|
The State of Disclosure in Colorado
Colorado
was one of the five most improved states
in the 2007 study. The Secretary of State’s
adoption of mandatory electronic filing
for statewide and legislative candidates
in 2007 pushed Colorado into the B range,
a remarkable improvement over the D+
the state received in Grading State Disclosure
2005.
A
closer examination of Colorado’s
disclosure law in 2007 resulted in scoring
revisions, causing the state’s grade
to increase to an A- from a B- in 2005.
Colorado’s strong disclosure law
requires campaigns to report details about
all donors giving $20 or more, including
donor occupation and employer data for
contributions of $100 or more. Disclosure
of expenditure data is thorough, though
candidates are not required to report subvendor
information. Colorado mandated electronic
filing in 2007, a logical step for a state
where approximately 70 percent of filers
chose the voluntary electronic filing option
in 2006. Rather than a fundraising threshold,
the new mandate requires candidates to
file electronically when their disclosure
reports include thirty or more transactions.
Colorado
again earned a B- in the Disclosure Content
Accessibility category but its rank dropped
as other states made improvements. Accessibility
weaknesses include the absence of zip
code and employer search fields within
the contributor database and the fact
that the expenditure database does not
offer users the option to search by the
type of expenditure. Colorado does an
excellent job of making electronically-filed
campaign data immediately available online,
and paper filers’ reports are scanned
and accessible within 24 hours of receipt.
While
Online Contextual and Technical Usability
represents the state’s
weakest area, Colorado made significant
gains in this category since 2005, moving
up from 44th to 24th in the rankings. Improved
performance in usability testing in 2007,
as well as the addition of helpful contextual
information, contributed to the state moving
out of the F range. Significant improvements
made to the site include the addition of
a page that describes the data available
on the site and provides a listing of which
candidates' filings are available.
However, terminology and structural problems
persist. Itemized contributions and expenditures
can be searched by following a link labeled “Inquiry”;
however, users may miss this feature because
another link on the site is labeled “Search
Reports”. Following this
link allows users to search for specific
reports, but not for itemized contributions
or expenditures.
→ Quick
Fix: Change the text of the “Inquiry” link
to “Search the Campaign Finance
Database”.
♦ Editor’s
Pick: The index
of reports filed by each candidate
contains the due date of each report,
the date original or amended reports
were actually filed, and the beginning
and ending balance for the period. View image
 Disclosure Agency: Secretary of State
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.sos.state.co.us
|
