Seattle is giving voters four vouchers worth $25 each in a publicly financed municipal election.  It’s hope, y’all.

When elections can be bought by corporations, a publicly financed campaign is a game changer.

“For us it really is about creating a new pathway for participation,” says Alissa Haslam, executive director of the Win/Win Network, a progressive Seattle coalition that led the initiative campaign. Haslam says organizers were “shocked” that they won the ballot initiative by such a large margin, particularly since it included a property tax increase that will generate $30 million over ten years to underwrite the vouchers.

It is cheaper to pay for an election this way than to have to pay the mark-up city vendors charge for all the campaign money they have to give candidates.  If a concrete company has to give city council members a large campaign donation to get their vote on a contract, that cost is passed along to you in higher taxes anyway.  At least this way, you get to decide who gets the campaign money instead of a cement company in another city.

Most importantly, it totally screws the Koch brothers.

Thanks to Alfredo over at the Dairy Queen for the heads up.