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Using public records to investigate political candidates for the 2024 election

Brandi Swicegood, Executive Director at Sunlight Search

Kelly Kauffman, Engagement Journalist at MuckRock

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Slides and tipsheets: https://www.muckrock.com/ire-2024/

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Understanding FOIA and state public records for your backgrounding process

Each state has its own laws about making documents, data and other records accessible to the public.

  • Do public record laws apply to the executive branch? Which states allow blocking out-of-state requestors? What’s the average response time in your state?
  • MuckRock provides an overview of the public records law for each U.S. state, potential fees related to a request and resources to help you file your own public records request.
  • We also track all public records requests filed through our system, so you can be inspired in your own public records request!

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Understanding FOIA and state public records

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Types of Requests

Military personnel history

  • All requests for military personnel documents are processed through the National Personnel Records Center

What can you request?

If you aren't next-of-kin or don't have written consent of veteran, you want the Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) which can include: Name, Service Number, Dates of Service , Branch of Service, Final Duty Status, Final Rank Assignments and Geographical Locations

If you are next-of-kin or have written consent of the veteran, you want the Official Personnel Folders (OPF), which include Name, Past and present positions, Past and present titles, Past and present salaries, Past and present grades and Past and present job locations

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Let’s request for a military personnel history

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Types of Requests

Voter lists

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Types of Requests

PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) Loan Database

  • Did your candidate take out a PPP loan?
  • Do you know what their application looked like?
  • Do you know the loan status?

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What can you request?

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Tracking PPP

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Analyzing PPP loans: The Nevada Independent

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Analyzing PPP loans: Florida Politics

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Investigating political candidates: building a timeline

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George Santos timeline

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Knight Election Hub

New election resource for the 2024 cycle, Knight Election Hub will offer the following to both non-profit and for-profit newsrooms

  • Find expert sources
  • Create voter guides
  • Get data
  • Register for election trainings
  • Cover misinformation

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Knight Election Hub

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Campaign finance resources

Types of campaign finance records that are publicly available

  • Statement of candidacy
  • Personal financial disclosures
  • Political action committees (Super PACs, Leadership PACs)
  • Lobbying records

Campaign finance resources to further your investigation

  • FEC Notify
  • FEC itemizer by ProPublica
  • OpenSecrets

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Finding personal financial disclosures

How to find a personal financial disclosure

Federal PFDs

  • House (note - it’s important to look at both candidate and member categories when looking at filings)
    • Instructions for filing House PFDs
  • Senate
  • Office of Government Ethics
  • White House

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State PFDs

  • Requesting depends on state. For some states, you can find these on the SOS websites. For others, they might not have the requirements, or the requirements could be newer. No matter what, though, if you’re having trouble finding a state-level PFD online, just call the SOS for advice on where to go to find it.

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Finding personal financial disclosures

What’s not required to report in a personal financial disclosure

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For House PFDs:

  • Personal residences, even multiple, don’t have to be disclosed if they are not being rented out at all (this includes the income generated from selling a personal residence)
  • Personal property that isn’t principally held for investment or the production of income (i.e. furniture, cars, boats, jewelry, artwork, etc)
  • Taxes owed to the IRS do not need to be disclosed in the liabilities section

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Personal financial disclosure: Rep. Susie Lee

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Personal financial disclosure: Margarita Wilkinson

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Personal financial disclosure: Margarita Wilkinson

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Want to learn more?

Sign up for a Sunlight Search training: https://www.sunlightsearch.net/about

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Register for the Knight Election Hub: https://accounts.muckrock.com/election-hub/

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Office hours at IRE

We’ll be hosting office hours at the Marriott pool on

Saturday, June 22 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Join us!

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