Most Illinois counties fail online transparency audit

by Brian Costin One of the best protections against corruption is transparency, and in today’s digital age one of the easiest ways for government to be open and accountable is through posting public documents on the Internet. Unfortunately, most Illinois counties need to dramatically improve when it comes to online transparency. Last week the Illinois...

by Brian Costin

One of the best protections against corruption is transparency, and in today’s digital age one of the easiest ways for government to be open and accountable is through posting public documents on the Internet.

Unfortunately, most Illinois counties need to dramatically improve when it comes to online transparency.

Last week the Illinois Policy Institute released “Obstructed views: Illinois’ 102 county online transparency audit,” which shows that Illinois counties need to dramatically improve online transparency standards.

Online transparency of public institutions is important for many reasons – here are a few of the most important:

• Taxpayers deserve to know how their tax dollars are spent
• Online transparency helps citizens become more informed and active participants in the democratic process
• Online transparency helps deter and expose public corruption
• Online transparency helps illuminate wasteful government spending to public watchdogs and media
• Online transparency helps lower the cost of providing information to the public
• Online transparency helps local government agencies improve the public’s trust in government, something that is sorely lacking in Illinois

Here’s a look at some of the biggest findings from the 102 counties transparency report.