The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Feb. 24, 2023

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
New Hampshire House/Legiscan – HB 324 Voter-Owned Elections
Open Democracy Action – One Pager on Small Donor, Voter-Owned Elections
PBS Wisconsin/AP – Protasiewicz, Kelly advance in 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court primary
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Janet Protasiewicz, Daniel Kelly advance in high stakes, high-spending Supreme Court race
Democracy Docket – North Carolina Supreme Court Will Rehear Two Voting Rights Cases With New GOP Majority
Democracy Docket – North Carolina Republicans File Brief in Redistricting Case Being Reheard by State Supreme Court
Slate – Unfortunately, the Biggest Election Case of the Supreme Court Term Could Be Moot
Scotus Blog – Court seems unwilling to embrace broad version of “independent state legislature” theory

Groups Taking Action:
NH – Open Democracy Action,  League of Women Voters NH
WI – Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition,  Groups List of groups supporting fair maps in Wisconsin
NC – Common Cause NC,  League of Conservation Voters NC, Campaign Legal Center

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

We’re updating breaking Democracy stories we’ve covered recently, ranging from Voter-Owned Elections in New Hampshire, to the Supreme Court elections in Wisconsin and the Moore v. Harper case in North Carolina.

First to New Hampshire, where the state House last week voted down the HB 324 Voter-Owned Election bill, 200 to 163.  The bill would have created an optional small donor “Voter-Dollars” system for funding the state’s gubernatorial and Executive Council races.

On to Wisconsin’s supreme court election, where Tuesday, voters chose one liberal and one conservative to move forward to the general election on April 4th.  Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz, an outspoken critic of gerrymandered maps approved by the current court, was the top vote-getter at 46%.  She was followed by former state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly at 24%.   Should Wisconsin’s gerrymandered maps be overturned, it could have a dramatic impact on the makeup of the state’s legislature & Congressional seats.

In the North Carolina Supreme Court, March 14th has been set to rehear the Harper v. Hall Congressional district gerrymandering case.  The highly-irregular rehearing caused a sitting justice to call it a “display of raw partisanship.  The case spawned the Moore v. Harper “independent state legislature” case in the U.S. Supreme Court.  A new North Carolina court may overturn the earlier decision striking down the maps, but it’s unclear whether Moore v. Harper will rendered moot. 

We have more details at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

The post <strong>Democracy News Updates from New Hampshire, Wisconsin & North Carolina</strong> appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for February 14, 2023

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
NH House –  HB 324 Voter-Owned Election bill language
Open Democracy Action – One pager on Voter-Owned Elections
Pew Trust – ‘Democracy Vouchers’ Put Free Campaign Cash in the Hands of Voters
National Conference of State Legislatures – Public Financing of Campaigns: Overview
Brennan Center for Justice – The U.S. campaign finance system unfairly favors a small handful of wealthy donors. Small donor public financing could fix that.

Groups Taking Action:
Open Democracy Action, Public Citizen, Represent.Us, Common Cause

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Remember our explainer on the most common types of public funding of elections:  Democracy vouchers, and small-donor matching systems?  The New Hampshire House votes February 14th on a hybrid of the two called “Voter-Owned Elections.”   

HB 324 provides four $25 dollar certificates to each registered voter, which can be given to qualifying candidates in the race for governor, or to one of the five candidates for New Hampshire’s Executive Council, which approves state contracts and department heads.   

To qualify, a gubernatorial candidate must secure 2,500 individual contributions of $5.00 to $250.00, and Executive Council candidates 500 contributions of $5.00 to $125.00.   Qualifying also makes candidates eligible for a general election grant of $1 Million for the governor’s race, and $60,000 for Executive Council.  

As with Seattle and New York State, the Voter-Owned system encourages candidates to seek out voters’ contributions and votes. It engages small donors in a state where most election funding comes from just 600 wealthy Granite Staters. It limits the size of non-voucher donations to a maximum $250.00, prohibits contributions from corporations, unions and lobbyists, and allows good candidates without wealthy friends to compete.    

HB 324 goes to a closely-divided but Republican-controlled House, but it does have a few bipartisan supporters and it has a chance.   Its fate is less certain in the gerrymandered New Hampshire Senate.

More details on the New Hampshire proposal and groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

The post <strong>NH’s “Voter-Owned Elections” Public Funding  Proposal Goes to a Vote Feb. 14</strong> appeared first on American Democracy Minute.