from January 1, 2009, through November 18, 2009, in connection with the Special Primary Election, and January 1, 2009, through December 30, 2009, for the Special General Election.

Electioneering communications

The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Primary Election runs from November 8 through December 8, 2009. The 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special General Election runs from November 20, 2009, through January 19, 2010. 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 lobbyists/registrants or lobbyist/registrant PACs that aggregate in excess of $16,000 during the special election reporting period (see reporting schedule chart below). For more information on these requirements, see the March 2009 Record.