On July 19, proponents of a Washington state public funding initiative submitted signatures to the Secretary of State. It seems likely the initiative has enough valid signatures to qualify for the November 2016 ballot. Here is the text of the proposal, I-1464. The public funding only applies to legislative candidates, at least for the years 2018, 2020, and 2022. Later, if there is enough money, the program can be expanded to include statewide state offices.

Candidates qualify for public funding by raising at least $10 from at least 75 residents of their district. Qualified candidates can then receive public funding. Every registered voter will have the ability to ask the public funding office to send $50 to each of three candidates. Thus, unlike many other public financing systems, voters who want to help a candidate receive public funding do not themselves contribute any money (except for the initial group of 75 people who each contribute $10).

The office that runs the program would notify each registered voter in the state of his or her personal PIN, which must be used to direct the state office to forward the $50 amounts to the chosen candidates. The initiative makes other changes to campaign finance. The backers of the initiative seem eager to publicize those other changes, and the group’s webpage downplays the public funding part of the initiative. See their web page here. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for the news.