Election Commission Seeking Comment on Audit Procedures

WASHINGTON — The Federal Election Commission is seeking public comment on its policies and procedures for auditing political committees that do not receive public funds.

Typically, when a non–publicly funded political committee’s disclosure reports indicate it has not met the threshold requirements for substantial compliance with the requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act, the commission may conduct an audit of the committee. 

The commission is reexamining its policies and procedures for auditing these committees and asks the regulated community and representatives of the public to provide feedback on the audit process. 

According to a press release from the commission, it will use the comments received to help determine whether internal directives or practices should be adjusted and, if so, how.

The commission is particularly interested in hearing from committees that have participated in the audit process, and their counsel, on how the commission’s audit policies and procedures have facilitated or hindered committees’ productive interaction with the agency and substantial compliance with the act. 

For example, are committees being given sufficient opportunity to be heard by the commission during the audit process? Has the audit process become more complex, costly or inefficient since the most recent changes to the process were made in 2009-11? What can the commission do to improve the audit process?

A public hearing will be held on a later date. The commission will publish a notification of hearing in the Federal Register announcing the date and time of the hearing. Anyone seeking to testify at the hearing must file written comments by the due date and must include in the written comments a request to testify.

Comments must be submitted by Feb. 8, 2023. Commenters may submit comments by email to audit2023@fec.gov.

Dan can be reached at dan@thewellnews.com and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue