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The State of Disclosure in Ohio Ohio
experienced a big jump in its Online Contextual
and Technical Usability grade and rank in
2004, which caused the state’s
overall grade to improve from a C+ to a
B-. Other states advanced in the
areas of law, electronic filing, and web
site usability while Ohio’s performance
in those categories was fairly static,
causing the state’s overall rank
to drop from four to seven. Under
Ohio law, candidates must file once in
non-election years and twice before each
election. Detailed information
about contributors must be disclosed, including
occupation and employer information for
those who give over $100. Large last-minute
contributions, not including those made
to legislative candidates, must be reported
prior to the election. All expenditures
must be reported, but subvendor information
is not disclosed. Independent expenditures
must be reported, but there is no last-minute
independent expenditure reporting. Electronic
filing is mandatory for candidates reaching
a $10,000 threshold. Ohio’s strength, along with its
electronic filing program, is in Disclosure
Content Accessibility. The Secretary
of State’s web site features comprehensive
databases of contributions and expenditures
that are filled with both current and historical
campaign finance data. Search results
can be sorted on six fields and downloaded,
and the web site offers a special section
for downloading large amounts of data in
previously queried files. The site
also features an interface for browsing
complete campaign finance filings by candidate. New
information about the process by which
the state fulfills requests for paper copies
of records resulted in a slight drop in
Ohio’s score in this category. The
usability of Ohio’s disclosure
web site improved significantly in 2004,
and the state’s grade in the Online
Contextual and Technical Usability category
rose from an F to a C. The availability
of a comprehensive list of candidates,
and the fact that it became easier to locate
the disclosure web site through a search
of the main Ohio web site, contributed
to the increase. Ohio could add the
reporting periods to browsable campaign
finance reports, clearly label amended
reports and retain original filings online,
and work with the main state web department
to include the term “campaign finance” in
the “Government” menu on Ohio’s
homepage to improve further in this area.
 Disclosure Agency: Secretary of State
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.state.oh.us/sos
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