Author: Benjamin Katz

The Key Stats on the Dashboard reflect a more specified breakdown of contributions as they are entered. This will most likely differ from Line 11 on your FEC report, as that total will reflect a value that may also contain deductions or fee expenses that will reduce the initial total of the contributions.

The NY January Periodic is unique because the From Date is in one year, but the To Date is in another. The state’s e-filing system is also overly complicated and specific, so there are some unique challenges when filing the January Periodic.

Generating the Report

When generating the NY January Periodic Report, keep the following parameters in mind:

• If filing a semi-annual report, then the From Date is typically in mid-July (verify the exact date on the state’s site)
• If participation in the November election occurred, then the From Date is typically in early-December (verify the exact date on the state’s site)
• For either From Date, the To Date is mid-January of the following year (verify the exact date on the state’s site)
• The Report Due Date is mid-January of the following year (verify the exact date on the state’s site)
• The Election Period is 20XX January Periodic – it will be the same year as the To Date

Note: the e-filing must be generated and downloaded from ISP.

Filing the Report via the NY State System

Once logged into the NY State System, click the hamburger menu on the top bar and select Import Disclosure Reports.

Select Report Year – this is the year that the report files (the same year as the report To Date); not the year that the majority of the report covers, and click Apply.

When the window refreshes, select Import on the right side towards the middle of the page. In the new pop-up, select ISPolitical for Vendor. Next, click Choose File, then find and upload the file downloaded from ISP. Finally, click Upload.

After some time – it takes a few minutes to upload/process – a message will appear that says “Transactions uploaded successfully. Please review your Disclosure report for accuracy and submit.” Click OK, then select Close in the pop-up window.

Once again, from the hamburger menu, select View/Submit Disclosure, then select an option from EACH drop-down menu on the left side. Ensure once again that the Report Year is this is the year that the report files (the same year as the report To Date).

After everything is filled in, click Apply and review the report. There are a few options: either review the itemized transactions as listed on the state’s website or print a Full Period Report to review the PDF.

Once the report has been reviewed, click Submit Disclosure Report.

There may be additional steps after this point, depending on the message(s) received upon submission.

When adding a Drip Email, you’ll be able to set the details of the Drip Email, as well as certain conditions for the email to adhere to.

In the window that appears after clicking Add Drip Email, add how many days after signup to send the email, what time of day to send the email, and the subject line of the email. These fields are required. Below that is where you create the body of the email and set other options, such as excluding firms.

The Limit Recipients section is where you can be specific about which users get which emails based on their role and actions already taken within the database. 

Use the Last Logged In option for those that haven’t logged in in X amount of days. The Billing Rate Range allows you to send drip emails based on a billing range. 

The remaining options in the window are more ways to limit who receives the Drip Emails. The three columns are:

• Either: The email will go to the recipient whether or not the option applies
• Exclude: The email will not go to anyone who has already engaged this option
• Require: The email will only go to those who have yet to engage this option

Select one of those three conditions for the following:

• Has Logged In: The account has been logged into at least once
• Has Entities: The account has a minimum of 5 Entities
• Has Transactions: The account has at least one transaction recorded
• Has Taken Tour: One or more users has completed the audio tour
• Has Reviewed AI Settings: A user has edited a AI setting or one or more Personal Assistant tasks or enabled
• Has Consultant: One or more users is a Consultant or Professional Treasurer
• Is Consultant: The recipient is a consultant
• Is Variable Rate: The account is using a variable rate

A candidate or officeholder who files with the Commission and who accepts a political contribution during the period beginning on the date the governor signs the proclamation calling a special legislative session and continuing through the date of final adjournment is required to file a report after a special session of the legislature.

This information can be disclosed on Form C/OH-SS. Contributions that are disclosed on this report will be needed to disclose again on the candidate’s next required report. You are required to itemize all political contributions accepted during a special legislative session, regardless of the amount

To file your report, you must generate and download your e-file to upload to your filing account. Log into your state account and file your report with the state.

Typically, when a committee receives a transfer from a Joint Fundraising Committee (JFC), the portion the filing committee receives will be less than the total of all the original contributions.

When this is entered into ISP, the total of splits will be greater than the whole amount. The FEC expects this.

In order to ensure the Transfer pulls to the FEC to Line 12, one of the two following conditions must be met:

• The whole (parent) entity must have a Relationship with the filer committee. The automatic memo that will pull is: Memo Transfer from Authorized Committee – {parent entity name}
• The whole (parent) transaction must have the tag Transfer. The automatic memo that will pull is: Memo Transfer from Joint Fundraiser – {parent entity name} on {parent date} for {parent amount}.

You do not need to have both.

Exceptions

When your transfer contains original contributions for a Recount election, you’ll need to remove/delete the splits from the main transfer transaction, and create a new transaction with the pro-rated amount as the whole amount.

Then, when making a deposit, ensure both the original and the Recount contributions are in the same deposit batch.

Can I run multiple transfers on the same date?

You can have multiple transfers on the same date. The best way to handle this is to create the transfers individually, even if dates of transactions may overlap.

First, record the new contributions as usual in the JFC Management tool. Then make a JFC Transfer covering only the dates involving the new contributions. This will record a new JFC Transfer that might need slight editing if there are overlapping contributions. If there are no overlaps between contributions received, then you would just have a smaller second transfer.

If you’re looking for individuals who have never donated or haven’t donated within a specific date range, you can locate them using Advanced Search.

If your candidate information is not pulling properly to your Form 3x, confirm that information on the candidate’s individual record is filled out properly. Office Sought, State, Jurisdiction, and District Number all need to be properly filled out in order for the information to pull correctly to the report.

The FL Testimonial Report shows transactions related to a testimonial. A testimonial is any breakfast, dinner, luncheon, rally, party, reception, or other affair held to honor or raise funds on behalf of any elected public officer, except a campaign fundraiser.

The data entry is as follows:

1. Ensure the Events tool is installed. If it is not showing in the Tools menu, select Add/Remove, scroll to Events, then click it to add it.

2. Add one (and only one) event. The Event fields will correspond to the cover page as follows:        

• Date: Date testimonial is to be held
• Location: Place testimonial is to be held
• Sponsor Name: Name and address of person or persons in charge of the testimonial
• Address Line 1/City/State/Zip: Name and address of the person or persons in charge of the testimonial
• Type: Purpose for which the testimonial is to be held
• Description: Purpose for which the funds raised are to be used

3. Ensure a Candidate is linked in the Relationships section of the filer record. This information will pull the name and address of the officer in whose honor or on whose behalf the testimonial is to be held.

4. Ensure the Financial Account has your bank’s organization record associated with it. This is found in the Financial Account details under the Lists tab.

5. Ensure a Treasurer is linked to the filer record in the Relationships section. This information will pull the name and address of the Treasurer.

After the Event is set up, all transactions will be reported.

Why am I able to see a BETA Compliance Report?

Compliance reports sometimes require a quick bug fix or update to the report. Once done, it will be placed in BETA mode. If you see a BETA form, the report is still in testing mode but usable before the changes are pushed to the live version of the report. 

Only those we have specifically directed to do so should use the form. Using it without our implicit direction could potentially result in potential filing errors. If we haven’t directed you to use the BETA form, use the standard form, as you have not experienced the issue that prompted the work on the beta. The changes, once finalized, will be pushed to the live version of the report.

When working in ISP, you may encounter compliance report errors based on data in your database. Below is a list of the errors you may see. The full description of each error is available within the application by holding your mouse over the question mark icon next to the error.

Allocation used with Non-Levin State Account

There is an allocation associated with the transaction and the financial account is a non-federal account. Please remove the allocation from the transaction or update the financial account.

Amendment Not Marked As Amendment

The dates on this report correspond to dates on a report that was Marked as Filed. Please regenerate the report with the Amended box checked.

Contribution from Couple

This contribution may be attributed to more than one person. Campaign finance rules require that contributions be attributed to only one person or have the amount split between each individual.

Dependent Support/Oppose Memos Unequal to Amount

The total of the Support/Oppose memos does not equal the amount of the parent transaction. Please confirm, as this may impact proper reporting.

Disallowed PO Box

You are required to report an address other than a PO Box. Please set another address as the Primary Reportable address.

Disallowed Reporting Description

Your reporting description is considered insufficient by your agency. Please add a more explanatory description.

Duplicate ID number in e-filing: ####

This is a critical system error and will prevent e-filing your report. Please contact ISP support for immediate assistance.

Employer must be longer than 2 characters

Your efiling will be rejected because this field is too short. Please review your entry and update as appropriate.

Expense to Candidate

You have entered an expense to a candidate. Your expense should be to the actual recipient of the funds. This would generally be their political committee.

Filer must be a Committee

You must set your filing organization as a political committee before filing a report. You can do that from the Committee Info section of its record.

Has Split in Future

This transaction has a split that is dated after the close of the current reporting period. Please confirm the date of the split as this may impact proper reporting.

Has Support/Oppose Memo in Future

This transaction has a dependent Support/Oppose memo that is dated after the close of the current reporting period. Please confirm this is expected.

Individual without Candidate Relationship

This individual is not linked to a political committee via a candidate relationship. This is needed for proper reporting of committee information.

Interest Rate is Required

Your loan must include the interest rate.

Invalid FEC Candidate Office Sought ID Number

Please check the Candidate ID Number. You’ll find it in the Candidate section in the candidate’s record. The number you have does not appear to be valid.

Invalid FEC Candidate Office Sought ID Number

The ID number for this candidate is not in a valid format. Candidate IDs have the structure: H9CA12345. Enter the correct ID in the Candidate Info section of the candidate’s record.

Invalid FEC Committee ID Number

The ID number you have entered for your filer committee appears to be wrong. Please confirm and update it. You can do that from the Committee Info section of its record.

Invalid GA Committee ID Number

The ID number you have entered for your filer committee appears to be wrong. Please confirm and update it. You can do that from the Committee Info section of its record.

Invalid MA Committee ID Number

The ID number you have entered appears to be wrong. Please confirm and update it. You can do that from the Committee Info section of its record.

Invalid MN Committee ID Number

The ID number you have entered for your filer committee appears to be wrong. Please confirm and update it. You can do that from the Committee Info section of its record.

Invalid Zip Code

The Zip Code is not a valid Zip Code. Please verify the correct Zip Code is in use and regenerate your report.

Itemized Other Entity

An Other Entity (such as Anonymous or Bookkeeping) is itemized. Please ensure that is expected.

Mis-Matched Current Election/Report Period

The reporting period you’ve selected does not match the election you’ve selected. Please regenerate with corrected settings.
NOTE: This error may appear in different variations, depending on the report period.

Mis-Matched Original/Dependent

The transaction is associated with a financial account that corresponds to a different filer than the transaction. It must be associated with the same filer to ensure proper reporting.
NOTE: This error may appear in different variations, depending on the transaction type.

Missing Relationship

This entity has no relationships. At least one is required for proper reporting.

Missing Support/Oppose Memos

This is an expense that has either (a) a reporting code for political donations or (b) is a to political committee. Typically these expenses include a Support/Oppose Memo. If this expense was for your own candidate or committee rather than to support/oppose another, you can ignore this warning. If it was to support/oppose another candidate or committee, we would recommend adding a support/oppose memo.

No transactions were itemized for filing on this report.

This report does not need to be filed if blank.

Non-Levin Allocation used with Levin Account

The Allocation associated with the transaction is not designated as Levin while the financial account is marked as Levin. Please remove the Allocation from the transaction or update the financial account.

Non-Numeric Committee ID Number

Please make sure you have entered your committee’s ID number. It should be entered as a number without any letters or symbols in the Committee Info section of its record.

Non-WY Committee

The ID number for this committee is not recognized by Wyoming SoS. Please enter this entity manually on the state website.

Occupation in Employer Field

There is a common occupation entered for this individual’s employer. We recommend reviewing to make sure the values aren’t transposed or incorrect.

Occupation must be longer than 2 characters

Your efiling will be rejected because this field is too short. Please review your entry and update as appropriate.

Previous General Election Date can not have a date later than the From Date.

The Previous General Election Date must be before the reporting period. If your period includes a general election, regenerate this report, using the General Election Date prior to the reporting period.

Prohibited Entity: Financial Institution/Credit Card Issuer

This transaction appears to be disallowed by campaign finance law. Please review and contact your agency for further guidance.

Required Address

A full address is required. Please review and correct any missing or incorrect address info.

Required Candidate

The candidate must be linked to the filer committee via Candidate / Candidate Of in the Relationship section of the candidate’s record.

Required Candidate Office Sought

Please set the Office Sought for your candidate in the Candidate Info section of the candidate’s record.

Required Candidate Office Sought District Number

A district number is required. Please update the Candidate Info section of the candidate’s record.

Required Candidate Office Sought ID Number

Please set the Candidate ID Number in the Candidate Info section of the candidate’s record.

Required Candidate Office Sought Office Name

Office Sought is required. Please update the Candidate Info section of the candidate’s record.

Required Candidate State

Ensure the State dropdown has a state selected in the Candidate Info section of your candidate’s record.

Required Committee Address

You are missing an address for your filer committee. Please add an address to the Address section of your filer committee record.

Required Committee Email Address

You are missing an email address for your filer committee. Please add an email address to the Emails section in your filer committee’s record.

Required Committee ID

You must enter your committee’s ID number before filing a report. Please update the Committee Info section of your committee’s record.

Required Committee ID Number

This political committee is missing their ID number. Please update the Political Committee section of their organization record.

Required EIN Number

The EIN is required. Please update the Business Info section of the organization’s record.

Required Election

An election is required. Please make sure you select one.

Required Employer

This individual does not have an employer on their record. Please add this information and regenerate the report.

Required Filer Email Address

You are missing an email address for your filer. Please add an email address to the Emails section in your filer committee’s record.

Required Industry

You are required to report an industry. Click the green triangle to the right of the organization’s name to add the industry.

Required Name

This Individual has a blank name. Please enter their name and regenerate the report.

Required Note for Compliance

This transaction requires a reporting description. Please add a description to the Compliance Note field.

Required Occupation

This individual does not have an occupation on their record. Please add this information and regenerate the report.

Required Party

Please set the Party for your candidate/committee in the Candidate Info section of the candidate’s record or the Committee Info section of the committee’s record.

Required Political Committee Type

Please update the Type in the Committee Info section of the committee’s record.

Required Recordkeeper

The recordkeeper must be linked to the filer committee via Recordkeeper / Recordkeeper Of in the Relationships section of the entity record. For federal candidate committees, a Recordkeeper Relationship is required.

Required Recordkeeper Address

You are missing an address for your recordkeeper.

Required Reporting Code

A reporting code is required for this transaction.

Required Transaction Method

The transaction method is required.

Required Transaction Number

The transaction number is required.

Required Treasurer

The treasurer must be linked to the committee via Treasurer / Treasurer Of in the Relationships section of the entity record.

Required Treasurer Address

You are missing an address for your treasurer.

Required Work Address

A full work address is required. Please add it to the individual record.

Required Work City/State

A work city and state are required. Please add it to the individual record in the Addresses section.

Required: Candidate Info: Office Sought ID Number

This field is required for efiling. Please verify the data is correct or completed and regenerate your report.

Required: [Field Name]

This field is required for efiling. Please verify the data is correct or completed and regenerate your report.

Self-Employed is Invalid Employer

Self-Employed is not an accepted employer. Please replace with the name of the business.

Starting Cash On Hand not equal to Ending Cash on Hand on Previous Filed Report

When comparing this report to the previous period’s report on the FEC’s website, we found this calculation difference. If you just filed an amendment to that report, it may not yet be updated on the FEC site and this can be ignored.

Starting Date does not align with Ending Date on Previous Filed Report – Check Date Range

Your report is not one day after your previously filed report. Please confirm that you’re using the right dates.

State Does Not Match Zip Code

The zip code and state do not match. Please correct the address in the record and regenerate your report.

Support/Oppose memo to candidate committee

Your Support/Oppose Memo has been entered associated with a candidate committee. It must be associated instead with the candidate’s individual record. Be sure the candidate information is filled in.

Support/Oppose memo to non-candidate committee

Your Support/Oppose Memo has been entered associated with a non-candidate committee. If this transaction was not to support/oppose a candidate or ballot measure, it should not be entered as a Support/Oppose Memo.

Support/Oppose memo to non-candidate individual

Your Support/Oppose Memo has been entered associated with an individual who is not marked as a candidate. Please ensure the candidate information is filled in.

There is a calculation discrepancy with the current Election Cycle to Date total for [Line #]. Current Election Cycle to Date total should be equal to Period Total plus previously filed Election Cycle to Date Total. 

When comparing this report to the previous period’s report on the FEC’s website, we found this calculation difference. If you just filed an amendment to that report, it may not yet be updated on the FEC site and this can be ignored.

When you see calculation discrepancies, that means transactions on a previously filed report have changed. To view these, navigate to Reports, then Compliance Tools. Run the Changed Transactions report for your older reports to figure out which transactions are causing the error.

There is a critical conflict between report calculations and your register balance.

We have detected a discrepancy with the calculations on the report. Please contact Support so we can help identify issues and ensure accurate filings.

This report contains a Column C based on the reporting period selected

A column C is included when the reporting period includes dates in two different election cycles. If you believe this is incorrect, please double-check the period you’ve selected or consult our help file. More information about the post-general report.

Total of Splits does not Equal Whole Amount

The total of the splits associated with this transaction does not equal the amount of the whole. This could impact your compliance report and corresponding totals. Please confirm the amounts are correct.

Transaction added directly to Financial Account

You have added a transaction directly to a financial account, rather than including it as part of a deposit batch.

Transaction to Own Filer

You have attributed an Accrued Expense to your own committee. Please edit the transaction and attribute it to the individual or organization your transaction was with.
NOTE: This could apply to different transaction types, including Accrued Expense, Expense, Monetary Contribution, Other Income, and Support/Oppose memos.

Unsupported Transaction Type: [Transaction Type]

This transaction type is not currently fully supported. Please contact Support for immediate assistance.
NOTE: This could apply to different transaction types. 

Verify Business Type

Based on keywords in the name of this organization, it’s possible the business type is incorrect. If not, you can ignore this warning.

Verify Committee Type

Based on keywords in the name of this political committee, it’s possible the committee type is incorrect. If not, you can ignore this warning.

Verify LLC Splits

This transaction is from an LLC but no splits have been entered.

Verify Organization Type

Based on keywords in the name of this organization, it’s possible the organization type is incorrect and may need to be set as a Political Committee. If not, you can ignore this warning.

Verify Partnership Splits

This transaction is from a partnership but no splits have been entered.

You have [amount] in unitemized transactions for [Schedule]  This must be manually entered

Your agency does not support uploading of unitemizing transactions and this must be manually entered.

Your report does not have a starting date of [date]

Each reporting period will have its own expected set of dates. Confirm the date range used to generate the report and ensure you have selected the reporting period that matches the dates used.

Your report does not have an ending date of [date]

Each reporting period will have its own expected set of dates. Confirm the date range used to generate the report and ensure you have selected the reporting period that matches the dates used.