Oregon special general election reporting: 1st district (2012)
Oregon will hold a Special General Election to fill the U.S. House seat in Oregon’s 1st Congressional District vacated by Representative David Wu. The Special General will be held January 31, 2012.
Candidate committees involved in this election must follow the reporting schedule posted at https://transition.fec.gov/pages/report_notices/2012/or01.shtml. Please note that the reporting period for the Post-General election 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 filed on a semi-annual schedule in 2011 and participate in this election must also follow the schedule above. Because this report spans two calendar years, PACs and party committees filing the Post-General must file this report on two separate forms: One form to cover 2011 activity, labeled as the Year-End Report; and the other form to cover only 2012 activity, labeled as the Pre-General Report. PACs and party committees that file monthly 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. Please note that the FEC does not have authority to extend filing deadlines, even when they fall on weekends or holidays.
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). Please note that the FEC does not have authority to extend filing deadlines, even when they fall on weekends or holidays.
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 January 12 and January 28, 2012.
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 January 12 and January 29, 2012. 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 between January 1 and January 11, 2012.
Electioneering communications
The 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special General Election runs from December 2, 2011 through January 31, 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 $16,200 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.