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The State of Disclosure in North Dakota
North
Dakota has received an F in each of the four
Grading State Disclosure studies. The state’s weak disclosure law, which
has ranked last in each year’s study,
and the lack of an electronic filing program
continue to prevent the state from achieving
a higher grade.
North
Dakota law requires candidates to disclose
detailed information about contributors giving
over $200, including the aggregate amount given
by each donor during a reporting period. Occupation
and employer data for those contributing $5,000
or more is required. Last-minute contributions
over $500 must be reported before Election
Day. Unlike every other state in the nation,
North Dakota does not require candidates to
disclose campaign expenditures. Loans and independent
expenditures are also not required to be reported.
As a result of these deficiencies, North Dakota’s
campaign disclosure law ranks as the weakest
in the nation. Since the state legislature
meets only once every two years, the next opportunity
for any disclosure law improvements would be
the 2009 session. The state did enact legislation
in 2007 improving disclosure of political party
convention financing, which may indicate a
desire on the part of lawmakers to further
strengthen disclosure laws. The state does
not operate an electronic filing program, though
the Secretary of State’s office continues
to report that such a program is possible in
the future if funding allows.
North
Dakota’s grade in the accessibility
category has not changed since 2005, though
the state slipped three places in the rankings
as other states improved. The Secretary of
State’s office data-enters campaign reports
filed by state-level candidates, resulting
in clean displays of reports on the disclosure
site. Along with the browsable candidate reports,
the site features a comprehensive database
of contributions that can be searched by donor
name or zip code. The database does not allow
searches by contribution amount or by a specific
date. Search results can be downloaded, but
cannot be sorted online. Along with the online
data, the Secretary of State’s office
offers data on disk and provides paper copies
of reports for $.25 per page.
Despite
a small decline in the usability test results,
the North Dakota Secretary of State’s
site still ranked among the top performers in
the 2007 test. Testers again expressed high levels
of confidence in the accuracy of the data online,
and gave the disclosure web site a very good
overall rating. The site provides helpful information
about campaign finance requirements and restrictions,
as well as detailed lists of candidates. Amended
disclosure reports are clearly labeled, though
original reports are removed once amended. The
site could be enhanced with a more detailed description
of the data available online and instructions
for using the search features.
→ Quick
Fix: Provide an overview comparing
fundraising between candidates
in a single race.
♦ Editor’s
Pick: Simple,
clean design of the Secretary
of State’s
disclosure web site. View image
 Disclosure Agency: Secretary of State
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.nd.gov/sos/
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