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British Columbia and Ontario Citizens Assemblies Both Choose Proportional Representation
The Ontario Citizens Assembly, which met from September 2006 - April 2007, voted to recommend a mixed-member proportional system (MMP) specifically designed to meet the unique needs of Ontario. Their final report was produced on May 15th, 2007. The goverment will hold a referendum in October 2007 to allow voters to decide whether to accept the recommendation or retain their current first-past-the post system.
Citizens Assembly Featured at Deliberative Democracy Conference co-sponsored by New America Foundation
Citizens' Assembly architect Gordon Gibson spoke about the process in British Columbia at the February 2007 conference. He was one of several speakers on a range of different deliberative democracy topics, exploring ideas ranging from 'deliberate polling' to 'facilitated dialogue panels.' The idea of giving ordinary people the opportunity to seriously study public policy, knowing their views will be taken into account, lies at the core of many such practices. His article about the potential for reform in California was published in the Toronto Globe & Mail.
New America Survey Shows Overwhelming Support for Citizens Assembly
Nearly 3/4 of California Voters Would Like to See Panel Created
As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls for more competition in elections, a survey commissioned by the New America Foundation finds that more than three-quarters of California voters would like to see the governor and the Legislature create a citizen’s panel to explore political reform ideas for making the state’s election process more fair and competitive. If lawmakers did not convene the panel, two-thirds said they would vote for an initiative to create one. The findings identified overwhelming demand for better elections. Read the press release, or download the poll analysis, survey questions and results in PDF format.
Resources
New America Foundation commissioned a statewide survey in California and found that nearly 3/4 quarters of voters support the idea of a Citizens Assembly. Download the press release, poll analysis, survey questions and results in PDF format. A great resource is the Citizens Assembly Blog by New America Fellow, J.H. Snider, which covers citizens assembly developments throughout the world. The final 20-page report issued by the British Columbia's Citizens Assembly is an excellent insight into the process used by members of the Citizens Assembly and the 280-page final technical report goes into great detail about the different voting systems studied and deliberated over the 11-month long process.Articles
| Article | Date |
|---|---|
| How to Revive Redistricting Reform | October 18, 2007 |
| The Way Forward for Political Reform | December 19, 2006 |
| Let Citizens Guide Electoral Reform | February 9, 2006 |
| Solving a Classic Dilemma of Democratic Politics | January 10, 2006 |
| Citizens' Assemblies | November 16, 2005 |
| Citizens' Assembly Can Lead Reform | March 15, 2005 |
| Consider Alternate Systems of Voting | January 9, 2005 |
| Alleviating the Problem of Rational Voter Ignorance: A Proposal for a "Ballot Portal" | April 30, 2004 |
Policy Papers
| Title | Date |
|---|---|
| Citizens Assembly | June 2006 |
Events
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Deliberative Democracy in California | February 23, 2007 |
| Reconnecting Californians to Their Government (Sacramento) | January 26, 2006 |
| Reconnecting Californians to Their Government (San Francisco) | January 25, 2006 |
| Reconnecting Californians to Their Government (Los Angeles) | January 24, 2006 |
| Does British Columbia's Citizens Assembly Offer a Magic Key to Realizing Your Own Democratic Reform Agenda? | September 16, 2005 |
| Can the U.S. Take Lessons from a Canadian Experiment in Democracy? | June 7, 2005 |
Press
| Headline | Date |
|---|---|
| S.F. Chronicle Cites New America Survey in Support of Citizens Assembly | January 4, 2007 |
| New America Survey Shows Overwhelming Support for California Citizens Assembly | December 13, 2006 |
An Important Vehicle for Political Reform
A number of promising reforms have been proposed for making the American political system more representative and responsive -- from independent redistricting, term limits, and open primaries to more modern electoral systems and public financing of campaigns -- but all face the same obstacle: entrenched interests, including elected lawmakers, who benefit from the status quo.One means of removing partisanship and incumbent protectionism from the political reform process is known as a Citizens Assembly, which convenes a body of randomly-selected, average citizens empowered to formally propose electoral reforms that politicians have too strong a conflict of interest to propose themselves.
Already successfully employed in British Columbia, California Republican Assemblymember Keith Richman and Democrat Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla introduced ACA 28 on January 25, 2006.
Citizens Assemblies could be important vehicles for modernizing our political system because trust is placed in a deliberative process involving average citizens who have more credibility than the political class.
For more information, please read our complete position paper.
