In
the criteria, significant weight was placed on the comprehensiveness
of state Campaign Disclosure Laws. Good campaign disclosure
laws require the reporting of detailed information about
contributions and expenditures. In particular, the disclosure
of some critical pieces of information – including
a contributor's occupation and employer, subvendor
information for expenditures, and reporting of last minute
contributions and independent expenditures – all enhance
the public's ability to access campaign finance data in a
timely fashion. States require the disclosure of detailed
contribution and expenditure information at varying thresholds,
but the criteria did not evaluate the appropriateness of
these thresholds (although they are mentioned in the findings
for each state.)
Occupation and employer data for campaign contributors is
crucial for categorizing donations or identifying efforts
by large corporations and organizations to bundle their employees'
contributions. Information about subvendors, including
credit card providers and campaign consultants, is important
in order to capture campaign expenses that might otherwise
go unreported. Reporting of last-minute contributions
and independent expenditures, prior to an election, helps
voters identify which individuals and organizations are conducting
last-minute efforts to influence the outcome of the election.
Strong enforcement and frequent reporting of campaign finances
by candidates are also necessary components of meaningful
disclosure laws.
In the Electronic Filing category, great value was placed
on whether states have passed laws mandating the electronic
filing of campaign finance disclosure information. The
receipt of campaign finance data in an electronic format
often leads to the availability of the information on the
Internet. If data is submitted in an electronic format,
the agency can post data online more quickly and in formats
that allow for more meaningful analysis of campaign finance
reports. Many states with electronic filing have created
searchable databases of contributions and expenditures, or
made data available in formats that can be sorted or downloaded. While
voluntary electronic filing does lead to some expanded accessibility
to campaign finance data, mandatory electronic filing is
preferred because it is more likely to result in timely,
comprehensive online disclosure.
The Disclosure Content Accessibility category evaluated
the degree to which the content of disclosure reports is
available to the public both on paper and on the Internet. The
states' efforts to make paper records accessible to the public,
such as the ease of obtaining records from a distance, the
cost of the records and the length of time it takes to obtain
the records, was part of this assessment. Significant
weight was placed on the use of the Internet to publish state
campaign finance disclosure information, based on the Project's
belief that the Internet is the most effective and affordable
way for state agencies to make campaign finance data accessible
to the public.
In the
criteria, importance was given to the scope of campaign
finance data on disclosure web sites and the ways in which
that data could be analyzed. This included the availability
of features such as databases of contributions and expenditures
that allow searching across all filers (both electronic
and paper) and on a number of fields. Whether states allow
the public to sort data by reordering categories of information,
browse records, or download data so it can be analyzed offline,
were factors. State disclosure sites were also evaluated
for offering and explaining “smart search” features,
such as partial name and “name sounds like” lookups.
Of equal
importance to the accessibility of campaign finance records
was Online Contextual and Technical Usability – the
degree to which state disclosure web sites are technically
and contextually “user-friendly” to the public.
This category was a combination of web research by Project
staff and usability testing by outside testers. States that
did well in usability were those that: have disclosure
web sites that are easy to locate from the state's home page;
provide information explaining the state's campaign finance
laws, disclosure requirements and reporting
periods; provide
instructions for how to access the data on the site; publish
analyses or overviews of campaign finance activity; publish
both original and amended campaign finance reports; and give
a clear explanation of which candidates and reports are online.
Significant weight was placed on the availability of analyses
of campaign finance activity, which give the public a better
understanding of how one candidate's fundraising and spending
compares to another, and also how campaign finance trends
change over time. Given the current budgetary situation
in many states, however, resources may not allow for in-depth,
comprehensive analyses. In those cases, a simple chart
of total amounts raised and spent by individual candidates
would serve a similar purpose.
Also of importance in the usability section of the criteria,
was the posting and clear labeling of amended campaign finance
reports on the web, with the retention of original filings
online. Being able to view original and amended reports
side-by-side helps the public determine when and what changes
have been made to those reports.
The full Grading State Disclosure criteria are included
in an appendix at the end of this report. |
