On November 3, Seattle voters will decide whether to pass measure I-122. It would set up public funding for candidates for city office. All Seattle city office elections are non-partisan. See this story.
If the measure passes, all registered voters would be sent four vouchers, each good for $25. Recipients of the vouchers could then send them to any candidate for city office favored by that recipient. This eliminates one objection to other public funding measures. Opponents of standard public funding measures say it is wrong to force anyone to support a candidate he or she doesn’t like, but that objection is not present in a voucher system. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
I think due to the monumental (at least for Seattle) amounts being raised both by candidate committees and as independent expenditures.
I’ve heard some concern that these vouchers would mostly end up in apathetic voters recycling.
I believe the same businesswoman who got the initiative to change Seattle to councilmanic districts started also got this public funding initiative started. I just did a web search but can’t find anything to back up this thought?