Grading State Disclosure 2005 Logo Graphic

S o u t h . D a k o t a

Grade
Rank
F
48

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Subcategories
Grade
Rank
Campaign Disclosure Law
F
49
Electronic Filing Program
F
41
Disclosure Content Accessibility
F
47
Online Contextual & Technical Usability
D+
24

Grading Process green cube Subcategory Weighting green cube Methodology green cube Glossary

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The State of Disclosure in South Dakota

South Dakota’s grades and rankings remained relatively unchanged in most categories, though a weaker performance in the usability testing brought the state down to a D+ in the Online Technical and Contextual Usability category in 2007.

Although not reflected in this year’s scoring, South Dakota enacted significant campaign disclosure reforms in 2007 upon the recommendation of the Secretary of State. While 2007 scoring reflects the state’s lack of detailed expenditure and independent expenditure reporting as of December 31, 2006, provisions of the new law include: increased reporting requirements, both in non-election years and pre-election periods; financial penalties for late reports; and the disclosure of independent expenditures. Independent expenditure reporting became a major issue following the 2006 statewide elections, when the identity of a donor that contributed $750,000 to a ballot measure campaign was not disclosed. The new reporting requirements took effect on July 1, 2007 and will greatly improve campaign disclosure in South Dakota.

South Dakota received an F again in 2007 in the Electronic Filing category and is one of just ten states that do not offer such a program. The Secretary of State’s office scans and posts all statewide and legislative candidates’ disclosure reports online within 24 hours of receipt. Reports can be browsed in PDF, but itemized data cannot be sorted, searched or downloaded, which is the main reason South Dakota received an F for Disclosure Content Accessibility again in 2007. While data on disk is not available, paper copies are available to the public through the Secretary of State’s office, but at $1.00 per page, the cost can be prohibitive. 

South Dakota’s grade slipped from a C to a D+ in the Online Contextual and Technical Usability category due to a weaker usability test performance. Testers had a more difficult time answering the test questions than in 2005, and gave the site a below average rating overall. The Secretary of State’s office does provide a number of helpful contextual resources for the public, including summaries of campaign finance activity, information about disclosure requirements, detailed candidate lists and copies of both original and amended disclosure reports.

Quick Fix: To improve site navigation, change the color of links that have been visited by the user. This feature would be particularly beneficial when reviewing the index of candidate reports.

Editor’s Pick: The index of a candidate’s reports clearly labels amended reports, and users can sort the index by clicking on the column headings. View image

Disclosure Agency: Secretary of State
Disclosure Web Site:
http://www.sdsos.gov

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First published October 16, 2007
| Last updated October 17, 2007
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Campaign Disclosure Project. All rights reserved.