Momentum is gaining for the Senate’s e-filing proposal. These senators can help.

Note: This blog post is updated when Senators officially cosponsor the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act (S.298). 52 senators currently sponsor the legislation. 

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Did you know that U.S. Senate candidates are still required to file their campaign finance reports on paper?

That’s right: Even in the age of smartphones, social media and cloud computing, Senate candidates are still required, by law, to file paper documents to detail their fundraising and expenditures instead of electronically filing them.

House candidates and presidential candidates, on the other hand, have been filing their reports electronically without issue for nearly two decades.

There is no reason why Senate candidates should not do the same.

That’s where the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act (S. 298) comes in.

Introduced earlier this year by a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Thad Cochran (R-MS), the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act is a straightforward bill that would address this disparity and save taxpayers money in the process — an estimated $876,000 per year.

What’s not to love about a bill that increases transparency and accountability while saving taxpayers money?

The good news is that this bill is gaining momentum. In recent weeks, Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) became the 45th and 46th sponsors of this legislation. That makes the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act one of the most popular bipartisan bills in the Senate.

Moreover, there are nine other senators who sponsored earlier versions of this bill in previous years.

Those nine lawmakers are:

Issue One strongly urges all senators — and these nine senators in particular — to join as cosponsors of the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act. Doing so would send an important symbol to the public that the Senate is ready to embrace this sound proposal to increase transparency, save taxpayers money and move the Senate more fully into the digital age.

Update, April 17, 2018: Sen. Martin Henrich (D-NM) has officially cosponsored the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act again.

Update, Jan. 19, 2018: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has officially cosponsored the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act again.

Update, Dec. 5, 2017: Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) has officially cosponsored the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act again. 

Update, Dec. 1, 2017: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) has officially cosponsored the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act again. 

Update, Nov. 27, 2017: Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has officially cosponsored the Senate Campaign Disclosure Partity Act again.

Update, Nov. 14, 2017: Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) has officially cosponsored the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act again.

Update, Oct. 25, 2017: Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) has officially cosponsored the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act again.