The State of Disclosure in New Jersey
New Jersey earned an A or a B in each of the
four scoring categories for the first time,
and ranked in the top ten for the second year
in a row in 2008. A redesigned web site and
a stronger usability test performance helped
New Jersey improve to a B- in the Online Contextual
and Technical Usability category in 2008, up
from a C in 2007.
New Jersey earned a B+ and a top ten ranking
again in the Campaign Disclosure Law category
in 2008. Candidates must report details about
their contributors, including occupation and
employer data for those giving $300 or more.
Last-minute contributions and independent expenditures
must be reported prior to Election Day. Expenditure
disclosure is thorough and includes subvendor
and accrued expense reporting. New Jersey earned
an A in 2008 for its electronic filing program,
which is mandatory for statewide candidates
and legislative candidates who raise or spend
over $100,000 (the highest threshold for legislative
candidates in any state). To assist electronic
filers, the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement
Commission (ELEC) reorganized its electronic
filing web page and continues to offer an excellent
filer training program that includes an online
certification program for campaign treasurers,
a dedicated electronic filing help desk, and
dozens of classroom trainings throughout the
year.
New
Jersey improved from a B- to a B in the Disclosure
Content Accessibility category in 2008 because
the agency enhanced its online, searchable
database of contributions. The database contains
both electronic reports and paper-filed reports
that have been data-entered by ELEC staff.
Site visitors can now search transactions
by a specific date and transaction amount or
by donor name, zip code, or employer. Search
results can be sorted online or downloaded
for offline analysis. As noted in past assessments,
the site requires users to download and install
a small software program to view disclosure
reports, and there is no searchable database
of campaign expenditures. However, the agency
is working to streamline the report viewing
option and is developing a searchable database
of campaign expenditures to complement the
site’s excellent database of contributions.
New
Jersey’s redesigned disclosure site
performed better on the usability test than
the previous design did in 2007, which bumped
the state from a C to a B- in the usability
category. The new site offers a clean design
and is organized into easy-to-navigate sections
for both the public and filers. The site continues
to provide detailed contextual information
to help the public understand campaign financing
in New Jersey, including an excellent series
of “White Papers” that analyze
campaign finance trends going back to 1977.
Site visitors can also access overviews and
charts of campaign finance activity through
the most recent reporting period, and the site
features a unique tool for customizing lists
of candidates by office, district, party affiliation,
and election.
→ Quick
Fix: Provide
the starting and ending date for each
reporting period shown in the index
of a candidate’s
reports and within the report itself.
♦ Editor’s
Pick: Excellent overviews of campaign
finance statistics. View
image
Disclosure Agency: Election Law Enforcement Commission
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.elec.state.nj.us |