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The State of Disclosure in Washington
Washington
has again proven its excellence in campaign
finance disclosure practices, earning an
A- and ranking 1st overall for the fourth
time in the Grading State Disclosure assessment.
Washington remains a national leader in
the Electronic Filing and Disclosure Content
Accessibility categories, and its disclosure
law ranks third in the nation.
Washington requires candidates to report
detailed information about contributors
giving over $25, including occupation and
employer data for those donating over $100.
Last-minute contributions must be reported
prior to Election Day. Campaign expenditure
disclosure is also strong, with candidates
required to report detailed information
about vendors, subvendors and accrued expenses.
Independent expenditures are disclosed,
and those made in the 21 days leading up
to an election must be reported within
24 hours. Electronic filing is mandatory
for candidates spending over $10,000, and
the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC)
provides regular filer trainings and free
filing software, which recently became
compatible with the Macintosh computer
platform.
Washington earned an A+ and maintained
its place at the top of the Disclosure
Content Accessibility rankings in 2007.
Visitors to the PDC web site have the option
to both browse disclosure filings or search
a comprehensive database of itemized contributions
and expenditures. The database offers a
wide range of search fields and results
can be sorted online or downloaded. Electronically-filed
reports are available online immediately
after they are filed, and paper filings
are posted online the same day they are
received. Access to paper copies of disclosure
records is excellent, and the agency also
offers data on CD for just $2.
The one area where Washington needs to
improve is in web site usability; the state
earned a C in this category in 2007, dropping
from a B- in 2005 and an A- in 2004. The
lower 2007 grade is due primarily to a
weaker usability test performance. Testers
took longer to find specific data than
testers did in 2005, and most testers reported
confusion with site terminology. To address
the needs of all site visitors (from novice
to advanced), the PDC is designing a new
data search system geared toward new users
that will complement the existing search
system. There have been some contextual
improvements; the PDC added the dates covered
by each disclosure report to the index
of candidate reports. The disclosure site
offers excellent information about campaign
finance rules and restrictions, summaries
of the totals raised and spent by candidates
and overviews of campaign finance trends
going back to 1998.
→ Quick
Fix: Provide a glossary of the
forms that can be accessed from the “View
Actual Reports” section of
the site. Site visitors may
be confused by form names, such as “C3” (itemized
contributions) or “A” (itemized
expenses).
♦ Editor’s
Pick: The database
search page includes multiple search
fields and options for sorting
and downloading the search results. View
image
 Disclosure Agency: Public Disclosure Commission
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.pdc.wa.gov
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