My FEC Report Failed While Processing. Now What?

Applies To: Federal Election Commission

Every once in a while the FEC will give you a filing acknowledgement that says this:

DISCLOSE — FEC Financial Disclosure Filing Acknowledgement

*** ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ***
Your filing was received but failed during processing. You may be required to re-file.
Please contact the electronic filing office for further instructions:
Phone: 202-694-1642, menu options 2, 4 or 5

This message is the FEC’s way of saying something may have gone wrong, but they don’t know what.

Here is what to do if you see this message from the FEC:

1) Check the FEC website to see if the file posted successfully, regardless of the error. If so, you don’t need to do anything!

2) If you don’t see your report on the FEC’s site, regenerate and attempt to refile the report as an original. There is a possibility the file will be rejected due to being a “duplicate” report.

3) Contact your analyst immediately, even if it is after hours. If you have a way to forward the acknowledgment to your analyst, that would be ideal, so that you have proof of an attempt of timely filing should the FEC inquire further.