If you are concerned about the Federal Election Commission's pending decision on whether small donor contributions should be counted toward public financing (the issue is pertinent to the John Edwards campaign, but you don't have to support Edwards to be concerned about the integrity of the public financing system and ActBlue's rightful role in that,) the public comment period ends today at 12pm EST.

Some background from Ben Smith at The Politico:

In a draft opinion that the Federal Election Commission is set to consider Friday, the FEC staff says that contributions to Edwards through the innovative fundraising site ActBlue aren't matchable under campaign finance law.

$4.3 million in contributions to Edwards were at risk of not being eligible for matching.

Adam B breaks down the FEC's reasoning:

So here's the problem -- as you know by now, not everything is matchable.  The main category is "contributions over $250", but also listed in the regulations regarding the list of sources for funds that can be matched is the explicit statement that for a check to be matchable, it must be "written on a personal, escrow or trust account representing or containing the contributor's personal funds."  And, what's worse, listed among those sources of funds which are explicitly not-matchable are

Contributions in the form of a check drawn on the account of a committee, corporation, union or government contractor even though the funds represent personal funds earmarked by a contributing individual to a Presidential candidate;

And ActBlue is, indeed, a committee that's writing checks which represent personal funds earmarked by a contributing individual to a Presidential candidate.

This interpretation of the law is literalistic and not in keeping with the spirit of the law at all, so if you would like to send the FEC a message, do so before 12pm EST today.

You can send your comments to FEC Secretary Mary Dove via e-mail to mdove@fec.gov, via fax to (202) 208-3333 or through the Edwards campaign web tool. Adam B posted his letter to the FEC over at dailyKos and invites us to crib from it.

You can check out other people's comments to the FEC HERE.