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The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion Tuesday to study the feasibility of establishing a Democracy Vouchers program to give residents the ability to donate to candidates of their choosing, with the aim of increasing engagement between Angelenos and the city’s political process.
The motion introduced by council members Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Marqueece Harris-Dawson instructed the city’s chief legislative analyst and relevant departments to provide a “demographic and neighborhood-by-neighborhood” analysis of donors in city elections; an analysis of the effectiveness of a Democracy Vouchers program in other cities; and recommendations to establish a program in Los Angeles.
City Council in a 11-0 vote supported the motion and requested the report within 90 days. Council President Paul Krekorian and council members John Lee and Kevin de León were absent during the vote.
According to the motion, the 2020 election in Los Angeles was one of the most expensive in the city’s history.
“All told, $32 million was spent to influence who gets to represent the city’s diverse communities, including $10.4 million in campaign spending and $22 million in independent expenditures,” the motion read. “The vast majority of itemized contributions came from actors who are not representative of the city’s racial and socioeconomic demographics.”
A report from LA for Democracy Voucher, released in April 2022, indicated that just 49.8% of dollars contributed to the 2020 races came from people who live in Los Angeles or from the city’s matching fund program.
The city’s matching fund program currently matches contributions up to $129 at a six-to-one ratio. The motion noted that matching funds do not “change the reality that many Angelenos do not have disposable income to spend on campaign donations.”
The Democracy Vouchers program would aim to rectify that issue and diversify the donor pool. Under the program, every voting-age adult would receive a set number of vouchers, which they could donate to candidates of their choosing. Those vouchers can then be redeemed with the city for money to fund campaigns.
A similar program was established in Seattle in 2015. According to the motion, the results have been “promising,” as donors have become more diverse by race, income and age.
In December 2022, voters in Oakland also approved a ballot measure to implement a “Democracy Dollars Program.”
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