Candidates file electronically by submitting reports on discs, by email or via the Internet. Peg Rosenfield is the elections specialist for the League of Women Voters of Ohio. Rosenfield and League members testified, lobbied legislators and sent letters to newspaper editors in support of the bill. This is information voters can get in a timely way. The news media are likely to analyze the contribution reports, compare how people vote with what they are getting in contributions, and see if there is any correlation.
Voters find that very interesting information.
The League, Ohio Citizen Action, the Cincinnati Coalition for Campaign Finance Reform, and the Ohio Council of Churches were dismayed last June when the Ohio House of Representatives passed the bill exempting themselves, while requiring political parties, political action committees and statewide candidates to file electronically. A number of legislators objected to the new requirements because they or their treasurers might have difficulty using computers or the Internet. When House representatives exempted themselves, Amstutz and citizen groups began working with senators to repair the bill. Every major newspaper in Ohio released an editorial urging the Senate to reinsert legislative candidates into the bill's mandatory program. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell agreed.