Minor
improvements in Disclosure Content Accessibility
were balanced out by a drop in New Mexico’s
score for web site usability, leaving
the state with another overall F and
nearly the same rank as in 2003.
New
Mexico’s disclosure law requires
candidates to file once before the primary
and twice before the general election. An
annual statement is due in both election
and non-election years. Candidates
must provide detailed information about
all contributors, including a contributor’s
occupation (but not employer) for those
giving at least $250. Last-minute
contributions of $500 or more for legislative
candidates and $2,500 or more for statewide
candidates must be reported prior to the
election. All expenditures must be
disclosed, but subvendor information is
not required, and there is no disclosure
at all of independent expenditures. Electronic
filing, which is currently voluntary for
all statewide and legislative candidates,
will become mandatory in 2006. The
legislature considered a bill (HB 501)
to move that date up to 2004, but it was
held up in the Senate.
New
Mexico made a number of small changes
in the area of Disclosure Content Accessibility,
but they were not significant enough to
bring up the state’s grade in that
category. For example, disclosure
reports are posted online more quickly
now, and the cost of getting paper copies
of reports decreased to $.10 per page. But
there are still problems with the display
of reports on the Secretary of State’s
web site. While the scope is comprehensive,
browsing the filings requires use of the
agency’s viewing software, which
doesn’t function on all computer
platforms, and the interface provided for
identifying reports requires that the site
visitor know either the reporting date
or the name of the candidate. Because
the records are presented in a static format,
they cannot be searched, sorted or downloaded.
New
Mexico’s usability testing score
fell in 2004, which is likely due to increased
difficulty in locating the disclosure web
site from the State of New Mexico homepage. The
drop in the state’s usability score
was substantial enough to knock New Mexico’s
Online Contextual and Technical Usability
rank down from 33 to 47. Also contributing
to the F are a lack of summary information
comparing total campaign finance activity
by all candidates, an inadequate description
of whose records are available online,
and poor labeling of reporting periods
on the disclosure reports.
