Austin Considers Seattle-Style Public Funding for Elections

AUSTIN, TX -- The City of Austin’s charter review commission recently completed a study considering changes to the city’s operating manual and one of the more controversial proposals is to use taxpayer dollars to fund mayor and city council elections.  

Austin is an outpost of Liberal progressive thought in an otherwise conservative state and emulating the publicly funded elections in Seattle has caught the eye of conservatives in the state’s capitol.  

Recommendation number one from the charter review commission states, “Shall the (Austin) city charter be amended to provide a voluntary campaign finance system, with voters contributing small publicly funded contribution vouchers to candidates for mayor and city council who have demonstrated grassroots support?”

According to Ken Martin with The Austin Bulldog 2018, The recommendation calls for providing eligible Austin voters up to four $25 Democracy Dollar Vouchers each election cycle to donate to candidates for mayor or city council in their district.  That’s using taxpayer dollars to fund public municipal elections. The program would cost about $1.5 million annually.

Martin says a letter recommending the voter-voucher program offers two advantages; (1) it allows non-wealthy Austinites to contribute to candidates and (2) it allows non-wealthy candidates with strong community support to run competitively.  

Texas elections are privately funded so everyone can participate.  Candidates raise money from private individuals, political action committees and political parties according to state and federal laws regulated and monitored by the Texas Ethics Commission.  Home rule cities like Austin and San Angelo are allowed by law to pass ordinances regulating anything that is not specifically prohibited by state law.

The charter review committee approved the voter voucher program by a vote of seven to three.  The city charter recommendations now go to the Austin city council for approval to be placed before voters on the November ballot.