Security is no joke at Miami’s local TV stations. All six stations I visited were behind tall fences with a gauntlet of security guards and call boxes. After my third or fourth attempt to explain to a security guard what the political files were, why I wanted to look at them and why I did not need an appointment to do so, I got to thinking about all the hoops I have had to jump through and bizarre conversations I have had in my political ad sleuth travels.

Here is a rundown:

1. I’ve had to explain to Transportation Security Administration agents, rental car staff, taxi drivers and hotel bellhops why I’m carrying an enormous lockbox with a scanner inside it.
2. I’ve pulled out nearly 700 staples (yes, I’ve been keeping a rough tally) and then stapled the pages back together again, in the exact same order.
3. I’ve gotten paper cuts, lots and lots of paper cuts.
4. I’ve become proficient enough at troubleshooting error messages with Epson scanners and Mac laptops that I could staff a call center all by myself. Paper jams are no match for me.
5. I’ve scanned nearly 5,000 pages from public files in Chicago and Miami, which adds up to about 282.7 megabytes of PDF files.
6. I’ve missed meals and meetings — and come close to missing airplanes — because I wanted to finish scanning a set of files before the day was over.
7. I’ve spent more than a week away from my wife and my two young sons.
8. I’ve been forced to watch more network TV in station lobbies and offices than I have watched in the last year.
9. I’ve crawled over, under and around couches, coffee tables, desks and tables looking for electrical outlets.
10. I’ve uncovered political ad spending from more than 40 different third-party PACs or 501(c)(4) groups.
11. I’ve eaten enough airplane peanuts to feed a herd of elephants.
12. I’ve set my scanner up in lobbies, cubicles, offices, lounges and hallways — and on desks, side tables, couch cushions, coffee tables and the floor.

Access to these files is a right, but rights are not much good if the challenges and hurdles to exercising those rights are nearly insurmountable. It shouldn’t be this hard.

This is why Free Press lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to mandate that broadcasters put their public and political files online — and why the agency’s decision to do so is so important. But the FCC’s online-posting rule applies currently to only 200 stations around the country (the remaining 2,000 have until 2014 to get on board). Until then, Free Press will be jumping through hoops to get info on who is spending big bucks to sway our elections.

If you'd like to support our file-inspection campaign, please consider a donation to the Free Press Action Fund.