Democracy Reform

We need to get big money out of politics.

The Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. F.E.C. has completely changed the landscape of American elections. It further established the legal basis for the myth that “corporations are people” and opened the door for billionaires and special interests to spend unlimited, untraceable money in America’s elections.

Now, billionaires like the Koch Brothers and corporations are trying to tip the balance of political power in their favor. Politicians of all stripes are beholden to their donors, not the American public. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Thankfully, there are clear solutions.

We need a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, a disastrous Supreme Court ruling that 78% of Americans oppose, and we need leaders with the courage to call for it. As long as special interest groups and the ultra wealthy continue to bankroll campaigns, they’ll be the only ones getting what they want.

We can also get big money out of politics today by publicly financing federal elections. We can amplify the voices of small donors by with an opt-in federal public financing system that matches small-dollar donations, gives small-dollar donors a partial tax credit, caps all contributions at $1000, and eliminates PAC funding as well as self-funding.

We must mandate independent nonpartisan redistricting.

More seats are affected by partisan gerrymandering now than at any point in the last five cycles of redistricting — in fact, in 2012, more people cast ballots for House Democratic candidates than Republican ones yet Republicans maintained a majority in the House of Representatives thanks to partisan gerrymandering. Gerrymandering allows politicians to pick their voters instead of the other way around. It distorts the impact of actual voters, locks in partisans, unfairly protects incumbents, and prevents real political progress when voters demand it.

Breaking the stranglehold of partisan redistricting on our politics will break the stranglehold of long-term incumbents, special interest groups, and wealthy donors who distort and manipulate our democracy. Ending more bipartisan (incumbency protection) gerrymandering will make our government more responsive to the will of the electorate.

We can start with constitutionally mandated independent nonpartisan redistricting. This would entail nonpartisan professional redistricting committees operating under requirements that districts be contiguous and compact, that communities with common political, social, and economic interests be considered in drawing district lines, and that lines be drawn to account for political boundaries between cities, towns, and counties.

We can also implement alternative voting solutions to limit the importance of individual districts by instituting “jungle primaries” and proportional voting. With options like these, voters will be free to make their choices without fear of “spoilers,” no district will be “red” or “blue,” and every district will fairly reflect its full spectrum of voters.

We must remove unfair barriers to voting.

Voting rights are under attack nationwide as states pass voter suppression laws. These laws lead to significant burdens for eligible voters trying to exercise their most fundamental constitutional right. Since 2008, states across the country have passed measures to make it harder for Americans — particularly people of color, immigrants, seniors, students, and people with disabilities — to exercise their fundamental right to cast a ballot.

Before the 2016 election, the Brooklyn office of the NYC Board of Elections purged its voter rolls of nearly 200,000 voters simply because they had not voted since 2008, ignoring normal protocol. Many voters showed up at the polls for the primary election and were told they were ineligible to vote, despite being listed as a registered voter on the state’s website.

We need to remove the unfair barriers to participation that Americans face. Every other industry has spent billions of dollars to create secure, convenient, innovative consumer technologies, from Apple Pay to online banking to mobile-based insurance and mortgages. But access to voting has moved in the opposite direction, becoming increasingly difficult for a growing number of people.

We can fix our hopelessly outdated voting system with constitutionally mandated voter access reforms like automatic and same-day voter registration, pre-registration for 17-year-olds, rolling back felon disenfranchisement, and voter protections that remove barriers to voting based on language, physical disability, or extra-legal requirements of personal identification.

We can also make it easier to vote by adopting mail-in and digital voting. In a mail-in process, registered voters would receive a ballot by mail and could send it in over a voting period, or in person on Election day. Allowing voting by mail increases voter convenience and satisfaction, saves millions of dollars, and increases turnout. Absentee ballots can be submitted electronically — via fax, email or web portal, and explore pioneering blockchain technology that could to to secure, convenient, and universal digital voting.