Michigan special election reporting: 11th district (2012)
Michigan will hold a Special Primary and a Special General Election to fill the U.S. House seat in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District vacated by Representative Thaddeus McCotter. The Special Primary will be held September 5, 2012, and the Special General will be held November 6, 2012.
Candidate committees involved in this election must follow the reporting schedule posted at http://www.fec.gov/pages/report_notices/2012/mi11.shtml. PACs and party committees that file on a quarterly basis in 2012 and participate in this election must also follow the reporting schedule detailed in the same website link above. 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 or holidays.
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 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 100.19 and 104.5(e).
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 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 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 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
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 August 17, 2012, and September 2, 2012, for the Special Primary and between October 18, 2012, and November 3, 2012, 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 between August 17, 2012, and September 3, 2012 for the Special Primary and between October 18, 2012, and November 4, 2012, 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 August 17, 2012, for the Special Primary. For the Special General, the 48-hour reporting requirement applies to independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $10,000 prior to October 18, 2012.
Electioneering communications
The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Primary Election runs from August 6, 2012 through September 5, 2012. The 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special General Election runs from September 7, 2012, through November 6, 2012.
Disclosure of lobbyist bundling activity
Campaign committees, party committees and leadership PACs that are otherwise required to file reports in connection with the special election 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 $16,700 during the special election reporting period. 11 CFR 104.22(a)(5)(v). 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 on-line tracking system.
Resources:
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- Myles Martin
- Public Affairs Specialist
- Myles Martin