Comments sought on amending political party regulations

On August 1, 2024, the Commission published a notification of availability in the Federal Register at 89 Fed. Reg. 62671 that seeks public comment on a petition for rulemaking filed by the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and its Chair, Ken Martin (the Minnesota DFL).

The petition highlights three "priority issues" for consideration by the Commission. First, it asks the Commission to narrow the requirement that political parties must use federal funds to pay for salaries, wages, and fringe benefits of party employees who spend compensated time on Federal Election Activity (FEA)or on activities in connection with a federal election by omitting FEA and solely covering activities "in connection with a Federal election."

Second, the petition asks the Commission to reconsider and revise the definitions of "voter registration activity" and "get-out-the-vote activity."

Third, the petition asks the Commission to codify a "modernized standard" to determine when volunteer activities related to mailings by state or local parties comply with the Federal Election Campaign Act's "volunteer mailing exemption."

The petition also incorporates proposals the Minnesota DFL made in a separate rulemaking petition filed in 2016. Those proposals include amending several additional rules that would allow parties "to discuss issue advertisements by the parties with candidates," "republish parts of candidate materials in party materials," "distribute volunteer campaign materials without triggering coordination limits," and "expand political party freedom to engage in volunteer activities such as volunteer mail drives, phone banks, and literature distribution." Additionally, the petition requests that the Commission modify the definition of FEA to permit "political parties to register voters and urge citizens to vote on behalf of state and local candidates free from FEC regulation" and "to employ people to engage in state and local get-out-the-vote activities with state funds."

Public comments on the petition are due by September 30, 2024. Commenters are encouraged to submit comments electronically (reference REG 2024-07) via the Commission's website. With the petition addressing the same issues the Minnesota DFL raised in 2016 (REG 2016-03), the Commission published a notice of disposition concluding its consideration of that petition.

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