I don’t usually write political articles, but as a long-time Seattle resident there are TWO things that really bug me: the stupid "sugary beverage tax" and the "Democracy Voucher" program. This year in 2025, the Democracy voucher program is up for VOTE on whether to continue it, and I urge you all to vote a resounding "NO!" Here's why...

Seattle's "Democracy Voucher" program is up for a vote this coming August as to if it should be renewed for another ten years. The program started in 2015 as a ten-year program, and it gives every registered voter in Seattle four $25 vouchers ($100 total) which they can donate to any candidate running in local city elections... at least, that's what it CLAIMS to do.

The Democracy Voucher program was supposed to combat "big money" in local politics, but instead it has proven to be a dismal failure, as it wastes taxpayer money (from a special property tax inflicted on all property owners) giving money to the big name politicians and incumbants while leaving small grass roots candidates out of the game. Plus the program is ripe for grift and fraud, and a burden on tax payers who are forced to fund the program. Three million dollars a year is alloted to this program, almost half of which is spent on "administrative costs". They want to increase the funding to $4.5 million per year if it passes.

How it works
Registered voters in Seattle are told they can donate their vouchers to the local candidates of their choosing, but ONLY to candidates that meet the requirements to receive the vouchers. To be eligible to receive the vouchers, candidates must first sign a pledge to participate in the program, and then must receive 400 or more real donations of ten dollars or more from registered voters. This is a huge hurdle for small-time, grass roots candidates who often have an extremely hard time getting their message out and getting donations.

On the other hand, the career politicians and incumbants have an easy time meeting the requirement, as they use their political connections and paid "consultants" to collect the donations for them. This results in the bulk of democracy vouchers going to the big name politicians and incumbants, and leaves the small grassroots candidates at a distinct disadvantage.

To be fair, ALL candidates on the ballot should be eligible to receive the vouchers with NO requirements other than paying the filing fee to get on the ballot. Some small time candidates spend their entire campaign trying to meet the requirements, and by the time they do, they have no time to even spend the voucher money on their campaigns. This is just WRONG, and goes against the very "goal" of the program.

Of course, if there were no requirements or hoops to jump through to collect the voucher money, you would probably get candidates running for office whose sole intention would be to collect the money. Which is another huge problem with this program...

Ripe for fraud and grift
The Democracy Voucher program is also ripe for fraud and gaming. Case in point: "Ace the Architect" who ran for mayor in 2021. Ace's platform was that he was a queer, black, latino architect, and it seems he ran his entire campaign in an effort to collect (or farm) as much democracy voucher money as he could. He hired a political consultant company called Prism to collect the voucher money on his behalf. Prism collected the vouchers on the street -- setting up tables in public spaces, asking passers by if they wanted to "help the homeless" by donating vouchers. They printed out the vouchers on the spot, and had people sign them right on over to Prism and Ace the Architect. In total, Ace the Architect collected $346,325 in vouchers. Ace paid Prism over $199,000 for their services during his campaign, which effectively proved to be a farming of democracy voucher money. In the election itself Ace only received only 5,485 votes (2.7% of the vote)! Most of the people who gave him their vouchers didn't even bother to vote for him!

Was Ace the Architect's 2021 campaign simply a scam to collect democracy voucher money? Did Ace receive kickbacks from his cohorts at Prism? I'm not going to speculate on that, but it is worthy to note that at the same time in 2021 that Ace was running his campaign, he quit paying rent on his Capital Hill apartment and owed over $20,000 in back rent, even though he had been working full-time for the Seattle City Council as well as running his own architect company. Ace definitely took advantage of Seattle's Covid-era eviction restrictions (he could effectively NOT pay his rent and not get evicted for it, and Seattle taxpayers ended up paying his back rent) and he totally gamed the Democracy Voucher program as well.

Ace isn't the only one using "consultants" to collect money -- all the big name politicans do this. The people who benefit and profit most from programs such as the Democracy Voucher program are the consultants and professional politicans.

More reasons to vote "NO"
Lastly, it is UNFAIR for property owners to be the ones who pay for this program, through the special property tax. Why should they be forced to donate their money to political candidates who they may not support? And if you are are a renter in Seattle, know this: when property taxes go up, rents go up.

And how many registed voters who receive the vouchers actually use them and donate them to candidates? In 2023, the last election cycle with vouchers, only 4.72% of voters who received vouchers used them. The rest ended up in the trash! Thus, the program is a tremendous waste of time, effort, and money. It's just a "feel good" program that does no good whatsoever.

For all these reasons, it is time to let the failed Democracy Voucher program cease to exist once and for all -- we do NOT need another ten years of this unfair and wasteful program. When this comes up for vote in the August 2025 election, I urge you all to vote NO to the failed Democracy Voucher program and stop wasting our tax money on politicians, grifters, and consultants.