Guiding Principles Unveiled for North Carolina’s Campaign Finance Reform

The Modernization of Election Data Systems (MEDS) Commission held its second meeting on Wednesday, where commission members heard from elections leaders in Mississippi and Maryland, and discussed a new set of guiding principles for campaign finance reform.

During the meeting, the co-chairs of the Subcommittee on Campaign Finance Reporting Excellence, Brooks Fuller, Policy Director, Common Cause NC, and Andy Jackson, Director, Civitas Center of Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation, introduced 10 guiding principles to help propel the commission as it works toward modernizing the state's campaign finance reporting system.

Guiding Principles for a Modern Campaign Finance Reporting System:

1. Cloud-Based and Portable - Operate as a fully cloud-hosted system that eliminates or minimizes the need for paper filings, supports secure access from anywhere, and has the ability to scale to meet future needs and technological advances.

2. Easy and Guided Filing - Provide intuitive, step-by-step filing that prevents incomplete submissions, reduces user error, and guides users towards compliance.

3. Automated Compliance and Corrections - Incorporate regulatory requirements specific to each election, committee type, and reporting period, even as limits and thresholds change, while allowing easy, trackable corrections.

4. Electronic Signatures - Facilitate electronic signatures on reports and amendments to streamline submissions and reduce administrative delays.

5. Integration and Data Import - Allow imports from readily available campaign management, financial tracking, and other common data software.

6. Timely Transparency - Make campaign finance data available quickly with a user-friendly dashboard that features robust, intuitive search capabilities.

7. Powerful Public Search and Analytics - Enable fast, modern search and filtering tools allowing the public to easily find, analyze, and understand political spending across committees and candidates.

8. Automated and Simplified Communications - Create rapid communications channel between filers and election administrators that will automatically archive for public records compliance and searchability.

9. Secure Data Management and Integrated Training - Protect sensitive information, maintain data integrity, and provide a one-stop location for training, guidance, and information for candidates, committees, and the public.

10. Modernization - Allow for regular updates and modernization, so North Carolina's campaign finance management system evolves as technology, law, and election administration change in the decades to come.

"These guiding principles - which come from bipartisan elections experts - mark key and quick progress in this ongoing process," said State Auditor Dave Boliek. "North Carolinians are ready for a faster, easier, and more secure election system, and thanks to our committee members giving their time and knowledge, we've initiated a new phase that involves outward action."

The principles are intended to help keep the committee centered on fundamental components essential to delivering a system that's transparent, secure, fast, simple, searchable, and trackable.

"These principles capture bipartisan consensus that we need to replace our nearly 35-year-old paper-dependent campaign finance system with a system that is secure, cloud-based and easy to use. When we're done, we plan to have a platform that minimizes administrative burden on staff and maximizes transparency for the people of North Carolina," said Co-Chair Brooks Fuller.

"One of our goals is to have a system that minimizes noncompliance. It should be intuitive and provide prompts to help treasurers file reports correctly. It should also notify them when their reports have been received and accepted by the board of elections. Most noncompliance stems from mistakes rather than malfeasance, and the new system should help treasurers avoid those mistakes," said Co-Chair Andy Jackson.

The MEDS Commission also heard presentations from the Mississippi Secretary

of State Office and the Maryland State Board of Elections on technological upgrades being implemented in each state. The full meeting can be viewed online.

Commission leaders invited the public, press, and those seeking office to provide feedback to [email protected].