Oklahoma special election reporting: Senate (2014)
Oklahoma will hold Special Primary and General elections to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Tom Coburn. The Special Primary Election will be held on June 24, 2014, and the Special General Election will be held November 4, 2014. Under Oklahoma law, in the event that the top vote-getter does not receive over 50% 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 August 26, 2014.
Candidate committees involved in these elections must follow the reporting schedule posted at https://transition.fec.gov/pages/report_notices/2014/oksen.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
U.S. Senate committees file with the Secretary of the Senate and 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.
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 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 before the Secretary of the Senate Public Records Office’s or 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
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 June 5 and June 21 for the Special Primary,
between August 7 and August 23 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 June 5 and June 22 for the Special Primary,
between August 7 and August 24 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 June 5 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 August 7. 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 May 25 through June 24. The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Runoff runs from July 27 through August 26. 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 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 $17,300 during the special election reporting periods. 11 CFR 104.22(a)(5)(v) and (b). 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.
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