Ohio special election reporting: 5th district

Ohio will hold a Special Election to fill the U.S. House seat in Ohio's 5th Congressional District formerly held by the late Representative Paul E. Gillmor. The Special Primary Election will be held on November 6, 2007, and the Special General Election on December 11, 2007.

Candidate committees involved one or both of these elections must follow the reporting schedule below. Please note that the reporting period for the Post-General 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 quarterly schedule and participate in this election must also follow this schedule. 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. 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). Forms are available for downloading and printing at the FEC's website (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 October 18 and November 3, for the Special Primary Election; and between November 22 and December 8, 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 October 18 and November 4, for the Special Primary, and between November 22 and December 9, 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 with respect to an election at other times during a calendar year.

All 24- and 48 hour notices of independent expenditures must be filed with the FEC, including independent expenditures for communications supporting or opposing only Senate candidates. 11 CFR 105.2(b). Electronic filers must file these reports electronically, and paper filers may file by fax or email. Additionally, both electronic and paper filers may file 24- and 48 hour reports using the FEC website's on-line program. These notices must be received by the FEC by the 24 or 48 hour filing deadline, as appropriate. 11 CFR 104.4 (b)(2) and (c) and 109.10(c) and (d).

Electioneering communications

The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Primary Election runs from October 7 through November 6, 2007. The 60-day electioneering communications period for the Special General Election runs from October 12 through December 11, 2007.