Democracy dollars’ can give every voter a real voice in American politics

[Commentary] The “Seattle idea” is straightforward: Provide each registered voter with a “democracy voucher” of $100 that he or she can spend for only one purpose — to support their favorite candidates for municipal office. One person, one vote, one voucher: This is the formula for reclaiming democracy in the United States. With the approval of Seattle’s Initiative 122, candidates will remain free to rely exclusively on old-fashioned campaign contributions to fund their campaigns. But if they want to compete for the new democracy dollars, they must agree to an overall expenditure limit. The challenge is to transform Seattle’s approach into a plausible national program.

[Ackerman and Ayres are professors of law at Yale Law School]