The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for February 2, 2023
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
City of Seattle – What is the Democracy Voucher Program?
Seattle City Charter – Democracy Voucher Issuance
Seattle Times – Data shows how well Seattle’s democracy voucher program is working
Brennan Center for Justice – Public Campaign Financing
Groups Taking Action:
Public Citizen, Common Cause, List of organizations working on public financing at Reclaim the American Dream
Today’s Script: (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
In the recent midterms, 3,700 political donors gave more than $100,000 to candidates, parties and SuperPACs, and accounted for –get this– $2.43 Billion dollars. What if there was a way to fund elections with small donors, not just big ones?
As Seattle, Washington grew in recent decades, local corporations and real estate developers gained influence by bankrolling city council candidates. In 2015, city voters passed Honest Elections Seattle, a program to publicly fund elections and put regular voters on the same footing with special interests.
Each registered voter in the city is given four Democracy Vouchers worth $25.00 each. They can be donated to candidates running for mayor, city attorney or city council. To qualify to receive the vouchers, a city council candidate must collect 400 donations of $10.00 to $250.00 and an equal number of signatures. Once qualified, the most successful candidates reach out to the public to solicit their vouchers, convincing voters why they are the best candidate. The system costs about $8.00 per taxpayer.
Studies show vouchers encourage “ownership” in their candidates and government, and help reduce the outsized influence of local special interests. Voucher use has expanded each subsequent election, particularly among underserved communities.
We’ll have more tomorrow on a different style of public funding which just launched in New York State. Find Articles and resources at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.