Check your mailboxes, Seattle! In the next few weeks, every registered voter and eligible resident in the city will receive $100 worth of Democracy Vouchers. That means more than 500,000 Seattleites—be they bank presidents or baristas—will have $100 to support the candidates of their choice.
More than 500,000 Seattleites—be they bank presidents or baristas—will have $100 to support the candidates of their choice.
Democracy Vouchers are the groundbreaking element of Honest Elections Seattle, a public campaign finance initiative that Seattle voters passed in 2015 with a whomping 63 percent. Eligible candidates for City Council and City Attorney may finance their 2017 campaigns with Democracy Vouchers, and mayoral candidates will be able to participate in 2021.
Vouchers make just about everybody in town a political player, breaking the grip of big money and special interests on local races, and amplifying regular people’s voices in city decision-making.
In 2013, two-thirds of all money given to candidates for city office came from just 0.3 percent of Seattle adults. These donors were wealthier and whiter than the Seattle population as a whole. Democracy Vouchers mean voters finally don’t need deep pockets to have an equal voice in politics and feel heard by their representatives.
Democracy Vouchers will encourage candidates to spend more of their time talking with their constituents—in neighborhoods across the whole city—and far less time dialing for dollars from the wealthiest donors. They will also enable more people to run for office without the prerequisite ”Rolodex” of rich and powerful friends or family. More women, people of color, young people, immigrants, and people with lower incomes will find it feasible to run for office and engage with their elected officials.
We have the power to set politics on a people-powered course.
We all pay a price when money equates to access and influence in our political process; we can’t truly work on solutions to our community challenges until we fix our democracy. That’s why Cascadian cities are taking steps to restore balance to the political system. Just a few weeks ago, following Seattle’s lead, Portland City Council approved Open and Accountable Elections, a similar democracy reform initiative that allows candidates for city offices to opt in to stricter campaign finance rules, power their campaign with small-dollar donations, and receive a public match of 6-to-1 up to the first $50 of each individual campaign contribution. The Washington Government Accountability Act, a statewide democracy-reform initiative, was a comprehensive package of money-in-politics laws that lost by a small margin on the November 2016 ballot. People across Cascadia agree that money’s outsized influence in politics is out of control and that we have the power to set politics on a people-powered course.
Seattleites, keep your vouchers in a safe place and keep an eye on candidates as city campaigns pick up speed. And for the rest of Cascadia, watch out for more innovative solutions coming out of this region aimed at making sure our democracy is truly of, by, and for the people.
For more information on Democracy Vouchers, check out our research here.
Steve
Candidates stealing money that could be used for those without a home.
Just think what 3 Million would could go for in how far it would reach people
by putting them into emergency housing.,
Bad Idea and in time in will pass.
I dont like the idea of funding campaigns with Taxpayers Dollars
Steve
I dont like the idea of Tax Payer dollars going to run a political campaign.
How curupt is our system.
Taxpayer financed elections didnt help in the past and wont work now.
$3 Million a year could be better spent on fixing the Sidewalks , feeding the
need, emergency houising for people without homes.l
Eduardo Uranga
this means that $50,000,000 will be spent unnecessarily since the candidate getting the voucher is already the person the candidate is getting the voucher from; that is kind of silly, isn’t it?
why not use that money for some worthy cause in the city of Seattle and suggest the candidates to run their campaigns through social media? it is already the most popular way to campaign, and it is totally free.
I apologize for stating the obvious, I am sorry; i don’t mean your intentions are not good, but why waste so much money?
Keiko Budech
Hi Eduardo,
The program will only cost $3 million, %0.062 of the city’s budget. More on the cost here: http://www.sightline.org/2015/05/04/charts-honest-elections-seattle-is-an-incredible-bargain/
Steve
Dont Be sorry. It is a waste of money and it’s to me candidates stealing money
from taxpayers – even if the taxpayer paid for the voucher. The Program has
very high administrative cost .
Eduardo Uranga
Correction:
this means that $50,000,000 will be spent unnecessarily since the candidate getting the voucher is already the candidate that is getting the vote; that is kind of silly, isn’t it?
why not use that money for some worthy cause in the city of Seattle and suggest the candidates to run their campaigns through social media? it is already the most popular way to campaign, and it is totally free.
I apologize for stating the obvious, I am sorry; i don’t mean your intentions are not good, but why waste so much money?
does this means that the candidate cannot receive any campaign money from corporations or wealthy individuals, or anybody else at all?
Eduardo Uranga
“Check your mailboxes, Seattle! In the next few weeks, every registered voter and eligible resident in the city will receive $100 worth of Democracy Vouchers. That means more than 500,000 Seattleites—be they bank presidents or baristas—will have $100 to support the candidates of their choice.”
500,000 Seattleites will receive $100 = $50,000,000
i read what you say on the link, that only a very small percentage will be redeemed; so only 6 percent of the voters are expected to do this?
sorry, but what a waste of effort; it is like saying that only 6%of the voters will turn out to vote. I hope you are wrong and lots more people redeem their vouchers and all candidates agree to use this and reject other contributions, fat chance, hey!
Jim
Intentions are well meaning, but rather naive. Until we truly reform our super PAC money, this a moot point. It ups my taxes and is only a feel good project. It does. create more government and more bureaucracy.
Steve I.
Hi Jim, I think you bring up a good point about super PAC money. However, I think the Democracy Voucher program will still help combat the negative influence of super PACs. Seattle can’t legislate away super PACs, but it can help make local elections more fair, which is what the voucher program is trying to do. If you’re interested in combating super PACs, the best organization I’ve found is called Mayday PAC. It’s ironic, but it’s a PAC devoted to ending PACs! Checkout the link, I think it’s worth investigating further. They have an interesting graphic called “Tracking the Pace of Social Change” that show show many national reforms started out as state level initiatives.
John Abbotts
Well, it may not be surprising that I will offer a different opinion. Full disclosure, I occasionally submit material that Sightline staff members turn into posted articles.
I was pleased to see the Democracy vouchers in my mail, and plan to use them before the November 2017 deadline.
Plus, I agree with former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who among other opinions offered, “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both,” link at: http://www.brandeis.edu/legacyfund/bio.html
The US now has the best Congress of science deniers that corporate money can buy, and an Executive Branch about to be filled by a “deplorable basket,” of climate change enablers, as Grist magazine has noted, link at:
http://grist.org/politics/the-dirty-deplorables-whos-who-on-trumps-team/
And, with the new administration, the Supreme Court may soon have a majority of science deniers and New Deal destruction enablers.
In a previous Weekend Reading submission, I noted that in the November 2015 general election, only 45 percent of registered voters cast ballots in a very close race for Seattle City Council District 1. Moreover, many of those eligible to vote do not even bother to register; and across Washington State only 28 percent of eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot in 2015, link at http://www.sightline.org/2016/01/08/weekend-reading-1816/
The reasons people do not bother to vote are complex, but polls often reveal that because candidates must
spend time raising large amounts of money even to run for office, regular citizens feel that their vote just does not matter.
Democracy vouchers in Seattle will not fix all the ills of the political system. But they are a small step toward encouraging more citizens of modest means, run for office; and toward encouraging more citizens to get involved in democracy.
And frequent Daily readers may want to check out Sightline’s continuing efforts to make elections more democratic. The link is embedded above, but in case anyone missed it, the list can be found here: http://www.sightline.org/series/honest-elections-seattle/
And for those concerned about the homeless, Mayor Murray reports that Seattle is already spending more than $40 million annually, link at http://murray.seattle.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/FINAL-Exec-Action-Plan.pdf
If commenters want the City to spend more to combat homelessness, or on whatever else are their highest priorities, then I encourage them to use their Democracy Vouchers to support candidates most in sync with their views, whatever they may be.
Steve I.
Thank you for the great article Keiko! I’m excited to see such an innovating program here in Seattle. I’ve read through some of the other comments and was somewhat surprised some people don’t think the program is worth the money. I can appreciate the desire to spend public money on other more immediate and visible issues (like homelessness or education), but we can’t ignore the less visible, but, in my opinion, more bedrock issues like how well our democracy functions. If we can do a better job ensuring that public servants are committed to serving the public rather than big donors, then we’ll have public funds spent in better, smarter ways. That means better education, less homelessness, more sustainability, less waste, and the list goes on.
So thanks again for the article. I do have one question. Are there organizations actively supporting the implementation of the program? I imagine a new program like this could use some volunteers to make it as successful as possible, where can I go to learn more? Thanks!