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State Campaign Finance Disclosure in 2008: An Overview

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State Campaign Finance Disclosure Laws

Number of states that require a contributor’s occupation and employer to be disclosed: 31
Number that require a contributor's occupation or employer to be disclosed, but not both: 5
Number of states that do not require contributor occupation or employer information: 14
Number of states that require timely reporting of last-minute contributions: 36
Number of states that require independent expenditures to be disclosed: 44
Number of these 44 states that require reporting of which candidate will benefit from the expenditure: 38
Number of states that require last-minute independent expenditures to be disclosed: 27
Number of state disclosure agencies required by law to conduct field audits or review campaign finance reports:  33
Number of states that require both forms of review:  9
Number of states that are not required by law to conduct at least one of these forms of review: 17

Electronic Filing of Campaign Finance Reports

Number of states that provide a program for the electronic filing of campaign disclosure reports: 42
Number of states that require candidates to electronically file campaign disclosure reports: 30
Number of these 30 states that require electronic filing by both legislative and statewide candidates: 24
Number of states with a completely voluntary electronic filing program: 12
On average, percentage of statewide candidates filing electronically in these 12 states:  54
On average, percentage of legislative candidates filing electronically in these 12 states:  43
Number of states with no electronic filing program: 8

Disclosure Data - Access and Usability

Number of state disclosure agencies that post campaign finance data on the Internet: 49
Number that provide both itemized contribution and expenditure data online: 47
Number of states that report posting campaign finance reports online within a week:  48
Number that report posting reports online within 48 hours: 40
Number of states whose sites feature lists of total amounts raised and spent by candidates in recent elections:  21
Number of state disclosure web sites with online, searchable databases of contributions:  39
Number of state disclosure web sites with online, searchable databases of expenditures: 27
Percentage of states with mandatory electronic filing that also offer the public online, searchable campaign finance databases:  93

Percentage of states with no electronic filing program that offer online, searchable campaign finance databases: 

38
Number of states in which data can be sorted online or downloaded from the disclosure agency’s web site: 38
Percentage of these 38 states that operate an electronic filing program: 92

Thanks to Harper's magazine for permission to use its "index" format.

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