http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Overseas-Vote.htmlctober 1, 2004
Republicans Abroad Hasn't Reported Funds
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:25 p.m. ET
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Republican activists abroad have waged an aggressive fund-raising campaign as an independent, nonprofit group with no limits on contributions, but they have not filed required reports on income and spending.
Both major parties are fighting for absentee votes from the estimated 7.1 million Americans living abroad -- votes that could be crucial in a close election. Democrats and Republicans alike are lavishing attention on those voters through ads, Internet sites and visits by the candidates' relatives.
The two overseas operations used to work like state party committees, receiving funds from their national offices. The Democrats still operate that way. But nearly two years ago Republicans Abroad became a ``527,'' a partisan, nonparty group allowed to raise corporate, union and unlimited individual donations now barred for candidates and the national parties.
As a 527 -- the relevant section number of the U.S. tax code -- the group is supposed to file quarterly reports on income and expenditures during election years. Republicans Abroad hasn't done that since 2003, when it reported raising $78,493 and spending $41,617 in the first six months of that year.
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