A Grass-Roots Drive for Clean Elections in Karnataka

Low voter turnouts, populists offering half-truths, corporate interests, and the blurring of facts in the media are signs that democracy around the world is in turmoil. Internationally, citizens have assembled different programs and initiatives that arm ordinary people with information about policy and their elected officials, as well as distinctive ways to reform the electoral system.

Governments, companies, and nonprofits are using a strategy called "pre-bunking" to teach people the tactics and strategies behind misinformation so that they can recognize and scrutinize it when they see it online. After Twitter released several dozen pre-bunks about elections in the United States and Brazil, about 39 percent of users they surveyed said they were more confident that there wouldn't be election fraud, and about half said they were able to pause and question what they saw in online posts.

The Sequim Good Governance League (SGGL) formed in response to right-wing agitators taking over positions of power and spreading misinformation. SGGL recruited progressive and moderately conservative candidates who successfully defeated incumbents with the help of dozens of volunteers they trained. Volunteers worked around the clock, sent out emails, put up signs around the town, and used their most effective tool: having one-on-one conversations with other residents. SGGL-backed candidates now hold the majority of government offices.

Efforts aimed at recruiting student poll workers, some of whom aren’t yet eligible to vote, increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Monterey County ran registration drives, spoke in classrooms and other student-oriented events, and participated in California’s High School Voter Education Weeks, ultimately recruiting 107 students. The Georgia Youth Poll Worker Project used social media to recruit 1,000 young poll workers across the state. The organization is compiling “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Starting a Poll Worker Project” to help other organizations similarly recruit and train young poll workers.

VotERdoctors partners with doctors, clinics, community centers, and hospitals to register voters. Staff can wear badges with a QR code that patients can scan with their cellphone, which takes them to a webpage that offers information about how to register to vote, including a live help line if the patient gets stuck. Some facilities, such as Progressive Community Health Centers in Milwaukee, send monthly text messages to their patients to remind them to register. VotER is being used by more than 300 U.S. hospitals and about 40,000 patients have gotten help registering or requesting ballots.

In a time of extreme division in American politics, one documentary is highlighting an issue both sides agree is an issue--gerrymandering. As contorted districts have made elections pointless in many Michigan elections, the grassroots group Voters Not Politicians, featured in a recent documentary Slay the Dragon, worked to establish an independent, public citizen's commission for redistricting.

Seattle’s “Democracy Vouchers,” funded by a ballot measure to increase property taxes, provide money for residents to make campaign contributions, which increases civic participation and helps people running for office without political connections fund their campaigns. Every city resident receives four 25$ vouchers that they can sign over to the candidate of their choice and mail back in a pre-stamped envelope. Even though only 3% of vouchers were actually used, the number of people contributing to campaigns tripled and several non-establishment candidates were able to run campaigns and get elected.

Marking a departure from other countries in the Caribbean and Central and South America, Jamaica has seen its crime rate fall after many years of lawlessness. A combination of factors helped bring this about, including putting resources toward combatting corruption, fostering community policing and also seeking help from outsiders to strengthen institutions. Progress may be tenuous if drug trafficking is pushed out elsewhere and lands in Jamaica, however many are optimistic permanent change has taken root.

The student-led Youth Informed Club educates youth about the importance of voting and how elections work, engaging them in debates and informational sessions so they can make informed voting decisions. Participants of the Club leave with a better understanding of how to get involved with politics, as well as a greater sense of hope about the political landscape and their interactions with it.

After Alaska and Maine implemented ranked-choice voting, which allows citizens to rank candidates in the order of their preference, voters reported feeling more engaged in the process and noticing less extreme rhetoric among politicians running for office. Despite efforts to repeal the system on the basis that it is confusing, about 70 percent of voters ranked more than one candidate on their ballot.