Overview

In 2017, Seattle inaugurated a new way for citizens to be involved in democracy: they introduced publicly financed vouchers for voters to donate to local candidates. The innovative plan is designed to level the playing field in campaign financing. Through the vouchers, residents allocate dollars to candidates of their choice in local elections, putting political money directly in the hands of voters. The intent is to increase political participation and ameliorate the long-standing representational inequalities of private donations. Democracy Vouchers and the Promise of Fairer Elections in Seattle critically evaluates the success and impact of this program. Jennifer Heerwig and Brian J. McCabe emphasize how local elections now attract a much wider and more diverse field of both donors and candidates. They also consider external threats to the program, from litigation about the constitutionality of a voucher program to the rise of independent expenditures. Offering important lessons on how other cities can adopt a similar program, this compelling case study also highlights the obstacles that will likely arise in its implementation.

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9781439926260

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Reviews

“Thirty years after Bruce Ackerman proposed an idea for changing the way money might affect politics, Heerwig and McCabe provide the first comprehensive account of its success in the first American city to adopt it. Democracy vouchers radically improve democracy—increasing participation, driving voter renewal, and substantially improving representation in city government. This beautifully crafted story will drive reform across the nation focused on changing the corrupting influence of money in American politics—finally.”—Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, and author of They Don’t Represent Us: Reclaiming Our Democracy “Fighting the undue role played by big money in American politics is a necessary condition for the survival of U.S. democracy. The Seattle Democracy Vouchers experiment is unique in this respect, and Heerwig and McCabe’s work provides a much-needed study of this impressive but challenging attempt at reducing the influence of large donors in U.S. politics. Their book is enlightening and should be on the table of any policymaker interested in fair elections and in improving both descriptive and substantive representation.”—Julia Cagé, Professor of Economics at Sciences Po Paris, and author of The Price of Democracy:How Money Shapes Politics and What to Do About It

Author Information

Jennifer A. Heerwig is Associate Professor of Sociology and Political Science (by Courtesy) at Stony Brook University. Brian J. McCabe is Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University. He is the author of No Place Like Home: Wealth, Community and the Politics of Homeownership, and the coeditor of The Sociology of Housing: How Homes Shape Our Social Lives.

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