Following local political money is about to get a whole lot easier.
The Marion County Election Board is shopping for a software system that would allow the public to download campaign finance data. That data will show who is donating to local candidates as well as how the campaigns are spending the funds.
“Man, that’s great,” said Wildstyle Paschall, a community advocate who frequently analyzes campaign finance records as part of his research. “I think that’s definitely helpful.”
Information about who gives how much to Marion County elected officials — from your small claims court constable to the mayor — is currently stored in PDFs that are accessible on the city’s website.
Those PDFs make it difficult for journalists, candidates or members of the public to analyze trends. The reports, which include campaign contributions, expenditures and debt, can be hundreds of pages long. Some are handwritten.
Patrick Becker, director of elections for the Marion County Election Board, said the new system will streamline filing and make the records more accessible to everyone.
“We want to be able to make it easier for candidates to file these things. We want to make it easier for us to be able to manage it,” Becker said. “Transparency is a very big point, a very big factor for us, having a tool that the public can more sort of readily use and access.”
It will also make it easier for the election board to investigate complaints against candidates for potential violations.
“How are we able to be responsive in a meaningful way to people who have questions about what they’re looking at and who are actually some making serious allegations about potential crimes being committed?” said Becker, who said his office is frequently contacted by members of the public.
“We have to have a better tool for my team and for our board to be able to go in and quickly and efficiently do reviews, audits and possible investigations,” he said.
As for Paschall, he said he can track some patterns across the reports he reads. But looking for a really large pattern?
“That’s a lot to track,” he said, adding that he’s interested in looking at connections between donors who share an address or members of the same family.
The county election board issued a request for proposals in November. Becker hopes to have the system implemented in time for the 2027 mayoral and council elections.
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Emily Hopkins is a senior reporter at Mirror Indy. You can reach them by phone or Signal at 317-790-5268 or email at emily.hopkins@mirrorindy.org. Follow them on most social media @indyemapolis or on Bluesky @emilyhopkins.bsky.social.
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