Week of September 14-18, 2020

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Litigation

Campaign Legal Center v. FEC (Case No. 20-1778) On September 13, the Clerk of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia entered Default against the Commission. On September 17, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Default Judgment in that court.

Campaign Legal Center v. FEC (Case No. 20-5159) On September 14, the Plaintiff-Appellant filed an Opening Brief in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Campaign Legal Center, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 19-2336) On September 9, the Institute for Free Speech filed a Proposed Amicus Curiae Brief in Support of No Party on Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

McCutcheon, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 20-02485) On September 4, Plaintiffs filed a Verified Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief and Petition for Review and Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Memorandum of Law in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Outreach

On September 16, 2020, Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub participated in the “Media Leaders and the Election” roundtable sponsored by PEN America and the News Leaders Association, where she spoke about ensuring fact-based reporting on election fraud and the deadlines for results in the presidential race.

On September 18, the Commission issued the Statistical Summary of 18-Month Campaign Activity of the 2019-2020 Election Cycle.

On September 18, Chair James E. “Trey” Trainor III spoke at the 2020 Faith, Family, and Freedom Conference sponsored by Texas Values in Austin, TX.

Upcoming Commission meetings

September 22, 2020: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

Upcoming reporting due dates

September 20: September Monthly reports are due. For more information on monthly reporting dates, refer to the 2020 Monthly Reporting page of the Commission website.

Upcoming educational programs

September 23-24, 2020: The Commission will host reporting and FECFile webinars for candidates, PACs and political party committees.

Additional information is available on the Educational Outreach page of the Commission website.

Status of agency operations

See the Commission’s statement on the status of agency operations, updated on August 10, 2020. At this stage, most agency staff remain in telework status and the Commission’s office remains closed to visitors.

Additional research materials

Contribution Limits. In addition to the current limits, the Commission has posted an archive of contribution limits that were in effect going back to the 1975-1976 election cycles.

Federal Elections 2018: Election Results for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives is available. The data was compiled from the official vote totals published by state election offices.

FEC Notify: Want to be notified by email when campaign finance reports are received by the agency? Sign up here.

Additional research materials about the agency, campaign finance information, and election results are available through the Library section of the Commission website.

The 2019 Combined Federal State Disclosure and Election Directory is available. This publication identifies the federal and state agencies responsible for the disclosure of campaign finances, lobbying, personal finances, public financing, candidates on the ballot, election results, spending on state initiatives and other financial filings.

The FEC Record is available as a continuously updated online news source.

Other election-related resources

Videos on protecting U.S. elections. The FBI’s Protected Voices initiative provides videos designed to help political campaigns protect themselves from foreign influence. The 2019 videos offer guidance on ransomware, business email compromise, supply chain, social media literacy, and foreign influence operations. Other videos, released in 2018, include cyber hygiene topics such as social engineering, patching, router hardening, and app and browser safety.

Join the FEC on Twitter and YouTube

Follow @FEC on Twitter to receive the latest information on agency updates, news releases, and weekly activity. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, FECTube: FECConnect on Demand, to watch instructional videos that have been designed to help candidates and committees comply with federal campaign finance laws. Note that the FEC is not currently available through other social media platforms at this time. The use of the agency’s logo, name, and likeness on other media has not been authorized by the FEC.