The State of Disclosure in Mississippi
Mississippi has failed each of the five Grading
State Disclosure assessments conducted since
2003, and ranked 44th in 2008. On a positive
note, Mississippi is developing an electronic
filing program and the state rebounded from
an F to a D in the usability category in 2008
due to a stronger usability test performance.
Mississippi’s disclosure law earned
a C- and ranked 37th again in 2008. Candidates
must itemize contributions over $200, including
occupation and employer data, and last-minute
contributions must be reported before Election
Day. Candidates must disclose campaign expenses
by date and vendor, but reports do not include
descriptions of the expenses, subvendor payments,
or accrued expenditures. Independent expenditures
are reported in Mississippi, but those made
at the last minute are not reported until after
Election Day. Mississippi does not currently
offer an electronic filing option to candidates,
but a program is in development and will improve
the state’s overall disclosure program
if these new filings will be searchable online
as planned.
Mississippi
earned an F in the Disclosure Content Accessibility
category for the fifth time in 2008. At present,
the state’s
online disclosure program is limited to scanned
copies of disclosure reports presented in a
static PDF format. The site does not feature
searchable databases of campaign contributions
or expenditures, and itemized data cannot be
sorted online or downloaded into a spreadsheet
for offline analysis. The Secretary of State’s
office posts scanned files online within a
day of receipt and reports are available online
as far back as 1995. While the current state
of online disclosure in Mississippi is lacking,
the introduction of searchable electronic reports
will be of great benefit to the public.
Mississippi
improved to a passing grade in the Online
Contextual and Technical Usability category
in 2008 with a stronger performance on the
usability test and easier navigation from
the state’s homepage to the disclosure
site than last year. However, while testers
were able to complete the test more quickly
than in 2007, most still rated their experience
on the site negatively and all testers reported
confusion with the site. The Secretary of State’s
web site provides a good amount of contextual
information to the public, including candidate
listings, descriptions of which reports are
online, and details about reporting requirements
and restrictions. The site does not provide
information about the total amounts raised
and spent by candidates for a particular office.
→ Quick
Fix: Allow the public
to search for disclosure reports
by office sought, in addition to
candidate name, election date,
and reporting period.
♦ Editor’s
Pick: A
simple, informative “2008
Campaign Finance Reporting Schedule” is
easily found on the site. View
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Disclosure Agency: Secretary of State
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.sos.state.ms.us |