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Every Seattle voter with $100 to spend

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Cody Olsen Jun 16, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Every Seattle voter with $100 to spend</h1>
                <h2><p>Citizens group Honest Elections Seattle has filed an initiative aimed at reducing the influence of money and special interests in Seattle politics. The Stranger highlighted the initiative's main components, chief among them giving all registered voters a $100 voucher they can donate to candidates running for city council,</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/codyolsen0-gmail-com/">Cody Olsen</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Citizens group <a href="http://honestelectionsseattle.org/?ref=cascadepbs.org">Honest Elections Seattle</a> has filed an initiative aimed at reducing the influence of money and special interests in Seattle politics. <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2015/04/03/22001764/the-newest-idea-to-get-money-out-of-politics-in-seattle-give-every-voter-100?ref=cascadepbs.org">The Stranger highlighted</a> the initiative's main components, chief among them giving all registered voters a $100 voucher they can donate to candidates running for city council, mayor or city attorney. Candidates could opt into the system, thus collecting campaign dough from a swath of voters who otherwise wouldn't be able to contribute.</p><p>The initiative also features a "cooling off" period, which would require a mayor, city council member, city attorney or any of their top aides  to wait three years after leaving office before taking up a career as a lobbyist. (A similar cooling off measure for some state offices <a href="http://crosscut.com/troll/date/2015/03/13/how-quick-is-too-quick?ref=cascadepbs.org">was defeated</a> in the Legislature earlier the current legislative session.)</p><p>So where would the money foe voter-vouchers come from? That would be a 10-year, $30 million dollar property tax. Honest Elections Seattle is gathering signatures now; the initiative needs 31,000 to get on the ballot.</p>
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Citizens group Honest Elections Seattle has filed an initiative aimed at reducing the influence of money and special interests in Seattle politics. The Stranger highlighted the initiative's main components, chief among them giving all registered voters a $100 voucher they can donate to candidates running for city council, mayor or city attorney. Candidates could opt into the system, thus collecting campaign dough from a swath of voters who otherwise wouldn't be able to contribute.

The initiative also features a "cooling off" period, which would require a mayor, city council member, city attorney or any of their top aides to wait three years after leaving office before taking up a career as a lobbyist. (A similar cooling off measure for some state offices was defeated in the Legislature earlier the current legislative session.)

So where would the money foe voter-vouchers come from? That would be a 10-year, $30 million dollar property tax. Honest Elections Seattle is gathering signatures now; the initiative needs 31,000 to get on the ballot.

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By Cody Olsen