Montana special election reporting: At-large district (2017)
Montana will hold a special general election to fill the U.S. House seat in Montana's At-Large Congressional District vacated by Representative Ryan Zinke. The Special General Election will be held May 25, 2017.
To find out which reports your committee must file in 2017, check the Filing Frequency by Type of Filer section of our 2017 reporting dates web page. By default, campaign committees file quarterly reports, and PACs and party committees file on a semi-annual basis (if they filed quarterly reports in 2016) or a monthly basis (certain party committees and all committees that filed monthly in 2016). Most PACs and party committees have the option to change their filing frequency once per calendar year.
Filing schedule for candidates
Candidate committees involved in this election must follow this reporting schedule:
| Report | Close of Books | Mailing Deadline | Filing Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-General | May 05 | May 10 | May 13 |
| 48-Hour Notices | May 06 - May 22 | ||
| Post-General | June 14 | June 24 | June 24 |
| July Quarterly | June 30 | July 15 | July 15 |
Additional details are available at https://transition.fec.gov/pages/report_notices/2017/mt00.shtml.
Filing schedule for PACs and party committees
The schedule also applies to PACs and party committees that do not file monthly in 2017 and participate in these elections.
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.
Additional details are available at 82 Fed. Reg. 13599 (March 14, 2017).
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 are considered to be filed on the date of their postmark. See 52 U.S.C. § 30104(a)(2)(A)(i), (a)(4)(A)(ii) and (a)(5); 11 CFR 104.5(e). Accordingly, pre-election reports sent by registered or certified mail must be postmarked on or before the mailing deadline to be considered timely filed; other reports must be postmarked by the filing deadline. 11 CFR 100.19(b). 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 mailing because the USPS does not keep complete records of items sent by certified or registered mail. 11 CFR 104.5(i).
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/filing deadline. “Overnight mail” includes Priority or Priority 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 online tracking system.
A committee sending its reports by Priority Mail or Priority Express Mail, or by an overnight delivery service, should keep its proof of mailing or other means of transmittal of its reports. 52 U.S.C. § 30104(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). (If the deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday, such filers should plan accordingly and file reports by the close of business on the last business day before the filing deadline.)
Forms are available for downloading and printing at the FEC’s website.
48-Hour Contribution Notices
A participating candidate’s principal campaign committee must file a 48-hour notice each time it receives a contribution of $1,000 or more per source from May 6 through May 22 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 $1,000 or more from May 6 through May 23 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 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 May 6 for the Special General.
Electioneering communications
The 60-day electioneering communications period for the Special General Election runs from March 26 through May 25.
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 any lobbyist/registrant or lobbyist/registrant PAC that aggregate in excess of $17,900 during the special election reporting periods. 11 CFR 104.22(a)(5)(v) and (b); 110.17(e)(2).