CAMPAIGN RESOURCES

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. The IRE Journal, Jan/Feb 2008 by Rainey, Kate

Covering campaigns can be a daunting task, but there are plenty of reporters who have already blazed the campaign trail. Check out these stories and tipsheets on campaign and election coverage. Copies are available from the IRE Resource Center. E-mail rescntr@ire.org or call 573-882-3364.

Stories

* Story No. 22583: This series chronicles election fraud in two small communities. In one case, the registrar's office was managed by a candidate's mother. The second fraud occurred in Gate City, Va., where the mayor manipulated the absentee voting system and sometimes filled out forms of elderly absentee voters himself. Laurence Hammack, The Roanoke (Va.) Times (2005)

* Story No. 22556: Negligent oversight and fraud occurring in Detroit elections included cases of city employees coaxing nursing home residents to vote, ballots being sent to juvenile detention homes, voting rolls with 300,000 registrants who had moved or died, and people voting from abandoned homes and vacant lots. Brad Heath, David Josar, Lisa M. Collins, The Detroit News (2005)

* Story No. 22275: Because of problems in the state election system, Wisconsin has a high risk of recounts in future presidential elections based on the inaccuracy of election data and voter registration. Reporters found thousands of voters with invalid addresses, ineligible voters who had been allowed to cast ballots and polling place log books that listed hundreds of people as having voted twice. This series prompted local, state and federal investigations into the system. Greg J. Borowski, Mark Maley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (2005)

* Story No. 21966: An eighteen-month investigation revealed that employees of the New York City Department of Corrections had been forced to work on Republican political campaigns. In the 1990s, corrections officials who supported Republicans were rewarded with promotions and preferred assignments, while those who supported Democrats could be sent to dangerous jobs or forced to retire. Andrea Bernstein, Karen Frillman, John Keefe, WNYC-New York (2004)

* Story No. 21880: James J. Chavez ran for a seat on the board of the Maricopa County Special Health Care District, but he actually lived outside the district and had provided a fake address. In addition, both his bachelor's degree and MBA were invalid, and he mismanaged funds for a nonprofit organization that he worked for. Chris Hayes, Jeremy Voas, Gilbert Zermeno, KPHO-Phoenix (2004)

* Story No. 21850: The highly contested presidential election in 2000 brought about legislation requiring updating voting equipment by 2006, but the federally funded mandate puts billions of taxpayers' dollars toward complicated technology that few election officials understand, which has led to concerns about the integrity of future elections. Loni Smith McKown, Rick Dawson, Karen Hensel, Kevin Stinson, Ron Nakasone, Doug Garrision, WISH-Indianapolis (2004)

* Story No. 21805: This computer-assisted reporting investigation of voting records and death records showed that deceased residents had voted in the 2003 primary elections and that thousands of dead people are still registered on voter rolls. State and local officials say this creates an "opportunity for ghostly corruption." Brendan O'Shaughnessy, The (Munster, Ind.) Times (2004)

* Story No. 20640: This profile of Alex Sanders, a Democratic candidate who sought to replace Strom Thurmond following Thurmond's 2002 retirement, includes a behind-the-scenes look at his campaign, along with painting a vivid profile of Sanders himself, a former chief judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals and former president of the College of Charleston. Joe Klein, The New Yorker (2002)

Campaign Finance Stories

* Story No. 22480: Al Sharpton set up a meeting between two fundraisers and a New York City official to arrange investments, but he was caught on tape by the FBI for soliciting $25,000 from the fundraisers. The story found that Sharpton ended up on one of the men's corporate payroll with a salary of $25,000 and that reported donations seemed to never have occurred. Jarrett Murphy, The (New York) Village Voice (2005)

* Story No. 22349: Florida State Senator Gary Siplin used 40 percent of his campaign contributions on a consultant called Success Campaigns, but the company hadn't existed for more than 10 years. An investigation revealed additional inaccuracies in Siplin's finances as well as other misconduct. Josh Wilson, Jeff Harwood, WFTV-Orlando (2005)

* Story No. 22139: Computer-assisted reporting on campaign donations for the 2005 mayoral election in St. Paul showed that the largest proportion of contributions came from people in the suburbs rather than city residents. Tim Nelson, MaryJo Sylwester, St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press (2005)

* Story No. 22088: An analysis of the Federal Elections Commission database determined the 100 largest individual campaign donors in California. Together, these 100 donors contributed more than $150 million during the 2003-04 election cycle, which greatly affected the state's politics and policies in areas such as stem cell research and workers' compensation. Ron Campbell, The Orange County (Calif.) Register (2005)