In 2015 Seattle adopted an innovative small donor system for funding its local campaigns. Seattle gave four $25.00 democracy vouchers for every registered voter that could be donated to candidates who pledged to accept only cash donations under $250.00, among other stipulations. The program faced its first major test in 2019, when Amazon poured $1.5 million into city council races to defeat candidates and boost corporate ones. The result: of the sixth elections where Amazon and publicly financed went head-to-head, only one of Amazon candidates won. And the use of the vouchers increased the number of non-voucher small dollar donations and boosted grassroots participation. When big money doesn’t dominate our political system, the people can actually have their voices heard.