Spending has been difficult to track in this year’s critical Pa. Supreme Court retention races

Story by Stephen Caruso and Katie Meyer of Spotlight PA

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HARRISBURG — How much are state and national groups spending to flood the airwaves, fill mailboxes, and buy up digital ads ahead of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention elections?

That’s a harder question to answer than you might think, thanks to a mix of lagging reporting, weakly enforced rules, and a campaign finance system that requires little transparency.

Many groups are trying to sway voters through independent expenditures — money spent without coordinating with the candidates’ campaign