Latest Press Releases

  • Ranked choice voting would fix OR’s spoiler problem 

    Oregon’s past statewide and federal elections are full of spoiler candidates and non-majority winners. 

    June 6, 2024 MEDIA CONTACT: Shannon Grimes, Sightline Institute, shannon@sightline.org  FULL ARTICLE: Spoiler alert! Majority winners are no guarantee  PORTLAND, OR – Between 2010 and 2022, 31 primary and general elections for federal and statewide offices in Oregon ended without [...] Read more »

  • Election consolidation is a red-blue partisanship puzzle

    Democrats and Republicans swap scripts on the same bills depending what state they’re in — and that could be good news for reformers.

    May 28, 2024 MEDIA CONTACT: Alan Durning, Sightline Institute, alan@sightline.org  FULL ARTICLE: The Bizarre Red-Blue Politics of Election Consolidation   SEATTLE, WA – Election consolidation (moving local elections to the same November ballot as national elections) boosts turnout more than any [...] Read more »

  • Bellingham pilots parking reform in Old Town’s former scrapyard site

    The neighborhood’s newest building project has more than double the number of homes and less parking than Bellingham’s old code would have required. The rest of the city might follow suit.

    May 6, 2024 MEDIA CONTACT: Catie Gould, Sightline Institute, catie@sightline.org    FULL ARTICLE: Bellingham’s parking reform pilot pays off  SEATTLE, WA – Decision-makers in Bellingham tried a new concept for developing the city’s industrial Old Town district: they gave builders full [...] Read more »

  • Seattle’s Comp Plan draft needs 3 big housing fixes

    Sightline Institute’s Dan Bertolet describes the changes that would make the city’s once-a-decade vision statement meet the moment on housing, homelessness, equity, and climate priorities.

    April 22, 2024 MEDIA CONTACT: Dan Bertolet, Sightline Institute, dan@sightline.org    FULL ARTICLE: Seattle Deserves a Better Comp Plan  SEATTLE, WA – Seattle’s draft Comprehensive Plan, released earlier this month and laying out city leadership’s vision for the next 20 years [...] Read more »

  • Cultural fire and sovereignty: CA legislation acknowledges burning practices

    SB 310 would respect fire practitioners’ right to burn and shift a hierarchical relationship between the Karuk Tribe and the state to be sovereign-to-sovereign.

    April 15, 2024 MEDIA CONTACT: Kate Anderson, Sightline Institute, kate@sightline.org  FULL ARTICLE: What’s misunderstood about Indigenous cultural fire is sovereignty  SACRAMENTO, CA – A proposed policy in California, SB 310, would acknowledge Tribes’ cultural fire practices and respect fire practitioners’ [...] Read more »

  • Voter turnout: Idaho and Montana lag Wyoming due to odd-year elections

    But they could strengthen participation from working-age and moderate voters, save money, and dilute special-interest sway simply by letting cities move their local elections to when people are already voting.

    April 4, 2024 MEDIA CONTACT: Alan Durning, Sightline Institute, alan@sightline.org  FULL ARTICLE: The Election Calendar Is Cheating Idaho and Montana Voters  BOZEMAN, MT – Idaho and Montana severely lag neighboring Wyoming in voter turnout figures for local elections, with consequences [...] Read more »

  • Report: Cascadia’s top polluters

    180 sites account for a quarter of the region’s emissions.

    Jan 4, 2024 MEDIA CONTACT: Serena Larkin, Sightline Institute, serena@sightline.org    FULL ARTICLE, MAP, CHARTS: 180 Sites Account for a Quarter of Cascadia’s Carbon Pollution Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington count 180 stationary facilities that each emit more [...] Read more »

  • Report: Northwest leaders can responsibly speed permitting process for new transmission lines

    As the region races to electrify more of its energy system in line with its climate goals, state leaders can alleviate permitting delays while respecting environmental protections and tribal rights.

    Nov 9, 2023 MEDIA CONTACT: Emily Moore, Sightline Institute, emily@sightline.org   FULL ARTICLE: Is the Permitting Process for Transmission Lines Really Broken?  OREGON and WASHINGTON – The Pacific Northwest, like many places across the United States, is failing to quickly build [...] Read more »

  • All WA cities suffer a voter turnout penalty in state-mandated off-year elections

    As towns and cities await November 7 election results, new research and maps by Sightline Institute show that more than half a million voters sat out 2021’s local elections compared to 2022’s midterms across the state.

    Nov 8, 2023 MEDIA CONTACT: Alan Durning, Sightline Institute, alan@sightline.org  FULL ARTICLE: In Every Washington City, Odd-Year Elections Crush Voter Turnout OLYMPIA, WA – Every single city in the state of Washington suffers a markedly lower voter participation rate in [...] Read more »

  • How to Finance the Northwest’s Transmission Lines

    As utilities and the Bonneville Power Administration balk at multibillion-dollar grid investments and threaten the region’s climate progress, Inslee, Cantwell, and others can break the funding deadlock with three smart actions.

    September 12, 2023 MEDIA CONTACT: Emily Moore, Sightline Institute, emily@sightline.org   FULL ARTICLE: Who Will Pay for Cascadia’s Transmission Lines?  OREGON and WASHINGTON – The Pacific Northwest will need billions of dollars invested in its grid to achieve stated climate goals, [...] Read more »