Rule 111:2-5-04 | Hardship rule.
(A) As used in this rule, "eligible campaign committee" means either of the following:
(1) The campaign committee of a candidate for statewide office that makes expenditures of less than twenty-five thousand dollars during a reporting period under division (A) of section 3517.10 of the Revised Code;
(2) The campaign committee of a candidate for the office of member of the general assembly or for the office of judge of a court of appeals that would otherwise be required to file campaign finance statements by electronic means of transmission under division (E) of section 3517.106 of the Revised Code.
(B)
(1) An eligible campaign committee may file a campaign finance statement for a reporting period under division (A) of section 3517.10 of the Revised Code by paper rather than by electronic means of transmission if the candidate of the eligible campaign committee files with the secretary of state a notice indicating that the candidate's campaign committee intends to file by paper and stating that filing the statement by electronic means of transmission would constitute a hardship for the candidate or for the eligible campaign committee.
(2) The campaign finance statement is accompanied by a fee not to exceed the actual data entry and data verification costs incurred by the secretary of state to convert the information filed on paper to electronic format. The fee shall be determined by the secretary of state, which results in a fee that does not exceed the secretary's actual costs.
(C) An eligible campaign committee that files a campaign finance statement on paper pursuant to division (J) of section 3517.106 of the Revised Code shall review the contribution and other information made available online by the secretary of state with respect to that paper filing and shall notify the secretary of state of any errors with respect to that filing that appear in the data made available on the secretary of state's web site.
(D) Campaign finance statements filed on paper pursuant to division (J) of section 3517.106 of the Revised Code shall be filed by the filing deadlines required under division (A) of section 3517.10 of the Revised Code.
(E) Any campaign committee that submits paper campaign finance statements, pursuant to division (J) of section 3517.106 of the Revised Code, shall comply with the following provisions, as applicable.
(1) The candidate of an eligible campaign committee that intends to file a paper statement pursuant to division (J) of section 3517.106 of the Revised Code shall file a notice of hardship for each campaign finance statement that the committee intends to file by paper. A notice of hardship must be filed prior to the filing of the campaign finance statement on paper in order for a campaign committee to file on paper pursuant to division (J) of section 3517.106 of the Revised Code.
(2) A campaign finance statement filed on paper pursuant to division (J) of section 3517.106 of the Revised Code is not timely filed if, by the filing deadline, the statement is not filed at the office of the secretary of state.
(3) Electronic filing notices of hardship shall be signed under penalty of election falsification.
Last updated October 5, 2021 at 8:52 AM
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