Full Senate passage of the new and improved campaign-finance reporting bill next week is likely, thanks to the leadership of Senate President Richard Finan. House concurrence on Senate changes unfortunately remains in question.
Voters have a right to know who gives how much to whom.
In this day and age, they have a right to judge for themselves, without being forced to wade through reams of paper at the board of elections or secretary of state's office or follow media reports. The ultimate goal of electronic filing is to compile the data in a searchable and sortable form that enables seekers of campaign- finance information to identify givers, recipients and amounts easily and quickly. The Senate has rectified that wrong and made the bill more palatable to those who genuinely believed the House version was unfair to small, grass- roots campaigns. This alone would spare nearly 50 percent of all state legislative candidates, who typically raise less, according to an analysis by Ohio Citizen Action, a state campaign-finance watchdog organization. Require the Ohio secretary of state to provide free software and training to campaign treasurers and permit them to file from public library computers.