How $100 Per Voter Makes Seattle’s Elections More Inclusive

How $100 Per Voter Makes Seattle’s Elections More Inclusive

How $100 Per Voter Makes Seattle’s Elections More Inclusive This article was originally published by  Bolts , a nonprofit publication that covers criminal justice and  voting  rights in local governments. Seattle is poised to continue its experiment in public campaign financing. In early August, voters renewed the city’s democracy vouchers program, which provides each adult Seattle resident with four $25 vouchers they can donate to local candidates of their choice.  The ballot measure will generate $4.5 million in property taxes a year to fund the program for the next decade. Had it failed, the tax levy that voters approved in 2015 would have expired, winding down the democracy vouchers. Supporters celebrated the measure’s success, which comes eight years after Seattle first implemented the program. Since then, studies have found that the vouchers have strengthened the influence of everyday residents on local politics and allowed a wider array of candidates to launch campaigns, decreasing the…