970 CMR, § 1.11

Current through Register 1536, December 6, 2024

Section 1.11 - Electronic Filing

(1)Definitions. For the purposes of M.G.L. c. 55, § 18C and 970 CMR 1.11, the following words shall have the following meanings:

Authentication shall mean the method used to identify a person signing and creating electronic signatures and records.

CPF ID Number shall mean the unique identification number assigned to a candidate or political committee by the Director pursuant to 970 CMR 2.07(8) and the unique identification number assigned to depository banks pursuant to M.G.L. c. 55, § 19.

Depository Bank shall mean a financial institution which a candidate or political committee has designated as a depository for the campaign funds of such candidate or political committee in accordance with M.G.L. c. 55, § 19(a).

EFS shall mean the OCPF Electronic Filing and Campaign Disclosure System that is the electronic reporting system developed for the submission, retrieval, storage and public disclosure of campaign finance reports and financial activity statements required to be filed with the Director pursuant to M.G.L. c. 55, § 18C(a).

Election Cycle shall mean, for local party committees, the period beginning on the first day of January following the most recent biennial state election and ending on the 31^st day of December following the next biennial state election.

Electronic Record shall mean a record created, generated, sent, communicated, received or stored by electronic means.

Electronic Signature shall mean an electronic process attached to or logically associated with an electronic record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.

User shall mean a candidate, duly appointed treasurer of a political committee or the cashier or treasurer of a depository bank to whom a CPF ID number and password have been assigned or a person acting under the authority or on behalf of the candidate, political committee or depository bank to whom a CPF ID number and password have been assigned. The term "user" shall also mean a person who has registered with OCPF using his or her e-mail address and a password created by the user for the purpose of completing and filing a Report of Independent Expenditures, a Report of Electioneering Communications, or any other report required to be electronically filed by M.G.L. c. 55, either as the person making such expenditures, or as the person authorized to do so by an entity making such expenditures.

(2) Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 55, § 18C, electronic campaign finance reports and financial activity statements created and filed with the Director shall be electronically signed by means of the following process:

(a)Authentication. The EFS shall be maintained on secure servers. Access to the EFS servers for the purpose of creating and submitting electronic records shall be accomplished by a login protocol requiring users to use both their CPF ID number and a unique eight-digit, alpha-numeric password or their registered e-mail address and password.

(b)Demonstration of Intent to Sign the Record. A user shall demonstrate his or her intent to electronically sign an electronic campaign finance report or financial activity statement by the affirmative act of clicking through an electronic interface to file an electronic record with this office. The electronic interface that this office shall employ for electronically signing records will provide written notice upon the web page presented to the user for electronic signature that clearly indicates to the user that the click-through method used is a binding signature and the pages or data to which the user is agreeing when he or she signs electronically.

(c)Binding. For candidates and political committees, the electronic signature shall be bound to the electronic record(s) by two means: the candidate's, committee's or depository bank's CPF ID number shall be encoded into the electronic record(s) at the time of its creation; and at submission, each signed electronic record shall be assigned a unique transaction identification number maintained on the EFS secure server. Proof of electronic signature shall be provided to the user at the time of signing the record(s) in the form of a file submission receipt that shall clearly identify the user's CPF ID number and the transaction number for the electronic record(s) submitted. For all other persons required to file reports electronically, the signature shall be bound to the electronic record(s) by the encoding of the person's name, title, and (if applicable) the entity the person is filing on behalf of.

(d)Data Integrity. The Director shall ensure the data integrity of the signed electronic records submitted, stored and maintained in the EFS by:

1. employing encryption technology for the transmission of data from remote locations to the EFS secure servers;

2. managing the servers so that the EFS provides an audit trail for every electronic record created, submitted and stored in the EFS; and

3. by immediately electronically locking electronic records at signing so that they cannot be subsequently altered.

(e)Notice. Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 55, § 18C, notice shall be provided on the web page presented to the user for electronic signature that electronic records shall be signed under penalties of perjury as required by M.G.L. c. 55, § 24, and 970 CMR 2.14(6). Such electronic signature shall, in the case of a candidate's committee report, be attributable to both the candidate and the duly appointed treasurer of the candidate's political committee, in the case of other types of committees, to the duly appointed treasurer of the political committee or, in the case of depository banks, to the cashier or treasurer of the bank.

(3) All candidates and committees required to file with the Director, with the exception of local party committees, must file reports electronically. For local party committees that raise or spend more than $5,000 in an election cycle, the requirement to file electronically commences at the start of the election cycle and not when the statutory threshold provided in M.G.L. c. 55, § 18C(b) is exceeded.

(4)

(a) Once a local party committee exceeds the electronic filing threshold during a particular reporting period, the committee must file electronically for that reporting period and for all subsequent reporting periods prior to the end of the committee members' four-year term of office.

(b) A local party committee that does not exceed the electronic filing threshold during a reporting period may voluntarily file electronically for that reporting period. By voluntarily filing a report electronically, the committee is not precluded from filing in paper form in a future reporting period, if the committee has continued to not exceed the electronic filing threshold.

(5) All electronic reports shall be filed in the EFS via the Internet using software approved by the Director. If the Director determines that a person required to file is not able otherwise to file electronically, the Director may, in his or her discretion, allow the person to file an electronic report by disk or e-mail attachment. If a person files by disc or e-mail attachment, the person will be required to file with the Director a written attestation of the report signed under the penalties of perjury as required by M.G.L. c. 55, § 24, and 970 CMR 2.14(6).

(6) Candidates and treasurers required to designate a depository account shall report information regarding contributions to the Director electronically on the fifth day of each month, complete as of the last day of the preceding month, except for candidates for state senate or house of representatives, in which case the reports must be filed by the dates specified in M.G.L. c. 55, § 19(b)(3). A candidate for state senate or house of representatives is required to file deposit reports before a primary no later than eight days before a primary, as specified in M.G.L. c. 55, § 19(b)(3), regardless of whether the candidate is on the ballot in the primary election.

(7) Individuals, corporations, groups or associations making expenditures in an aggregate amount exceeding $250 during a calendar year, to influence or affect the vote on any question which appears on the state ballot in a state election, must file reports required by M.G.L. c. 55, § 22 electronically with the Director. If the question appears on ballots at a city or town election or appears on ballots for use in a city or town at a state election, the report must be filed in paper form with the city or town clerk.

(8) The treasurer of any city, town, or other governmental unit, filing a report in accordance with M.G.L. c. 55, § 22A concerning an expenditure or payment made to influence or affect the vote on a question submitted to the voters of the commonwealth shall file reports electronically with the Director. If the expenditure or payment concerns a question which appears on ballots at a city or town election or appears on ballots for use in a city or town at a state election, the report must be filed in paper form with the city or town clerk.

(9) Any individual, group or association making independent expenditures or electioneering communication expenditures in an aggregate amount exceeding $250 during any calendar year must file reports required by M.G.L. c. 55, § 18A or § 18F electronically with the Director if the expenditures relate to a candidate who files with the Director.

(10) Reports of donations received by legal defense, recount, or inauguration funds, required by M.G.L. c. 55, § 18E, shall be filed electronically with the Director if the donations relate to a candidate or committee that files with the Director.

(11) For every individual, candidate, committee or entity required to file electronically, the dates for filing and the contents of the filing shall be the same as that required for an individual, candidate, committee or entity under M.G.L. 55.

(12) Any individual, candidate, committee, or entity required to file electronically who fails to file, files late, files a false return, or allows a false return to be filed, shall be subject to the same penalties as if they failed to file a paper filing required under M.G.L. c. 55, § 18, or filed a false return or allowed a false return to be filed.