§ 163-278.23. Duties of Executive Director of Board.
§ 163‑278.23. Duties ofExecutive Director of Board.
The Executive Director of theBoard shall inspect or cause to be inspected each statement filed with theBoard under this Article within 30 days after the date it is filed. TheExecutive Director shall advise, or cause to be advised, no more than 30 daysand at least five days before each report is due, each candidate or treasurerwhose organizational report has been filed, of the specific date each report isdue. He shall immediately notify any individual, candidate, treasurer,political committee, referendum committee, media, or other entity that may berequired to file a statement under this Article if:
(1) It appears that theindividual, candidate, treasurer, political committee, referendum committee,media, or other entity has failed to file a statement as required by law orthat a statement filed does not conform to this Article; or
(2) A written complaintis filed under oath with the Board by any registered voter of this Statealleging that a statement filed with the Board does not conform to this Articleor to the truth or that an individual, candidate, treasurer, politicalcommittee, referendum committee, media, or other entity has failed to file astatement required by this Article.
The entity that is the subjectof the complaint will be given an opportunity to respond to the complaintbefore any action is taken requiring compliance.
The Executive Director of theBoard of Elections shall issue written opinions to candidates, thecommunications media, political committees, referendum committees, or otherentities upon request, regarding filing procedures and compliance with thisArticle. Any such opinion so issued shall specifically refer to this paragraph.If the candidate, communications media, political committees, referendumcommittees, or other entities rely on and comply with the opinion of theExecutive Director of the Board of Elections, then prosecution or civil actionon account of the procedure followed pursuant thereto and prosecution for failureto comply with the statute inconsistent with the written ruling of theExecutive Director of the Board of Elections issued to the candidate orcommittee involved shall be barred. Nothing in this paragraph shall beconstrued to prohibit or delay the regular and timely filing of reports. TheExecutive Director shall file all opinions issued pursuant to this section withthe Codifier of Rules to be published unedited in the North Carolina Registerand the North Carolina Administrative Code.
This section applies toArticles 22B, 22D, 22E, 22F, 22G, 22H, and 22M of the General Statutes to thesame extent that it applies to this Article. (1973, c. 1272, s. 1; 1975, c. 334; c. 565, s. 4;1979, c. 500, s. 7; c. 1073, ss. 12, 13, 17; 1985, c. 759, s. 6.1; 1999‑424,s. 6(c); 1999‑453, s. 5(b); 1999‑456, s. 63; 2001‑319, s. 11;2005‑430, s. 8; 2007‑349, s. 6.)