Editorial Standards
Corrections & Accuracy Policy
ElectionSpend is committed to accuracy. When we get something wrong, we fix it and document it here. Every correction is permanent, timestamped, and linked to the affected article.
Our Verification Standard
Every factual claim published on ElectionSpend must meet at least one of these thresholds before publication:
Verified
Confirmed against a primary source: statute text, court opinion, official government record, or original filing (FEC, IRS 990, SEC).
Corroborated
Confirmed by two or more credible secondary sources (Brennan Center, OpenSecrets, Ballotpedia, major newsrooms with named reporters).
Claims that cannot reach at least "Corroborated" status are either removed or softened with qualifying language ("reportedly," "according to," "estimates suggest").
Dollar figures are cross-checked against original filings. Legal citations are verified against actual statute text. Dates are confirmed against official records. All graphics data is validated against the article text for internal consistency.
Corrected the Brown veto years from '2011, 2013, and 2015' to '2011, 2013, 2016, and 2018.' Governor Brown vetoed per-signature pay ban bills in four sessions: SB 168 (2011), AB 857 (2013), SB 611 (2016), and AB 1451 (2018). The original text omitted the 2016 and 2018 vetoes and incorrectly included 2015.
Corrected the filing fee from $200 to $2,000. AB 1100 (2015) increased the fee from $200 to $2,000, effective January 1, 2016.
Corrected the circulation period from 150 days to 180 days per California Elections Code §9014.
Removed the incorrect claim that 'a signature from an LA resident is invalid if collected outside LA County.' California law allows voters to sign petitions anywhere in the state; the address on the petition must match voter registration, but physical location of signing does not matter.
Corrected the Sandfire Resources timeline: the $288K spending occurred in 2018 (not 2021). The FEC complaint was dismissed in 2021.
Corrected the FRONT Act bill number from S. 856 to S. 2305. S. 856 is the separate 'Disclosing Foreign Influence in Lobbying Act.' Both bills are now correctly identified and described.
Corrected the DOJ FARA NPRM withdrawal date from 'August 2025' to 'September 11, 2025.'
Corrected the Maine foreign ballot measure ban date from 'November 2024' to 'November 2023' (Maine Question 2). Added detail about the First Circuit ruling in July 2024.
Corrected the Nebraska baby FARA signing date from 'May 2025' to 'June 2025.'
Changed 'more than 80 pop-up groups' to 'dozens of such groups' — the specific count of 80 could not be independently verified across multiple sources.
Updated the foreign money scenario from $288K (single Sandfire Resources case) to $2.65B (six identified foreign entities per APT report to House Ways & Means Committee, Feb 2026). The original figure was accurate for one case but misleadingly low as a representation of the foreign money problem's actual scale.
Updated all three scenario spending figures to reflect verified 2024 data: Liberal ($1.2B total, Sixteen Thirty Fund $311M per Politico), Conservative ($664M total, DonorsTrust $195M per CMD), Foreign ($2.65B per APT report). Previous figures significantly understated the actual scale.
Updated the Hansjorg Wyss total from an unverified estimate to $673 million, per the Americans for Public Trust report submitted to the House Ways & Means Committee (February 2026). The previous figure lacked a primary source citation.
Updated IRS Exempt Organizations Division agent count from an unverified figure to 2,711 (2010) and 1,050 (2024), per IRS Data Book and ProPublica reporting. Updated examination count from an unverified figure to 9,492 (2010) and approximately 1,200 (2024), reflecting an 87% decline.
Updated the article to reflect that Noem was fired by President Trump on March 5, 2026, not merely facing criticism. Added the presidential disavowal and bipartisan fury context from the final days of the DHS advertising controversy.
Removed the Battleground Tracker from the homepage after discovering that projected spending figures for 2026 midterm races could not be independently verified to our accuracy standard. The tracker used a mix of FEC filings and projections that risked presenting estimates as confirmed data.
Verified and updated all six homepage data highlights against primary sources: $11.1B total 2024 ad spend (Wesleyan Media Project), 51% spent in final 8 weeks (AdImpact), $414M most expensive Senate race (OpenSecrets, Ohio), 171% CTV growth since 2020 (AdImpact), $2.4B Super PAC spending (FEC), $204 highest cost per vote (OpenSecrets, Montana).
Expanded the economics section with verified data: budget swing from $97.5B surplus to $68B deficit (LAO/LA Times), 8 Fortune 500 HQ departures with $2.75T combined market cap (CBRE/Yahoo Finance), 1.3M net domestic migration loss since April 2020 (CA Dept. of Finance), and $1T+ estimated wealth exodus (Bloomberg/Palihapitiya). All figures cross-referenced against primary sources.
Added live data tracking to the 'California by the Numbers' sidebar. Market capitalization of departed companies now updates every 6 hours via Yahoo Finance API. Population data sourced from Census Bureau API. Static fallbacks ensure data availability if APIs are unreachable.
Corrected the subtitle from 'fifth-largest economy' to 'fourth-largest economy.' California officially surpassed Japan in 2024 to become the world's fourth-largest economy at approximately $4.1 trillion GDP, per IMF and BEA data announced by the Governor's office in April 2025. The article body already correctly stated 'fourth-largest' — the subtitle was inconsistent.
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