South Carolina special election reporting: 1st district (2013)
South Carolina will hold Special Primary and General elections to fill the U.S. House seat in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District vacated by Senator Tim Scott. The Special Primary will be held on March 19, 2013 and the Special General will be held May 7, 2013. Under South Carolina law, in the event that one candidate does not achieve a majority vote in his/her party’s Special Primary Election, the top two vote-getters will participate in a Special Runoff Election held on April 2, 2013.
Candidate committees involved in this election must follow the reporting schedule posted at http://www.fec.gov/pages/report_notices/2013/sc01.shtml. That schedule also applies to PACs and party committees that file on a semi-annual basis in 2013 and participate in this election. 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 or holidays.
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 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).
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
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 February 28, 2013, and March 16, 2013, for the Special Primary, between March 14, 2013, and March 30, 2013, for the Special Runoff and between April 18, 2013 and May 4, 2013 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 at or above $1,000 between February 28, 2013, and March 17, 2013 for the Special Primary, between March 14, 2013 and March 31, 2013 for the Special Runoff and between April 18, 2013, and May 5, 2013, 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 February 28, 2013, for the Special Primary. If the Special Runoff is held, the 48-hour reporting requirement applies to independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $10,000 prior to March 14, 2013. For the Special General, the 48-hour reporting requirement applies to independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $10,000 prior to April 18, 2013.
Electioneering communications
The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Primary Election runs from February 17, 2013 through March 19, 2013. The 30-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special Runoff Election runs from March 3, 2013 through April 2, 2013. The 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special General Election runs from March 8, 2013, through May 7, 2013.
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 $16,700 during the special election reporting period. 11 CFR 104.22(a)(5)(v). For more information on these requirements, see the March 2009 Record.
NOTE: The lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold for calendar year 2012 was $16,700. This threshold amount may increase in 2013 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. 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.
Resources: