Grading State Disclosure 2008 Logo Graphic

F l o r i d a

Honor
Grade
Rank
B+
5

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Subcategories
Grade
Rank
Campaign Disclosure Law
B
13
Electronic Filing Program
A+
1
Disclosure Content Accessibility
A
7
Online Contextual & Technical Usability
C+
22

Grading Process green cube Subcategory Weighting green cube Methodology green cube Glossary

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The State of Disclosure in Florida

Florida has been a consistent leader in campaign disclosure and earned its fourth straight B+ and top five ranking in Grading State Disclosure 2008. Florida has earned As in both the electronic filing and accessibility categories in each assessment since 2004.

Florida earned a B and ranked 13th in the Campaign Disclosure Law category in 2008. The state requires candidates to itemize contributions over $100, including the donor’s name and occupation, but not his or her employer. Expenditure disclosure is stronger, with subvendor and accrued expenditure disclosure required. Independent expenditures are reported in Florida, and those made at the last minute are disclosed prior to Election Day. The law’s enforcement provisions are also strong and include mandatory desk reviews and field audits. Florida requires all statewide and legislative candidates to file disclosure reports electronically and maintained its A+ and a number one ranking in this area in 2008.

Florida again earned an A in the Disclosure Content Accessibility category and ranked 7th in 2008. The Department of State’s web site features both browsable reports and searchable databases of contributions and expenditures. The databases contain records from 1996 to present and include both electronic data and paper-filed reports that have been data-entered by agency staff. Database users can sort and download itemized data, and can search campaign donors by name and occupation, but not by employer since candidates are not required to disclose this information. As noted in previous studies, disclosure reports are presented in a clean, informative index, but this feature is somewhat hidden by its placement outside of the main “Campaign Finance” section of the site and this issue remains despite a makeover of the site in 2008. The index provides summary information about campaign finances such as contributions, loans, and expenditures for each filing period and for the entire election cycle.

Online Contextual and Technical Usability has been Florida’s weakest area in each of the Grading State Disclosure assessments. Despite earning the same grade as 2007, Florida tumbled twelve places in the usability rankings as other states made improvements. As in 2007, most of the usability testers found the terminology on the site confusing, and most rated their experience as below average. (Florida’s disclosure site received a makeover after the close of the assessment period in 2008.) The site does offer some contextual information that is very useful, including clear instructions and explanations of the searchable databases, and excellent tools for comparing campaign finances between candidates. The site could be improved by linking candidates’ full reports to the campaign finance database, and by labeling amended reports as such.

Quick Fix: Make it easier to access and view candidates’ full reports by linking this information to the section of the site currently labeled “Campaign Finance”.

Editor’s Pick: The index of a candidate’s reports allows users to view, sort, or download itemized transactions from within a single report or across multiple reports filed during a given election cycle. View image

Disclosure Agency: Department of State
Disclosure Web Site:
http://www.dos.state.fl.us

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First published September 17, 2008
| Last updated September 17 2008
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Campaign Disclosure Project. All rights reserved.