What is New Jersey’s “pre-election rapid reporting?” Although you won’t find that term in the statute or regulations, it is the requirement for almost all political committees that are participating in an election in New Jersey to report contributions and expenditures quickly starting 13 days before the election, and ELEC seems to be focusing on enforcing those rules over the past year. A look through the Agency’s final decisions reveals over 15 committees that agreed to fines, some substantial, for failing to file these notices. What should be most concerning for committees is that those cases related to 2021 elections, before the passage of the Elections Transparency Act, which created more onerous obligations on committees. The Elections Transparency Act substantially lowered the threshold amount that triggers the filing of this reporting from $1,900 to $200 and changed the timing from 48 hours to a hybrid of 72 and 24 hours in the days before the election.
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