Citizen Funded Elections

“When lawmakers draw their own lines, they lose all of their philosophical ideals and they become ugly monsters that are willing to cut out competitors, punish people from the other party and try to draw the most protective district for themselves so they don’t have to face serious competition for the next 10 years,” said Kathay Feng, national redistricting director at the good government group Common Cause, which championed the creation of California’s commission.

Congress is finally listening to the growing demands for reform from the American people. That H.R. 1 will be a sweeping set of pro-democracy reforms is an encouraging sign that the new Congress has its priorities in line with the will of the people. On Election Day, voters from coast-to-coast sent a clear message that we are ready for bold, comprehensive democracy reforms. Tired of the status quo, Americans passed nearly two dozen ballot initiatives across the nation ranging from redistricting reforms, ethics, same day and automatic voter registration to citizen-funded elections measures to ensure that the people have a voice in their democracy. These passed in red states, blue states, and purple states alike with strong support from Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

Today, Common Cause released a new report on more than two dozen ballot initiatives and state constitutional amendments to strengthen, and in some cases undercut, democracy that will be decided by voters at the state and local level in November. “Democracy on the Ballot” traces the growing momentum behind citizen-driven pro-democracy reforms in recent years and examines initiatives and amendments on ballots in the 2018 general election from Florida to California and from North Dakota to New Mexico and urges support or opposition to each.

With Election Day now less than two months away, Common Cause released its 2018 Democracy Scorecard to chart the positions of every Member of Congress on issues vital to the health of our democracy. The reforms in question range from legislation to create a small donor matching fund system and increased disclosure requirements for outside political groups to bills to curb gerrymandering and strengthen the protections in the Voting Rights Act.

Martin G. Evans is a long-time advocate and volunteer at Common Cause Massachusetts and is professor emeritus of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. This essay was originally published by the Boston Business Journal.

Hedrick Smith is an award-winning journalist whose documentary, The People vs. The Politicians, will air on MSNBC this fall helping to tell the good news of the growing people's movement to preserve our voices and votes in our democracy.