Seattle has made news in recent months because of its use of a revolutionary idea to promote democracy through democracy vouchers. But there are important questions that need to be answered about that program. This article is published by The Post Millennial. Here is an excerpt:
Andrew Grant Houston, a candidate for Seattle Mayor and former City Council staffer, has managed to get more people to give him money through Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program than actually vote for him, in the process raising red flags. Since the start of the campaign, Houston was unlikely to advance to the general election. Though many candidates run with no chance of winning, few do so while bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds.
In 2015, Seattle voters approved a property tax of $3 million to fund the Democracy Voucher Program for 10 years. The Democracy Voucher Program gives each Seattle voter $100 in $25 vouchers to give out to ‘donate’ to the campaign of their choice.
Houston’s campaign gathered more vouchers by far than any other campaign, almost 14,000 vouchers worth $346,325. Yet he only managed to finish in sixth place with 4,535, 2.62 percent of the total vote based on the latest totals. He had more than 5,000 donors but is unlikely to pull in as many votes as donors.
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