01

The Problem

The Executive Director from the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board had been trying to launch a new website for quite some time. The existing site was outdated, slow, and frustrating to use; users could only search for information on one candidate or lobbyist at a time, making the process incredibly time-consuming. Even minor updates were tedious, despite having an in-house engineering team.

When the director connected with the Avallo team, he found a partner who could bridge the gap between design, user experience, and the technical infrastructure managed by the state’s engineers. Together, we developed a faster and more user-friendly website that streamlined search functionality and enhanced performance, all while ensuring it could be easily maintained by the board and hosted on state servers. The project was so successful that Gary felt confident enough to retire once the new site had been thoroughly tested and was live.

02

Development

Avallo collaborated with internal engineers responsible for managing multiple data servers to enhance the website with key functionality, including displaying campaign finance data, Java server applets for user authentication, a district finder tool, and a customizable homepage for users. To ensure accessibility for all users, the site was developed using current accessibility tools and best practices to meet ADA compliance standards. Additionally, we created a streamlined, custom content management system (CMS) to facilitate the easy maintenance of the website’s pages.

03

Thousands of Pages

The Minnesota Campaign Finance Board (CFB) website is a comprehensive resource for Minnesotans seeking information on elections, candidates, lobbyists, campaign finance laws, and voting districts. The site contains thousands of pages and supports citizens and political participants with dedicated filer resources for candidates and committees and educational tools and engagement opportunities for the public. It also houses key publications, including statutes, rules, handbooks, and manuals. A significant redesign focus was the Reports and Data section, which now provides streamlined access to campaign finance disclosures, lobbyist reports, and board-issued data to ensure transparency and informed participation, as shown in section 4 below.

04

Look Up & Downloading Files

The website enables citizens, the press, candidates, and lobbyists to easily look up, sort, filter, and download public data in CSV (comma-separated values) format. Users can explore information such as voting districts, candidate listings, committee details, and financial summaries for individual candidates. These features make accessing and analyzing key election and campaign finance data easy. All content is securely hosted on the State of Minnesota’s servers. After Avallo completed the site’s development, all files and ongoing management were successfully transitioned to the internal team at the Campaign Finance Board.