H olsworth and Calos both say electronic reporting of campaign finance information would be helpful. Currently, most legislators and candidates report their donations on paper to the State Board of Elections. The Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit organization funded by the state s newspapers, compiles the data electronically and makes it available to the public on its Web site. But in many states, the government does that job, eliminating the need for an independent group to step in, Calos said. In addition to electronic record keeping, Calos advocates auditing the reports to insure that information is accurate.
Teachers do and doctors and lawyers and even beauticians have their work audited.
During the legislative session that ended March 10, bills to require auditing of campaign finance records were introduced in both chambers. But all were killed or carried over to the next session.