It's an exciting election season at MapLight!
Voter’s Edge: The one-stop guide for millions of California voters
Do you vote in California? Check out Voter’s Edge, MapLight's comprehensive, nonpartisan online voter guide packed with information about candidates and ballot measures from the top of the ticket down to the local level. You can also use Voter’s Edge to find your polling place or vote center and can mark and print your choices to bring to the polls or share with family and friends.
Voter’s Edge is a key resource for California voters as election day approaches. Partners using our guide include the Los Angeles Times, KQED, KPBS, KPCC, Capital Public Radio, and more. Voter’s Edge is a joint project of MapLight and the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund.
Democracy Dollars on the ballot in Oakland
Voters in Oakland, California have the history-making opportunity to pass the Oakland Fair Elections Act, Measure W, which would create a “democracy dollars” system of public funding of elections. With democracy dollars, each Oakland resident will receive democracy vouchers worth $100. Residents can give these vouchers to city council and mayor candidates, and the candidates exchange the vouchers for public funds to run their campaigns.
In Seattle, which has had democracy vouchers since 2017, candidates can run for office and win without depending on special interest money. All residents can contribute to candidates, regardless of their personal level of wealth, which encourages candidates to campaign in all areas of the city –not just the high-income areas. The Seattle program increased the number of small donations as well as the number of candidates, providing voters greater choice. There’s more about Oakland’s Measure W at FairElectionsOakland.org and democracy vouchers–in comic form–in this excerpt from my book Unrig.
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The Oakland ballot measure has been five years in the making, with MapLight co-leading the effort alongside groups like Common Cause California, the ACLU of Northern California, the League of Women Voters of Oakland, Oakland Rising, Bay Rising, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice. MapLight’s report on money in Oakland elections found that just half of all fundraising by candidates came from Oakland residents, and that campaign contributions came disproportionately from Oakland's richest and whitest neighborhoods. Know someone in Oakland? Encourage them to find out more about Measure W and to vote Yes!
Best, Dan |
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