North
Carolina’s campaign disclosure
program has changed very little in the
past year, but a poor showing in the usability
testing caused its Online Contextual and
Technical Usability grade to drop from
a D- to an F, and improvements around the
country have caused the state’s overall
rank to drop from 17 to 26.
North
Carolina law requires candidates to file
semi-annually in non-election years,
and to file one statement prior to each
election. Candidates must report
detailed information about contributors,
including occupation and employer, for
those who give more than $100. Last-minute
contributions of $1,000 or more must be
reported prior to the election. Expenditures
greater than $50, including subvendor details
for media expenditures, must be disclosed. Independent
expenditures must be disclosed, but there
is no last-minute independent expenditure
reporting. Statewide candidates reaching
a $5,000 threshold must file reports electronically,
but e-filing is still voluntary for legislative
candidates.
Access
to campaign finance data is still North
Carolina’s biggest deficiency,
although the Board of Elections has indicated
that changes are coming. The state
is one of only four that requires at least
some candidates to file electronically
but has no searchable data on the Internet. All
campaign finance reports can be browsed
online in either PDF or HTML depending
on filing method, and it is possible to
download a file containing itemized contribution
and expenditure information for candidates
in the 2000 and 2002 election cycles. The
lack of a search interface, however, means
that analyzing the records or even extracting
a single piece of information could be
a large undertaking. The good news
is that the agency reports it is working
to implement a searchable database.
North
Carolina also has significant room for
improvement in the area of web site usability,
which was underscored by a drop in the
state’s usability testing
score in 2004. Some changes have
been made in the past year, including enhanced
instructions for browsing campaign filings,
and better labeling of reporting periods
within the campaign finance reports, but
many things that would provide the public
with context for the disclosure records
are still missing. Most importantly,
there is no compilation of summary amounts
raised and spent by current state candidates
(although historical summaries are available). The
site also needs a data history document
with information about which candidates’ records
are available and what time period is covered
by the online data.
