The Illinois State Board of Elections web site is packed with data on contributions to state and local candidates and on how those candidates spend their money. So we thought that CU-CitizenAccess.org would offer a quick tutorial in how to find that information yourself.

First, go to the State Board’s Web site at http://home/citizenaccess/public_html.elections.il.gov/ as shown in Figure-1.

Checking out contributions and expenditures by candidates

There are many ways to look up candidates and seeing who contributed to the candidate and how the candidate has spent the contributions. But one easy way is to use the search box on the home page of the State Board of Elections.

We return to the home page and type in the last name of Don Gerard, the former mayor of city of Champaign, who is running for re-election, as shown in Figure-8.

Again, this is just a quick start to using the Board of Elections web site. There is much more data to mine and more ways to mine when you have the time.

See the link below to download a copy of this guide:
How to track contributions to state and local candidates