What is Ranked Choice Voting? Score Voting? List Voting? And how do these election structures differ from the current winner-take-all, first-past-the-post voting system? In this presentation hosted by the League of Women Voters of Portland, Sightline senior researcher Kristin Eberhard explores the way we vote and highlights alternative voting systems in Cascadia and beyond. Examples from the … Read more
Yesterday, the Trudeau administration approved a proposal by Texas-based energy company Kinder Morgan to build a large new oil pipeline through British Columbia to the shores of the Salish Sea. Having obtained support from the Canadian federal government, Kinder Morgan will now move forward with its plans, aiming to begin construction in September 2017 and … Read more
Fifteen pounds. Thanks to Catalog Choice, Seattle’s phone book opt-out, and vigilance against Red Plum and other advertisers, I have purged and pinched my annual junk mail tally down to 15 pounds. Last time I weighed in, in 2013, it was 26 pounds; in 2012, it was 33 pounds (half of it from the hated … Read more
Oregon’s success in honoring voting rights was a bright spot in the US election last week. In 2015, Oregon became the first state in the nation to adopt New Motor Voter—automatically registering citizens to vote when they prove their citizenship at the Department of Motor Vehicles. California, Vermont, and West Virginia soon followed suit. State … Read more
Editor’s note: This article combines and adapts three articles by the Portland for Everyone coalition’s Michael Andersen. See the originals on this blog, and learn more about the group here. Portland’s approach shares similarities with the Seattle Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda recommendation to allow small duplexes and triplexes in single-family zones without letting property … Read more
Did you know in 2012, just 600 big donors accounted for nearly 60 percent of all of the money given to Portland campaigns? Wealthy donors have an outsized influence on elections and drown out the voices of everyday people. Luckily, Portland could find a new way forward with Open and Accountable Elections Portland, a proposal to tighten … Read more
This election, voters in nine states and one province saw a total of 17 democracy reform initiatives on their ballots. The initiatives gave voters a chance to weigh in on issues ranging from voter registration to vote-counting systems, from the role of big money in funding political campaigns to the adoption of game-changing campaign finance … Read more
On November 3, the Portland City Council is holding a hearing on Open and Accountable Elections Portland, a proposal to tighten campaign reporting laws and introduce a public match option for local elections. Yesterday’s article described how Open and Accountable Elections Portland can reduce the influence of big money in local politics and let everyday … Read more
On November 3, the Portland City Council will hold a hearing on Open and Accountable Elections Portland, a proposal to tighten campaign transparency laws and introduce a public match funding option for local elections. Portlanders may be wondering why the Council is considering this proposal and what exactly it will do. This article explains the … Read more
Most Americans are all too aware of the problem of big money in politics, but they may not recognize the sibling scourge of slanted voting systems. That is, the way we vote, not just how much money moves through political campaigns, also affects how well a government represents its ordinary voters. Cities, counties, states, and … Read more