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The State of Disclosure in Alabama
Alabama has made significant progress
in web site usability, but its extremely
low disclosure law rank and continued poor
showing in the categories of electronic
filing and Disclosure Content Accessibility
mean the state is still among the worst
performing in the country. Alabama
law requires candidates to file annual
reports in non-election years and two
campaign finance reports before an election. Candidates must provide
details about contributors, but that information
does not include occupation and employer. The
law requires detailed reports about expenditures
of $100 or more, but subvendor information
is not required. Candidates do not
report last-minute contributions before
the election, and there is no reporting
of independent expenditures, both of which
are significant weaknesses in the law. A
lack of strong enforcement provisions also
contributes to the low grade. There
has been some support in Alabama for electronic
filing, but there is still no program in
place. The
Secretary of State’s web site
features campaign finance records dating
back to 1990, but those statements are
available only as scanned images posted
in PDF, and there are no searchable or
sortable records on the site. Summary
information for each report is displayed
in HTML, but the interface for viewing
the rest of the data is a bit cumbersome,
with each report section displayed as a
separate file. Using this system,
it could take a person hours to view all
of the reports for just one or two candidates. Access
to paper disclosure records on file at
the agency is good, but at $1.00 per page,
the cost of copying records is prohibitive. Alabama’s strength lies in the contextual
and technical usability of its disclosure
web site, and even that could be improved. The
site includes a list of candidates for
office, information about the state’s
disclosure requirements, and a good explanation
of which records are available online. However,
it is still lacking a simple list of total
amounts raised and spent by candidates,
which would give site visitors a quick
overview and a better understanding of
how a particular candidate’s fundraising
activity compares to that of other candidates
in the same contest. Alabama’s
web site performed much better in the usability
testing in 2004, likely due to the fact
that it became easier to locate the agency’s
web site from the State of Alabama homepage. Usability
testing results were the main reason for
the state’s jump from an F to a C-
in the usability category.
 Disclosure Agency: Secretary of State
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.sos.state.al.us
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