Reflective Democracy

When the Los Angeles City Council ultimately approved the new system Wednesday, the California Clean Money Campaign, California Common Cause and other groups said they were sorely disappointed.

New York City requires any candidate who accepts public funding for citywide office to participate in debates," said Kati Phillips, a spokeswoman for California Common Cause. They've spent three years trying to develop a similar model in Los Angeles. "We are one vote away from requiring all city council and citywide candidates to participate in a debate or town hall to qualify for public financing," Phillips said. "Previously the law had a loophole — candidates just had to agree to a debate, not actually show up!"

In celebration of National Voter Registration Day, California Common Cause is asking all likely voters in California to use its new tool to verify that they are registered to vote at their current address.

Many election laws and campaign practices are shaped at the local level, including how people vote for their city officials and the campaign contribution limits for those offices. California Common Cause recently completed a major study of these practices for all 482 cities in California.

Key findings of California Common Cause's 2016 Democracy Index report.