A flaw in the Georgia filing system is allowing last-minute state campaign spending to go unreported until after elections — sometimes until the end of the year.
Significant dark money expenditures and campaign contributions, each $1,000 or more, are not being updated on the state’s campaign ethics website in the final days before state elections, even though updates are required by Georgia’s Campaign Finance Act. The ongoing software issue creates a short-term blind spot, leaving the public unaware of who is influencing races until it’s too late to matter.
As the state’s May 21 primary approaches, the fear is that invisible donations poured from independent expenditure committees could boost a campaign’s final charge while depriving voters of knowledge to which they’re legally entitled. The flaw allows motivated parties to influence elections undetected.