The public's ability to access campaign finance information is very poor in nearly every state, according to a new study that grades the states on their campaign finance disclosure programs. Virginia got a D+, and was ranked 13th. The state got a good rating for its disclosure laws, despite a lack of independent auditing of candidates' reports. But a failing grade was given for public accessibility to the campaign finance information. The state also got poor grades for its e-filing program and technical usability.

Thirty-three states received passing grades according to Grading State Disclosure, a new, comprehensive, comparative study of candidate campaign finance disclosure laws and practices in the 50 states.

Washington State received top honors for its program.

The California Voter Foundation produced the study.

Kim Alexander, president, said, "better campaign disclosure is needed to ensure that the public can follow the money and make informed voting choices as well as more easily determine which groups may be receiving greater access in the halls of state government."

Assessments of each state were based on legal research, Web site visits and research, Web site testing by outside evaluators and responses from state disclosure agency staff and activists working on campaign financing at the state level. The legal research was conducted from July 2002 through March 2003 and was based on state laws as of December 31, 2002; Web site research was conducted from January to June 2003.

Tennessee and Maryland had the weakest disclosure laws; North Carolina had one of the strongest.

In Tennessee, a person who wants to view records must first disclose his or her name, address and other personal information, which is then made available to the candidate whose records were viewed.

The study found that most states that require candidates to file reports electronically also provide free filing software or a Web-based filing system. Just four of the 20 states with an electronic filing requirement do not, and those are California, Florida, Oregon (all of which have put forth a standard filing format and refer filers to approved outside software vendors) and Virginia, which charges $35 for its filing software.

The report is online at: www.campaigndisclosure.org/gradingstate