Legislation would allow local candidates to electronically file financial disclosure forms
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Voter advocates urged support for legislation that would require local candidates to file financial disclosure forms electronically.
Statewide officeholders and lawmakers and candidates in those races already file their campaign finance paperwork electronically with the secretary of state’s office.
Senate Bill 206 would institute comparable requirements for local candidates, political action committees and others that raise or spend $2,000 or more.
Some counties have already instituted electronic filing, but it’s not required in state law.
The legislation would require electronic filing at the local level, and county elections boards would, in turn, forward the information to the secretary of state.
Backers say the change would provide a better means for voters to review campaign contributions.
“Computers have become part of our daily life,” Catherine Turcer, policy analyst for Common Cause Ohio, told the Senate’s Government Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday. “Many of us carry a small computer around in our pocket and take the Internet for granted. It is time to modernize Ohio’s campaign finance system by extending the information available online to the local level.”
Jill Miller Zimon, speaking on behalf of OpenNEO, an Ohio nonprofit that works to improve access to public data, said providing campaign finance disclosures in a standard electronic format would make the information more accessible.
She said SB 206 would “enhance Ohioans’ ability to access, see and search what is already public information precisely in the same ways the secretary of state’s database allows us currently to access, see and search statewide campaign finance records.”
The bill drew concerns for one lawmaker, however.
Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, said the current online filing system at the secretary of state’s office is already confusing.
He also noted problems local elections officials have had with other electronic systems.
Poll workers struggled with electronic poll books in Hamilton County on Election Day, prompting a judge’s order to keep precincts open later and postponing the release of statewide results.