Oklahoma’s campaign finance site has been offline for months. Why?

Oklahoma’s campaign finance website has been offline for nearly three months, raising questions about access to public information ahead of a critical election year.

Voters in 2026 will decide the state’s next governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and state schools superintendent. But as those races heat up, voters can’t quickly find out how those candidates are raising money and what they are spending it on.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission had planned to launch a new campaign finance site Oct. 1, but that fell behind schedule and no new date has been set. The website has been offline since Sept. 19.

Lee Anne Bruce Boone, the executive director of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, said campaign finance reports are still available by email request. But the outage has left some voters waiting for information that is typically available with a simple online search.

“All the campaign people and the donors want to see it, and the Ethics Commission needs to get it right and get it back up,” said Mark Thomas, the executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association.

The system, called Guardian 2.0, is a revamped website that allows people seeking elected office to file their financial campaign reports and the public to view those. Bruce Boone last said it would be up by Oct. 28.

She said in an email Thursday, Dec. 4, that it is now in its final stages of transition before going online.

“It simply takes the time that it takes because accuracy and security must be the priority,” Bruce Boone said in an email.

‘Will the Ethics Committee now fine itself?’

Campaign finance reports are crucial to help voters who are deciding how to cast their votes, said Joey Senat, an associate professor of media and strategic communication at Oklahoma State University.

“People want to know (the) who and how (about) their candidates — where their money comes from— because money plays a big part of, obviously it plays a big part, in our political system,” Senat said.

For Mike Mazzei, one of several Republicans running for governor, the situation personally impacts his campaign.

“It is incredibly ironic that a state agency tasked with enforcing deadlines is unable to meet its own deadlines,” Mazzei said in a statement. “When candidates miss deadlines, the Ethics Commission fines them $1,000 a day until they come into compliance. Will the Ethics Commission now fine itself?”

Mazzei, a former state senator, said he believed the offline site was a sign of broader dysfunction within Oklahoma state agencies.

“I am fed up with the total absence of accountability in state government, and I hear from voters every day who feel the same way,” Mazzei said.

Bruce Boone said the delay has not been a result of funding or resource shortages.

“The current work is not about money or staffing — it’s about running the routine checks that every major IT system undergoes before launch,” Bruce Boone said in the email. “Nothing unusual is happening. The delay is simply a reflection of the commission being cautious and careful to avoid problems for users once the system goes live.”

In the meantime, Oklahomans can request financial campaign reports virtually by emailing ethics@ethics.ok.gov to request them. Once the system is back online, Oklahomans can continue to access it at guardian.ok.gov, the same address as with the old system.