Messenger: Unclear

Candidate: Beth Martinez Humenik

Contest: Senate District 24

Affiliation: R

Date delivered: July 5, 2018

Click here for message

Message type: door literature

Message tone: positive

About the message: This four-page flyer left on doorsteps on praises GOP Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik for her work on health care, education, jobs and protecting water. It doesn't mention that Martinez Humenik is up for reelection, facing state Rep. Faith Winter in a contest considered pivotal to Republican efforts to retain their one-vote majority in the state Senate.

About the messenger: If there's no indication of who delivered the message, well, it's unclear. This means there's no revelation on a robocall or "paid for by" on a mailer or door literature.

And, in fact, there's a loophole in Colorado law that doesn't require disclosure if a message doesn't explicitly say "vote for" or "vote against." And even candidates don't have to say if they delivered a message, according to the Secretary of State.

According to the Campaign Finance Institute, Colorado was one of only 10 states with such a loophole in 2016.

The messenger's money: This is the definition of "dark money." There's no way to know who paid.