Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Secretary of State Jim Condos.
As Vermont’s Secretary of State, I am committed to better access to our campaign finance system. An important step toward this goal is to improve the online capability of both submission of and access to campaign finance information.
Given recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, the approach we can make at this time is limited, but we can take some action through both improved and more frequent disclosure. Improved disclosure will take more resources — staff time, vendor development and money. More frequent disclosure will require statute changes by the legislature.
Our elections division is a lean and efficient four-person team; and they have to complete their regularly assigned duties on a daily basis. In the area of campaign finance, there is one staff person who is assigned to campaign finance/lobbyist disclosure. Currently, that person is dealing with the most recent lobbyist disclosure reports and has also taken on the duties of 1) becoming “fluent” in the reapportionment software that creates the maps, and 2) providing staffing to the Apportionment Board.
A state-of-the-art Campaign Finance system with full functionality has been estimated to cost $600,000 to $1 million. Given the current fiscal environment, making that expenditure is not a viable option – yet my staff is working diligently to develop improvements along the way with our existing, limited resources.
- For the first filing deadline of July 15, 2012, we have provided an easier to use “fillable PDF” for candidates to use.
- And we have contracted with a vendor to develop a software program that will be delivered to us this summer. We will engage in several stages of testing beginning in July. This testing is expected to take a couple of months, including the time required for the vendor to repair any problems encountered during testing.
This application is designed to allow election staff to enter, edit and retrieve required filings from candidates, PACs, parties and mass media expenditures. We anticipate that the first required filings of the 2011-2012 election cycle will be entered and available to the public sometime after September.
After the filings are entered, the data will be accessible through a web page that enables the public to view and download specific filings and to search the database for information by donor, vendor, candidate or date range. The new software will also enable users to export data files for further analysis. In addition, a scanned pdf of the source document will also be available for users on the web page. Our office intends to include data from election cycles dating back to 2001, as resources and time permits.
This campaign finance disclosure software is being developed with limited available resources with the goal of providing more useful public access to campaign finance disclosure filings. At this time, we will continue to manually enter the data of required filings. Copies of filings will continue to be posted on the website within 48 hours of receipt in this office, but the data will not be searchable until all the data entry is complete.
After the new software is fully operational, it could serve as the base for continued improvements, including electronic filing. Such improvements would require additional funding and the statutory requirement of electronic filing by candidates, PACs and parties.
It is the intent of the Secretary of State’s office to improve transparency with improved access to public records. Better campaign finance/lobbyist disclosure information will allow Vermonters to know both who is making financial contributions and how those contributions are being spent.
