One year ago, Seattle voters approved Initiative 122, 63 percent yes, 37 percent no. A major component: A tax levy to pay for “democracy vouchers,” a step toward campaign-finance reform. Starting tomorrow, you can apply for your share of the vouchers, to be spent on qualifying city campaigns next year. If you’re already registered to vote, you will get them automatically – if you’re not a registered voter, today’s city announcement explains, you’ll have to apply:
Democracy Vouchers are a new way for Seattle residents to become more active in city government by donating to candidate campaigns and/or running for elected positions themselves. Beginning December 1, Seattle residents may apply to receive four $25 Democracy Vouchers to give to candidates running in the 2017 City of Seattle elections.
Registered voters in Seattle will automatically receive $100 in Democracy Vouchers by mail after January 3, 2017. Seattle residents do not have to be registered voters to receive Democracy Vouchers.
To be eligible to use the $100 in Democracy Vouchers, residents must:
Live in Seattle;
Be at least 18 years of age; and
Be either a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or lawful permanent resident “green card holder”.If residents meet the eligibility requirements, they are encouraged to apply for Democracy Vouchers. The application is available in 15 languages [Amharic, Cambodian, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Tagalog, Korean, Lao, Oromo, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Thai, Tigrigna, Vietnamese, English] at www.seattle.gov/democracyvoucher.
Seattle residents may only give Democracy Vouchers to participating candidates running for City Council or City Attorney. The program will expand to include the Mayor’s race in 2021. Residents may give participating candidates one ($25), two ($50), three ($75), or all four ($100) of their Democracy Vouchers.
Next year, two City Council seats will be on the ballot citywide, the “at-large” positions, currently held by Councilmembers Tim Burgess (P. 8) and Lorena González (P. 9). The other seven, elected by district, will not be on the ballot until 2019.
P.S. The city says it’s sending an “informational mailer” about this to every household in Seattle in about a week. Meantime, if you want to read the full initiative that created this – it’s here.
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