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The State of Disclosure in West Virginia
West
Virginia improved from a D- to a D+ in
2007, and earned a top ten ranking in
the Online Contextual and Technical Usability
category. Electronic filing became mandatory
for statewide candidates in 2007, earning
the state’s
first passing grade in that category.
West
Virginia’s disclosure law earned
a C again in 2007 and requires candidates
to report detailed information about all
contributors, including occupation and
employer data for those giving $250 or
more. Contributions made at the last minute
are not reported until after Election Day.
Candidates must disclose all expenditures
and, though not reflected in this year’s
grade, a subvendor disclosure requirement
was passed under Senate Bill 714 in 2007.
The lack of mandatory reviews or audits
of campaign reports remains a significant
weakness in the law. SB 714 also mandated
electronic filing for all statewide candidates
as of July 1, 2007. Legislative candidates
continue to have the option of filing electronically.
West Virginia again received an F in
the Disclosure Content Accessibility
category in 2007. The Secretary of State’s
office makes both electronic and paper
filings available in a browsable PDF format
within 48 hours of filing. Electronically-filed
reports are much easier to review than
paper filings (particularly those that
have been handwritten by committees), but
itemized data still cannot be searched,
sorted or downloaded. Another barrier to
access is the size of the files; for example,
one of the governor’s 2004 reports
is posted as a 34-megabyte file, which
took several minutes to download, even
with a fast Internet connection. The expansion
of electronic filing in 2007 has led the
agency to consider creating a searchable
database of statewide candidate data.
West
Virginia’s usability grade
improved from a D- to a C+ as testers had
an easier time locating data on the Secretary
of State’s site in 2007, expressed
greater confidence in the data they found,
and reported less confusion than in 2005.
While the disclosure site offers a clear
description of the data available online,
as well as detailed candidate lists, there
is still room to improve the contextual
information. The site does not provide
overviews of the totals raised and spent
by each candidate for a given office, making
comparisons between campaigns difficult.
In addition, the index of a candidate’s
reports includes only the filing date for
each report, and not the time period covered
within the report.
→ Quick
Fix: Add the full reporting period
to the index of each candidate’s
disclosure reports.
♦ Editor’s
Pick: The site’s “Campaign
Finance Activity & Reporting” page
offers a wealth of information
related to the rules and requirements
for campaign financing in West
Virginia and is easily accessible
on the site. View
image
 Disclosure Agency: West Virginia Secretary of State
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.wvsos.com
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