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The State of Disclosure in North Carolina
North
Carolina earned a B- in 2008, up from
a C+ in 2007 and a D+ in 2003. The State
Board of Elections’ web site
was redesigned since the 2007 assessment,
which helped the state improve from an
F to a D in the web site usability category.
North
Carolina earned a B and ranked 13th in the
disclosure law category again in 2008. Candidates
must report detailed information about their
contributors of $50 or more, including occupation
and employer data. Candidates must also disclose
the date and recipient of all expenditures
of $50 or more, including subvendor details.
Independent expenditures must be reported,
though last-minute expenditures are not reported
until after Election Day. North Carolina
earned a D again in the electronic filing
category in 2008. Statewide candidates who
raise $5,000 or more must file their disclosure
reports electronically, and legislative
candidates can do so voluntarily. Funding
has been an ongoing issue for the State
Board of Elections (SBOE), which data-enters
paper reports for online disclosure. Extending
mandatory electronic filing to legislative
candidates could alleviate data-entry
costs.
North
Carolina dropped from an A in 2007 to
an A- in 2008 and ranked 14th in the
accessibility category. The reason for
the lower grade is that a data-sorting
feature found on the site in 2007 is no
longer available. Electronic filings are
posted to the disclosure site within a
day of receipt, and paper-filed reports
are scanned and posted online as PDFs,
usually within one business day. North
Carolina’s online, searchable databases
of contributions and expenditures are among
the most comprehensive in the nation. The
databases offer a wide range of search
options and contain both electronic reports
and paper-filed reports that have been
data-entered by agency staff. The database
also offers a helpful “sounds like” search
if a user is unsure of the correct spelling
of a search term, and search results can
be downloaded for offline analysis.
North
Carolina improved to a D in 2008 from
an F in 2007 in the usability category
largely due to an improved performance
on the usability test. While most testers
found the terminology used on the site
confusing, they were able to complete their
tasks more quickly than testers did in
2007. The redesign of the SBOE site provides
visitors a more direct link to staff contact
information and includes both text and
graphics for navigation. The site offers
a fair amount of contextual information,
such as detailed candidate lists and a
thorough campaign finance manual explaining
the state’s disclosure requirements
and contribution limits. To improve the
usability of the site, the agency could
add overviews of campaign financing trends
to the site and revise terminology that
may be confusing, such as the searchable
databases link that is labeled as “Campaign
Finance Search for Reported Committee Transactions.”
→ Quick
Fix: Provide a simple comparison of the totals
raised and spent by candidates for each
office in the most recent election.
♦ Editor’s
Pick: The searchable
database’s “Advanced
Search” offers users a wide
variety of search options, as well
as clearly visible instructions and
optional “sounds like” search
features. View
image
 Disclosure Agency: State Board of Elections
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.sboe.state.nc.us
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