The Los Angeles City Council has taken a step to introduce Democracy Vouchers to encourage its residents to participate in the city’s political process by contributing to their preferred candidates. Council members Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto-Martinez, and Marqueece Harris-Dawson introduced the motion, which calls for a detailed analysis of donors in city elections, an assessment of the effectiveness of Democracy Vouchers in other cities, and recommendations for establishing the program. The council approved the motion with an 11-0 vote and has requested a report within 90 days.
As per the motion, Los Angeles’s 2020 city election was one of the most expensive in its history, with $32 million spent on influencing who represents the city’s diverse communities. The vast majority of itemized contributions came from individuals who are not representative of the city’s racial and socioeconomic demographics. A report from LA for Democracy Voucher revealed that only 49.8% of dollars contributed to the 2020 races came from people living in Los Angeles or from the city’s matching fund program.
Currently, the city’s matching fund program matches contributions up to $129 at a six-to-one ratio, but the motion notes that the matching funds do not address the reality that many Angelenos are unable to make campaign donations. The Democracy Vouchers program aims to rectify this by offering every voting-age adult a set number of vouchers that they can donate to their preferred candidates. The vouchers can then be redeemed with the city for money to fund campaigns.
In its report, the CLA will recommend an appropriate budget size and funding options for the program. The department will also examine how the program can work in tandem with the city’s matching funds program. A similar program was established in Seattle in 2015, with promising results, as donors became more diverse in terms of race, income, and age. In December 2022, voters in Oakland also approved implementing a “democracy dollars” program.
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