VOTING IN SEATTLE
SIMPLE. FLEXIBLE. BETTER.
What's the problem?
Seattle primary elections use an outdated election method. It does a poor job of honoring voters’ preferences, particularly in races with many candidates.
Seattle’s groundbreaking Democracy Voucher program encouraged more serious candidates to run. In 2019, some candidates won primaries with less than 35% of votes. That means 3 out of 5 voters preferred a different candidate.
However, our outdated elections don’t work well with more than a few candidates; no one implementing an election today would choose the system we use. That’s why St. Louis, MO adopted a system called “Approval voting” – with broad support from the city’s largest newspaper, elected officials, and The League of Women Voters.
Approval voting makes elections – and election results – more accurately reflect voters’ preferences. Let’s bring better elections to Seattle.
The Solution
Using approval voting, give a thumbs up to each candidate you support:
how about a few examples?
Here’s how approval voting lets every voter express their preferences.
Like several candidates?
Approve them all.
Only like one candidate?
Approve just that one.
Only know who you don’t want?
Approve everyone else.
Worried that your favorite doesn’t have a chance?
Approve your favorite plus a few more you like.
As always, the candidate with the most votes will win. Because approval voting ballots contain more information about voters’ preferences, approval voting satisfies more voters.
Our Plan
These are uncertain times for the world and Seattle is no exception. Here’s how we’ll bring approval voting to Seattle City Council and Mayor elections:
- Approval voting requires passing an initiative in the City of Seattle (learn more).
- To put an initiative on the ballot, we’ll need to collect signatures from about 22,000 voters in 180 days. This can be a combination of volunteer signature-gatherers, paid signature-gatherers, and voters discovering the campaign from media coverage and supporters.
All of these depend on Seattle Approves getting good at succinctly explaining the problem and the solution.
- A key decision is when to launch a campaign. The more we learn before launching an initiative, the higher our chances of succeeding. The next big decision will be in December 2021 or January 2022: is a 2022 campaign realistic?
So, how do we make progress right now?
Our short-term goal is simple: get a meaningful number of people involved – about 1,000 Seattle voters – on an email mailing list and starting to collaborate. Please join below ↓
