Spending data method
Every number needs a source, a period, and a meaning.
The national spending layer keeps official fields intact, separates unlike ledgers, records amendment status, and makes uncertainty visible. The goal is a record readers can reproduce, not a bigger number at any cost.
Record model
Six records that should never be blurred together
Sources identify the agency, system, retrieval time, source update time, file hash, and known limits. Entities preserve committee, candidate, organization, vendor, and person names as filed without publishing private contact data. Filing accounts connect an entity to its public account identifier. Identity matches state how a ballot entry or transaction was connected to a filing account. Reports preserve filing periods and amendment status. Transactions preserve the ledger, date, amount, counterparty as filed, and source locator.
Zero and missing are different facts
| Status | Meaning | Chart treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Reported | The official source publishes a nonzero amount. | Show the exact amount with source and period. |
| Reported zero | The official source explicitly publishes zero. | Show $0 and label it as reported. |
| Not reported | The source does not publish the field for this record. | No bar. Keep the row visible. |
| Not available | The source could not be retrieved or compared. | No bar. Explain the access or matching gap. |
| Not applicable | The metric does not apply to the account or scope. | No bar. State the scope rule. |
| Not yet due | The relevant filing deadline has not arrived. | No bar. Show the due date when known. |
| Unverified | A possible record exists but has not passed review. | Do not use it in totals. |
Identity matching
A name match alone does not merge two records. Candidate totals and profile links require a reviewed match supported by public identifiers, office, jurisdiction, source documents, or an authorized committee relationship. Probable and name-only matches remain research leads and do not drive totals.
Privacy boundary
The public projection excludes residential addresses, exact donor coordinates, emails, phone numbers, signatures, birth dates, government identifiers, source-system contact identifiers, and raw files that contain those fields. Names may appear as filed when the campaign disclosure makes them public, but individual contributor names do not receive standalone profile pages and are not merged across systems from name alone.
Maps and charts
Maps use official districts, counties, or statewide boundaries, never donor addresses. Every visualization must ship with a plain-language summary, source and boundary dates, an HTML table containing the same values, and a downloadable file. Unknown geography remains an explicit row.