Seattle has a type of public funding for city elections called “Democracy Vouchers”. Every voter is given vouchers. The voter can then donate them to his or her favorite candidates, and the candidates can get money to spend on their campaigns by redeeming the vouchers.

The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to declare that the Seattle vouchers program, which is funded by a property tax, violates the First Amendment. On January 9, the American Association of Christian Schools filed an amicus in the case, Elster v City of Seattle, 19-608. The amicus, which argues the Court should strike down the vouchers, explains that even though campaign finance vouchers are unconstitutional, vouchers used to pay educational expenses for children who attend private schools are not unconstitutional. Here is the amicus.

On January 7, a Texas state trial court in Houston ordered that George Powell’s name be added to the Democratic primary ballot in a judicial race. Powell had been told that he should pay $1,500 filing fee to the party in order to be on the ballot, and he did so. Then the Democratic Party rejected his application because the actual amount of the fee was $2,500. The court said the party accepted and cashed his check, and he had relied on the party’s statement that the fee was $1,500, so it is too late to exclude him. See this story.

Last year California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed non-charter cities and counties to use Ranked Choice Voting for their own elections. Michael Feinstein has this op-ed at Fox & Hounds Daily, saying Newsom’s veto was a mistake.