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The State of Disclosure in Kentucky Kentucky’s improved rank and grade
reflect a number of changes that have been
made to the state’s campaign finance
disclosure program, most significantly
in Online Contextual and Technical Usability. Kentucky
candidates are required to file quarterly
in non-election years and at least three
times prior to an election. Candidates
must provide itemized information, including
a contributor’s occupation and employer,
for contributions over $100. Last-minute
contributions do not have to be reported
before the election (except for gubernatorial
candidates, who must report last-minute
contributions within 24 hours). Detailed
information about expenditures greater
than $25, including subvendor information,
must be disclosed. Independent expenditures
over $500 must be reported, but last-minute
independent expenditures are not reported
prior to an election. Kentucky’s
electronic filing program is voluntary
for both statewide and legislative candidates. Kentucky
again received a C+ for Disclosure
Content Accessibility, but its overall
rank in this category dropped as other
states made progress. Kentucky’s
strength in accessibility of campaign finance
records is its comprehensive searchable
database of contributions. The system
allows searches on a variety of fields
and results can be downloaded in an Excel-compatible
format. The speed with which paper-filed
reports get posted continues to be a problem,
with some reports taking ten days to become
available. Mandatory electronic filing
would improve the timeliness of online
data, and would also make it easier for
the Registry to add a searchable database
of expenditures to its web site. The
state’s biggest gain was in
the area of web site usability, with the
most important change being the addition
of current overview information for statewide
and legislative candidates, available through
the “Office” section of the
searchable database. Other significant
improvements include a new data history
page and an extensive online tutorial for
the searchable database. The site also
includes good information about disclosure
requirements and campaign finance restrictions,
as well as a comprehensive list of candidates. There
was a substantial increase in Kentucky’s
usability testing score, which may be related
to the fact that it became easier to locate
the Registry’s web site from the
state home page. Combined, these contextual
and technical usability changes caused
a jump from an F to a C+ in this category.
 Disclosure Agency: Kentucky Registry of Election Finance
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/kref
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