Nevada's
campaign finance disclosure program barely received a
passing grade in the study. The state has significant
room to improve, particularly in its law and Electronic
Filing program.
Under
Nevada law, candidates who raise more than $10,000 must
file an annual statement in non-election years and all candidates
must file one report before an election. Detailed information
about contributors who give more than $100 must be reported,
but occupations and employers are not required. Last-minute
contributions do not have to be disclosed before an election. Details
about expenditures greater than $100 must be reported, but subvendor
information does not have to be included. Independent
expenditures must be reported, but last-minute independent expenditures
are not required to be disclosed before an election. Although
the state adequately funds its electronic filing program
and provides technical training and a standard filing format
to its filers, Nevada received an F in this category because
its program is voluntary.
Nevada
could make campaign finance data more accessible to the
public. The agency posts campaign finance reports for
all statewide candidates and some legislative candidates
on its web site within 24 hours of being filed. In late
2002, the state launched an online searchable database,
called the “On-line Contributions and Expenses Reporting
Pilot Program” that contains contributions and expenditures. Unfortunately,
the database only contains a handful of records and has
limited search options. Also,
it is not possible to sort the data online or to download
it for sorting offline.
The
usability of the disclosure site is fairly good. There
is good contextual information to help the public understand
campaign financing in Nevada and the state does a good
job — through
its interface for viewing reports and lists of candidates — of
helping site visitors determine the scope of the data available
online. However,
it could be improved with the addition of lists of the total
amounts raised and spent by state candidates and the timeframe
of reporting periods in the index of a candidate's reports. Nevada
did well in the usability testing, reflecting the relatively
good usability of its site.
