2020 Candidates: Upcoming Pre-Runoff Primary Election Reporting Requirements

The Runoff Primary Election is 2 weeks from Tuesday, August 11, 2020. All 2020 Candidate Committee have at least one report due as indicated below.     Additional reports may be required: Committees of those candidates whose name is on the runoff primary election ballot may have 24 Hour/CRC Reports due. These are described below in the "Continuing Reports of Contributions (24hr/CRC Reports)" section. Candidates who did not participate in the Primary Election: See the section titled "Candidates who did not participate in the Primary Election" after the "Resources" section for important information on how to address 24 Hour/Continuing Reports of Contribution showing as required for the Primary Election. Helpful Tips and Resources are below as well.

Pre-Runoff Primary Election Reports of Contributions and Expenditures

REQUIRED OF ALL 2020 CANDIDATE COMMITTEES* 

• August 11-August 17, 2020 : Pre-runoff primary Contributions and Expenditures Reports Due.
• Required by all 2020 candidate committees* regardless of whether the candidate is in the runoff primary election. 
• Committees are required to register in The Guardian System within 10 days of spending or receiving in excess of $1,000 (this includes the candidate’s personal funds spent on the campaign and loans to the campaign).  

* Only required of Candidates required to register in The Guardian System

Continuing Reports of Contributions (24hr/CRC Reports)

Runoff Primary Election Participating Candidate's Only

• August 11 - August 23, 2020: Continuing Reports of Contributions due within 24 hours.
  • 1st Report is due: within 24 hours of a Committee accepting contributions in excess of $1,000 in the aggregate from a single contributor.
  • 2nd and subsequent reports are due: within 24 hours of a Committee accepting additional contributions from that same contributor regardless of amount. 
• "Contribution" includes: 
  • monetary contributions,
  • in-kind contributions, and
  • loans (including loans from the candidate, or candidate’s friends & family).

Reporting Tips:

1. Chronological Entry of Data: Enter all transactions in order from oldest to newest. 
2. Enter Contributions DAILY during the final two weeks before the election:
   1. The Guardian System will automatically notify the committee if a contribution has exceeded the threshold for the 24 hour report & will add the report to the committee's account.
   2. The Guardian System will not trigger a report until the transaction is entered in the system.

Resources:

State Candidate Page

Includes, many helpful resources, including:

• Contribution Charts
• Reporting Calendars
• Checklists
• Guide for State Candidates

Candidates who did not participate in the June 30, 2020 Primary Election

The Guardian System has no way of knowing which candidate participates in which election. As a result when a candidate committee enters contributions to include on the Pre-Runoff Primary Contributions and Expenditures Report certain contributions accepted during the 2 weeks before the primary election will trigger 24Hr/CRC Reports in The Guardian System. 

• Candidate's whose name was on the Primary Election Ballot: These 24hr/CRC reports are required and must be filed, even though the reports are past due.
• Candidate's whose name was not on the Primary Election Ballot. These 24hr/CRC reports are not required to be filed and the following steps should be followed: 

1. When a transaction from June is entered and shows a 24 hour/CRC report as due prior to the primary election do the following:
   • Verify the transaction is correct and click "continue" on the warning screen so it will be included on the Pre-Runoff Primary Contributions and Expenditures Report.
   • Do not file the Pre-Primary Election 24hr/CRC reports. 
2. File the Pre-Runoff Primary Election Report due between August 11 and August 17 and any Pre-Runoff Primary election 24hr/CRC reports due from August 11 to August 23, 2020.
3. Contact Ethics Commission staff to remove the 24hr/CRC reports that are not required from your filing schedule by: 

• E-Mail: ethics@ethics.ok.gov with subject line "Non-Primary Candidate CRC Report Removal".  Include the committee name and ethics ID number. 
  • Commission staff will verify the candidate did not participate in the Primary Election and will remove the report. 
  • Due to limited resources and helping candidates file required pre-runoff primary reports, the 24 hr/CRC reports for the primary election will be removed as staff is available and may not occur until after the runoff primary election. 

What happens if a 24 hr/CRC report is filed but was not required? It will be maintained on The Guardian System with all other filings.

 Need Assistance? Have Questions?

If a report  is required for the committee, but not showing when logged in to the committee’s account, the committee either:

• Has information to correct on the Statement of Organization or the registration fee to pay; or
• The Committee filed its Statement of Organization after the timeframe to be included on the report was completed.
• Contact the office at ethics@ethics.ok.gov for assistance with getting the report added to your account.

Commission staff is available 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

Call: (405) 521-3451

Email: ethics@ethics.ok.gov

Website: www.ethics.ok.gov

Follow us on Twitter: @EthicsOKgov

Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ethicsOKgov