Senate Candidate's Campaign Finance Reports Now Available on FEC Website

For Immediate Release:                                                                                              Contact:   Ron Harris
September 22, 2000                                                                                                                        Sharon Snyder
                                                                                                                                                           Ian Stirton
                                                                                                                                                           Kelly Huff

SENATE CANDIDATES’ CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS

NOW AVAILABLE ON FEC WEBSITE

WASHINGTON – In a joint effort by the U.S. Senate and the Federal Election Commission to provide better public access to Senate campaign finance reports, the public can now view at the FEC website reports of money raised and spent by U.S. Senate candidates. Previously, Senate reports had been delivered by the Senate to the FEC on microfilm, which could not be transferred to quality images on the website.

After months of testing, the Senate and the FEC now have in place a system that will allow those images to be accessible on the FEC website (www.fec.gov) within 48 hours of their receipt by the FEC. The Secretary of the Senate’s office will electronically scan the paper reports on a daily basis, transferring the images to the FEC’s designated computers at the end of the work day. The FEC processes the information therein to its database the following day and will have the images accessible on the website the next day, just as is the present system with reports from all other political committees.

While Senate filers will not be filing reports electronically, this joint effort will improve the accessibility of their financial information. The point of entry for Senate reports remains the Secretary of the Senate, while point of entry for all other political committees (U.S. House of Representatives, Presidential reports, PAC and party committees) is the FEC. All Senate reports received after May 15 are now available. Reports covering the third quarter (July 1 - September 30) are due October 15. In addition, efforts are ongoing to make accessible on the website reports covering calendar year 2000 which were received before May 15.

The method for accessing Senate reports is identical to accessing other campaign finance reports – go to www.fec.gov, click on "Campaign Finance Reports and Data" in the left margin of the home page, then select "View Financial Reports" and follow the links from there.

FEC Staff Director James A. Pehrkon commented, "Officials and staff in the Senate and the FEC have been working diligently for some months to provide images of Senate reports on the Web. As a result of their efforts, the public now can access, via the Internet, copies of Senate campaign finance reports filed after May 15. The FEC will continue to seek avenues to improve the present systems."

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