Current through Register Vol. 24, December 20, 2024
(1) Pursuant to
13-35-225, MCA, election
communications, electioneering communications, and independent expenditures
(referred to collectively herein as "election materials") must disclose the
person who paid for the election materials, by including the appropriate
attribution language set out in (2).
(2) All attributions must include the words
"paid for by" followed by the appropriate identifying information. For election
materials financed by:
(a) a candidate or a
candidate's campaign, the attribution must include either:
(i) the name and address of the candidate;
or
(ii) the name and address of the
candidate's campaign.
(A) An attribution using
the name of the candidate's campaign must include the first and last name of
the candidate if the name of the campaign does not include at least the
candidate's last name.
(B)
Additional information, such as the name of the campaign treasurer, may be
included within the attribution language, but it is not required.
(iii) Examples of an appropriate
attribution for a candidate are:
Paid for by John Smith
P. O. Box 10000
Helena, MT 59605
or
Paid for by Smith for Senate
P. O. Box 20000
Helena, MT 59605
(b) a political committee, the attribution
must include:
(i) the name of the committee,
the name of the committee treasurer, and the address of either the committee or
its treasurer.
(ii) An example of
an appropriate attribution for a political committee is:
Paid for by Support Our Schools
Sarah Jones, Treasurer
P. O. Box 30000
Helena, MT 59605
(c) a political committee that is a
corporation or union, the attribution must include:
(i) the name of the corporation or union, its
chief executive officer or equivalent, and the physical address of the
corporation or union's principal place of business.
(ii) Examples of an appropriate attribution
for a political committee that is a corporation or union are:
Corporation:
Paid for by Pretty Good Manufacturing Co.
Susan Smith, CEO
1000 Industry Drive
Helena, MT 59605
Union:
Paid for by Montana Grocery Workers Union
James Miller, President
2000 Shopping Cart Avenue
Helena, MT 59605
(d) For election materials funded or
facilitated solely by an individual acting on his or her own behalf, the
attribution must include the name and address of the individual who paid for
the materials.
(3) All
election materials are required by
13-35-225, MCA, to clearly and
conspicuously include the appropriate attribution language. To ensure
compliance with this statutory directive, the commissioner establishes the
following requirements and specifications:
(a)
for written election materials, including but not limited to those published,
broadcast, or otherwise disseminated through print media or digital media, as
defined in these rules:
(i) the reader or
observer should have no difficulty locating and reading the attribution
language;
(ii) the attribution
language should be of sufficient type size to be clearly readable by the
recipient or reader of the communication;
(iii) the language should be contained in a
printed area or segment set apart from the other contents of the election
materials;
(iv) the language should
be printed with a reasonable degree of color contrast between the background
and the printed statement; and
(v)
in the case of yard signs or other campaign signs, the attribution language
should appear on the side of the sign that contains the campaign
message.
(b) for
broadcast election materials, including but not limited to those published,
broadcast, or otherwise disseminated through broadcast media or digital media,
as defined by these rules:
(i) the attribution
language for broadcast election communications containing audio content shall
be spoken in the communication;
(ii) the attribution language for broadcast
election materials containing visual content shall be displayed in the
communication. The language may simultaneously be spoken, but it is not
required.
(4)
In partisan candidate elections, election communications and electioneering
communications financed by a candidate or a political committee organized on
the candidate's behalf must state either the candidate's party affiliation or
include the candidate's party symbol.
(a) To
meet the party affiliation disclosure requirement, election materials should
state the name or a reasonable and comprehensible abbreviation of the name of
one of the qualified political parties in Montana: "Democrat," "Libertarian,"
or "Republican."
(b) To meet the
party symbol disclosure requirement, election materials should include either
the symbol for one of the qualified political parties in Montana or the
capitalized first letter of one of the parties. Acceptable symbol designations
are:
(i) Democrat: the donkey symbol or
"D";
(ii) Libertarian: the Statue
of Liberty symbol or "L"; or
(iii)
Republican: the elephant symbol or "R."
(c) The commissioner may determine that other
language or a symbol included within a particular election material complies
with the statutory directive, as long as there is some objective basis for the
use of the language or symbol and the identity of the party is readily
discernable.
(d) The party
affiliation or symbol may appear with the attribution language, or within the
body of the message content in the election materials.
(5) Printed election material that contains
information about another candidate's voting record must include all the
information specified in
13-35-225, MCA. The signed
statement referred to in the statute may consist of a facsimile of an actual
hand signature or an electronic signature. An acceptable electronic signature
will be in the following format: "/s/ John Smith." An electronic signature that
appears on written election materials shall have the same effect as an actual
hand signature or a facsimile of a hand signature.
(6) Election materials consisting of
documents or other articles of campaign advertising that are too small for the
inclusion of the attribution language and other information required by
13-35-225, MCA, need not include
the information; however, the person who financed the election material must
file a copy of the material with the commissioner, together with the
information required by the statute, at the time of its public distribution.
For purposes of this rule, "at the time" means at or before the earliest date
and time the election material is scheduled to be published, broadcast, or
disseminated to the public.
(7) If
information required by
13-35-225, MCA, is omitted from
election materials, or if information required by (6) is not filed with the
commissioner, the person who is responsible for or who financed the material
shall, upon discovering the deficiency:
(a)
file notification of the deficiency with the commissioner within two business
days of discovery;
(b) bring the
election material into compliance or file the information required by (6);
and
(c) withdraw any noncompliant
material from circulation as soon as possible.
(8) If notification required by (7)(a) is not
provided and the commissioner becomes aware of the existence of election
material that does not comply with
13-35-225, MCA, whether by
complaint or otherwise, the commissioner will contact the person who is
responsible for or financed the material and provide notice of the deficiency.
(a) The notice will require that the material
be brought into compliance within the time limits provided in
13-35-225, MCA.
(b) The notice will state that failure to
bring the material into compliance will subject the person who financed the
election materials to a civil penalty action pursuant to
13-37-128, MCA.
(c) The noncompliant election material must
not be disseminated or broadcast until it has been corrected and brought into
compliance.
(9) The
office of the commissioner, when notified, will work informally with
candidates, political committees, and others to ensure compliance with the
requirements of
13-35-225, MCA, and to promptly
bring deficient election materials into compliance.
AUTH:
13-37-114, MCA; IMP:
13-35-225,
MCA
