North Carolina special election reporting: 12th district (2014)
North Carolina will hold Special Primary and General elections to fill the U.S. House seat in the 12th Congressional District vacated by Congressman Melvin Watt. The Special Primary Election will be held on May 6, 2014, and the Special General Election will be held November 4, 2014. Under North Carolina law, in the event that the top vote-getter does not receive over 40% of the votes cast in his/her party’s Special Primary Election, the top two vote-getters of that party will participate in a Special Runoff Election held on July 15, 2014.
Candidate committees involved in these elections must follow the reporting schedule posted at https://transition.fec.gov/pages/report_notices/2014/nc12.shtml. That schedule also applies to PACs and party committees that participate in the elections and file on a quarterly basis in 2014. 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. 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. A committee sending its reports by certified mail should keep its certified 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. A committee sending its report by registered mail should keep its proof of mailing. Note that a certificate of mailing from the USPS is not sufficient to prove that a report is timely filed using registered, certified or overnight mail. 2 U.S.C. §434(a)(5) and 11 CFR 100.19 and 104.5(e) and (i).
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/filing deadline, as appropriate. 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 last business day before 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
A participating candidate’s principal campaign committee must file a 48-hour notice each time it receives a contribution of $1,000 or more between April 17 and May 3 for the Special Primary, between June 26 and July 12 for the Special Runoff and
between October 16 and November 1 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 $1,000 between April 17 and May 4 for the Special Primary,
between June 26 and July 13 for the Special Runoff and between October 16 and November 2 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 April 17, 2014, for the Special Primary. If a Special Runoff is held,
the 48-hour reporting requirement applies to independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $10,000 prior to June 26. For the Special General, the 48-hour reporting requirement applies to independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $10,000
prior to October 16.
Electioneering communications
The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Primary runs from April 6 through May 6. The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the
Special Runoff runs from June 15 through July 15. The 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special General runs from September 5 through November 4.
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 the lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold during the special election reporting period. 11 CFR 104.22(a)(5)(v) and
(b).
The lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold for calendar year 2013 was $17,100. This threshold amount may increase in 2014 based upon the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA). As soon as the adjusted threshold amount is available, the Commission will publish it in the Federal Register and post it on its website. For more information on these requirements, see the March 2009 Record. See 11 CFR 110.17(e)(2).
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.
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