Plaintiff states it has just discovered that it has spent something on FEA, though it is at a
loss as to how to calculate its value (and thus to keep any record of an expenditure for it).
The activity involved some minor voter-registration activity (“VR”) and get-out-the-vote
activity (“GOTV”) on its website and on Facebook. Plaintiff did not realize until December
18, 2015 that this type of VR and GOTV, done online, could be FEA, and it immediately
altered some material and took down other material so as not to be FEA, or to possibly be
deemed FEA under the broad definition of VR and GOTV as mere exhortation (including
“encouraging or urging”) to register or vote. (Of course, most online activity is excluded
from FEA definitions.) But since the material had been up online since the start of the
current FEA period for VR (11/6/2015) and GOTV (12/2/2015), it was (or some of it may
have been) FEA for that brief time. The activity was as follows.
First, under a “Links” tab, Plaintiff had a link titled “Register to Vote Republican
Today,” with the link leading to the Secretary of State’s website allowing for online regis-
tration. Of courses there is an exception to FEA for mere links to such governmental
websites, but the invitation not just to register but to register as a Republican seems likely
to take the link title out of that exception, so “Republican” was removed and the title now
reads “Register to Vote Today.” Now whether the use of imperative language, instead of
saying something like “To Register to Vote Today,” takes the current title out of the excep-
tion is a question on which the FEC is welcome to provide guidance in its briefing. For
now, Plaintiff has the current title.
Second, Plaintiff has an “Endorsed Candidate” tab that leads to a list of endorsed
candidates, which lists endorsed state candidates, and until it was taken down, had a section
simply listing federal candidates (without endorsements as to any particular one). Though
the list of federal candidates does not exhort people to register or expressly exhort people
to vote for one of these Republican federal candidates, Plaintiff has taken down the list of
federal candidates just to be certain it isn’t inadvertently doing FEA by indirectly exhorting
people to vote for these Republican candidates by listing them on the endorsed-candidates
page.
Third, Plaintiff has a “Press Release” tab that links to press releases that announced
endorsements of both state and federal candidates in 2014 and urged voters to vote for
them, so it exhorted people to vote when it was first posted and, because it was still on the
website in the current FEA period, it is an exhortation to vote in a current FEA period. This
problem of old material remaining on websites into FEA periods arising later is a dangerous
and burdensome trap for all those burdened by challenged FEA provisions, because it
requires one to search online postings to assure that VR and GOTV is purged before each
new FEA period engages. Those press releases have all been removed (or will be shortly).
Fourth, on its Facebook page, Plaintiff had two posts that exhorted voting. One was
posted “November 9” and had a graphic saying “Vote Early” with text with a heading of
“Early Voting” and text providing early voting dates, “Nov 9 - Nov. 14,” with location
information. The other was posted “November 18” and said, “Please exercise your precious
right to vote on Saturday, November 21!” When posted, Plaintiff believes neither was in
an FEA period for GOTV, but they remained online into the current FEA period for GOTV
and each exhorts voting. So Plaintiff believes it has fallen into the trap for online material
not deleted before a new FEA period engages. But how does one state a dollar value for this
activity? Plaintiff did pay Facebook to “boost” the message to “[p]lease exercise your
32
Plaintiffs’ Summary-Judgment SMF
Case 1:15-cv-01241-CRC-SS-TSC Document 33 Filed 02/11/16 Page 85 of 87