Seattle voters will decide in August whether to renew funding for the city's groundbreaking Democracy Voucher Program, the first and only system of its kind in the United States that gives residents public money to support local candidates of their choice.

Proposition 1 on the August 5 primary ballot asks voters to approve a 10-year property tax levy to continue the program, which provides every eligible Seattle resident with four $25 vouchers annually to contribute to qualified candidates for mayor, city attorney, and city council.

Estevan Muñoz-Howard was one of the original leaders of the 2015 campaign that created the Democracy Voucher program and continues his work as a democracy activist with People Powered Elections Seattle. Professor Jennifer Heerwig from Stony Brook University is the leading scholar studying the program's impacts. She's tracked its effects through multiple election cycles and recently published a book on her findings called Democracy Vouchers and the Promise of Fairer Elections in Seattle.

 

As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.

 

Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find Estevan Muñoz-Howard on LinkedIn and Professor Jennifer Heerwig at https://www.jenheerwig.com/.