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Here's What Hawaii Can Learn From Other States On Publicly Funded Elections

Chad Blair

April 03, 2023 |

Honolulu Civil Beat |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Maine

Maine's Clean Election Act provides public funding to political candidates who earn a certain number of small donations from voters, with the goal of making it easier for people from a wider range of demographics to run for office. In 2020, the state set a record with 63 percent of women candidates winning their races, and roughly 69 percent of the women who ran took advantage of the Clean Elections program.

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Democracy vouchers are back, but do they neutralize big money in local politics?

David Hyde

February 21, 2023 |

KUOW Radio |

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5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Seattle's democracy voucher program, which gives residents $25 vouchers to donate to local candidates of their choice, has resulted in a more diverse donor pool and a big jump in the number of candidates running for local office. But the city has also seen an increase in "outside" spending from groups working on behalf of candidates since the program was implemented.

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Campaign Finance Reformers Hope to Convert Their First State to Democracy Vouchers

Spenser Mestel

February 02, 2023 |

Bolts |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Seattle's democracy voucher program allows residents to donate to political candidates of their choice using public funding, which has greatly diversified local races and made them more competitive. Now, governments in New Hampshire and Minnesota are considering implementing statewide versions of the program.

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In California Cities, a New Frontier for Public Financing of Elections

Spenser Mestel

July 13, 2022 |

Bolts |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

To give less affluent political hopefuls a fighting chance in local races, Seattle's "democracy vouchers" program provides each resident with four $25 vouchers to donate to candidates of their choice. The initiative has nearly doubled the number of candidates running for city positions since 2015, and those using the vouchers are more likely than cash donors to be young and low-income, leading other cities, such as Oakland, Calif., to consider adopting similar programs.

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Hawaii's System Of Public Funding For Elections Doesn't Work

Chad Blair

July 10, 2022 |

Honolulu Civil Beat |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Seattle’s Democracy Voucher is an effective, yet underutilized, way to publicly fund political campaigns. The city sends four $25 vouchers to each registered voter, who chooses which candidates they want to receive their vouchers, and the city transfers the funds directly to the campaigns. Since the program started the number of donors increased and many candidates who successfully defeated incumbents had benefited from the program.

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Giving a Voice to All Americans

Simone Leeper

April 21, 2022 |

Democracy Decoded |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

Washington D.C.'s Fair Elections program provides a lump sum grant to candidates who reach a certain threshold of small-donor support, and those who qualify can then raise matching funds from the community that are matched with public funds at a rate of 5:1. The program has contributed to a more diverse candidate pool for local races and increased the number of small donors across the city, with the biggest increase in small donations coming from D.C.'s low-income zip codes.

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Can “democracy dollars” keep real dollars out of politics?

Julia Hotz

April 28, 2021 |

MIT Technology Review |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Democracy Vouchers, a tax-payer-funded program that sends four $25 certificates to residents to donate to local candidates, made Seattle the national leader by increasing the percent of the electorate donating to local campaigns to nearly 8%. They also allow more non-establishment candidates, who lack connections to wealthy donors, to run for office. Four of the nine 2019 city council candidates used vouchers to help fund their campaigns and the vouchers are being expanded to the city’s mayoral races. A national pilot program was also approved to try vouchers for congressional candidates in three states.

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What Other States Can Learn from Georgia's Historic Elections

Fiza Pirani

April 08, 2021 |

Yes! Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Georgia

A complex combination of successful fundraising campaigns, engaging with and energizing Black voters, and mobilizing the state’s other ethnic and racial groups helped Democrats flip Georgia blue in 2020. Large financial investments allowed organizers to implement effective voter education and registration campaigns and distribute the resources to areas where the need to mobilize voters was greatest. Organizers tapped into Black culture through food, music, and the Black church to energize voters. They also conducted multiracial, multi-ethnic, and multilingual outreach to engage other marginalized groups.

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‘An Epiphany Moment' for Corporate Political Donors May Have Arrived

Andrew Ross Sorkin

January 12, 2021 |

The New York Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

IBM is one of only a handful of companies that doesn’t give money to political candidates. IBM does spend millions on lobbying and runs an in-house government relations team, but the company doesn't have a political action committee and restricts money from going to political candidates when it does donate to trade groups. IBM’s founder set the policy to avoid operating as a political organization and to disinvest from a corrupt system where money buys favorable legislation. IBM’s policies could serve as a model as companies pause their political donations due to acts of violence at the Capitol.

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Twitch-inspired live streams could be the future of political fundraising

Steven Melendez

October 28, 2020 |

FastCompany |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Hovercast is a technology startup helping democratic organizations add interactivity to virtual events. The model, which has been used by prominent political candidates such as Bernie Sanders, uses interactive live-streaming features like on-screen highlighted comments, real-time donation meters, trivia questions, polls, videos, and animated GIFs to collect donations, sign up campaign volunteers, and encourage other types of voter engagement. The model is inspired by video gaming platforms that are geared towards younger audiences, which is one of the demographic groups engaging in the virtual events.

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