Campaign Finance

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General

  1. Is campaign finance data centralized at the national level? If not, at what sub-national level(s) is it consolidated?
  2. Are there any legal barriers preventing CSOs from accessing campaign finance data from the government?
  3. What government body is in charge of collecting and disseminating campaign finance information?

Timely

  1. Is the timeline for campaign finance reporting and review clear and well-known? What is it?
  2. Is campaign finance data released as it is reported to the government, or only after filing deadlines?
  3. If the EMB plans on consolidating campaign finance data, how long will that take?
  4. Do you anticipate receiving at least some campaign finance data with enough time to analyze it and report findings while they are still relevant? For instance, in time to identify non-compliance issues while the campaign is ongoing, or to include analysis in election statements while the public is still interested?

Granularity

  1. Will the EMB consolidate campaign finance data, or release raw data? Or both?
  2. Will information regarding donations be available? In what detail? (ie: individual donors, amount, donation type, locations, etc)
  3. Will information regarding campaign expenditures be available? In what detail? (ie: individual expenditures, cost breakouts, locations, etc)
  4. What information regarding government review of campaign finance will be available?

Availability

  1. What is the likelihood that all campaign finance data will be available for free on the internet? Will at least some data be available online?
  2. If some data is not available for free on the internet, where can you find it?
  3. Will any data have to be collected in person, or can it be emailed or otherwise accessed electronically? If so, what data will have to be collected in person?
  4. Do you have to pay for access to any campaign finance data?

Completeness

  1. Will data regarding campaign donations be made available all together? Or on an individual or time frame basis?
  2. Will data regarding campaign donations be consolidated for all campaigns, or will each campaign have its own dataset?
  3. Will data regarding campaign expenditures be made available altogether in one dataset?
  4. Will data regarding campaign expenditures of all campaigns be consolidated, or will each campaign have its own dataset?
  5. Will data regarding campaign finance reporting completion, violations, and sanctions be available in a consolidated format? Reported by campaign? Or reported by individual instances?

Analyzable

  1. In what format will campaign donation data be available? Is this machine readable?
  2. In what format will campaign expenditure data be available? Is this machine readable?
  3. In what format will campaign monitoring and regulatory data be available? Is this machine readable?

Non-Proprietary

  1. Is there any proprietary software associated with the campaign finance data?

Non-Discriminatory

  1. Do you have to go through any application or registration process to obtain campaign finance data?
  2. Is there any reason some organizations or stakeholders would be granted access to campaign finance information but not others? If so, why?

Licensing

  1. Are there any prescribed limits to using campaign finance data that groups must adhere to? If so, what and by whom?
  2. Do you have to agree to any terms of use before accessing campaign finance data? If so, what and by whom?

Permanently Available

  1. Are you able to access campaign finance data from previous elections? If not, why not?
  2. Will access to campaign finance data during this election “expire” at any time?
  3. What happens to campaign finance data after a reporting period is over? (if applicable)
  4. What happens to campaign finance data after an election is over?