‘Democracy Vouchers’ Put Free Campaign Cash in the Hands of Voters

Seattle voters are about to get their democracy vouchers for this year’s city council elections: envelopes of $25 gift cards that voters direct to their choice of local political campaigns.

Every February of municipal election years, Seattle voters receive four $25 “democracy vouchers” — blue slips of paper totaling $100 on which voters can write in candidates and direct public funds to those campaigns.

Since Seattle voters approved democracy vouchers in 2015 and the city implemented the program two years later, the taxpayer-funded donations have made elections more competitive, and campaign contributions have come from an increasingly diverse group of voters, said Wayne Barnett, executive director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, which administers the program. Seattleites pay $3 million in property taxes annually to fund the program. Read more here.