I Know What You Did Last Cycle: Improving the Detection of State Campaign Finance Violations

Abstract This article investigates what state campaign finance regulatory agencies can do to increase perceptions among regulatees, specifically state legislators, that violations will be successfully detected. We test hypotheses that random audits and transparency-enhancing policies will promote perceptions that campaign finance violations are identified. With the use of an original survey of state legislators, we found that both strategies are effective. Agencies increase perceptions that they detect violations when their regulatees are subject to random audit. Additionally, agencies can bolster perceptions of third-party monitoring by increasing the information available to third-party monitors through transparent disclosure practices.