VOTERS' VOICE COALITION

The amount of money spent on elections in our country is harming our democracy.  Not only does it limit who can run for office, but big money influences who our elected officials listen to and it impacts policy outcomes.  

Represent.us, Common Cause CA and the League of Women's Voters are non-partisan groups advocating to support efforts to fix our broken elections.  There are a range of solutions being pursued across the country including ending gerrymandering, letting voters rank their top candidates, allowing participation in open primaries and changing how elections are funded to curb the influence of big money in politics.

The coalition behind the Voters' Voice Initiative was formed by members of these groups to improve the quality of representation for the all San Diegans and fight back against the corrupting influence of big money on our democracy.

The Voters’ Voice Initiative has three goals for San Diego:

1. Engage more citizen participation in the democratic process by leveling the playing field with Democracy Dollars.
2. Enable qualified candidates who lack the support of a few wealthy donors to compete for office.
3. Establish a high degree of transparency around campaign finance by providing voters with campaign finance data in easy-to-understand charts and graphs.

The Voters’ Voice Coalition is collaborating with Open San Diego on our 3rd goal - campaign finance transparency.  Currently, campaign finance information for candidates running for local offices, as well as money spent by outside groups to support or defeat them, is not readily accessible to the public.  When the amount of money being spent and the source of those funds is not known, voters feel disenfranchised by the election process.  Making campaign finance data easy to find and read will increase public trust and confidence in the election process.