A brief introduction to the idea of democracy vouchers

A new way to fix campaign finance laws

What if there was a way of reforming how our elections are funded that relied on the choices made by voters themselves rather than the politicians or big donors?

Let me introduce you to the idea of democracy vouchers, a system that is has been used in parts of the United States and which has—according to detailed research like this—had a positive effect on the jurisdictions in which they have been used.

I’ll explain exactly what a democracy voucher is in a second but let me first explain why we might need them.

Our current electoral laws were created in an era where Labor and the LNP dominated our politics. As we all know, that era is coming to an end—or is, at least, being radically transformed—with the rise of independents and smaller-party candidates who are now close to constituting around a third of the electorate: that is, nearly a third of people vote for someone other than Labor and the LNP.

A joint standing committee on electoral matters released their final report on the 2022 fe…