Alex Pedersen Continues
to Overwhelm Opposition
with Most Democracy Vouchers
from District 4 Voters
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Alex Pedersen, 206-321-9067
SEAT
TLE, May 20, 20
19 -
An updated public disclosure request (PDR) confirmed positive news for Alex Pedersen's fundraising efforts: 83% of his Democracy Vouchers are from voters residing in District 4, where he is running for election to become the next full-time Councilmember in November. Through May 15, Pedersen has over 1,400 more vouchers from D-4 voters than the next candidate, who is obtaining large percentages of vouchers from D-3.
In addition to the positive results regarding vouchers from his own district, Pedersen continues to be the leading fundraiser when combining both Democracy Vouchers collected and traditional dollars raised.
"
I'm proud to be earning the confidence of so many residents from Wedgwood to Wallingford to Eastlake by listening to their concerns and demonstrating I am the only candidate with the direct experience and community connections to deliver the strong accountability they deserve and expect from an elected City Councilmember," said Pedersen. "We believe how people choose to award their Democracy Vouchers indicates how they will cast their votes in this vital election for Seattle's future
."
Source of Vouchers:
While news media outlets have reported widely the total count of vouchers received or redeemed by candidates, the geographic source of the vouchers has not been readily available. Due to the substantial lag time in obtaining complete data when some candidates delay their official reports, a PDR was needed to have the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) provide
the current source of all vouchers
.
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Democracy Vouchers Only
: Pedersen receiving
83%
from District 4. (Source: For the Excel file provided by SEEC in response to recent Public Disclosure Request,
CLICK HERE
.)
Other candidates are receiving a large percentage of vouchers from District 3, where Kshama Sawant is the incumbent Socialist Councilmember and has chosen not to participate in the city's Democracy Voucher program.
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The actual count for the four D-4 candidates receiving the most vouchers thus far can be seen in the table below:
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Total Fundraising Lead
(proper analysis requires combination of both numbers): When there are Democracy Vouchers, the most accurate way to assess total fundraising is to add together the total traditional dollars raised AND the dollar value of all the vouchers RECEIVED (and validated) by SEEC.
Traditional donations + Valid Vouchers
Received
= Total Fundraising $
When adding the two numbers, Pedersen continues to be the leading fundraiser in D-4 and possibly across the entire city with over $135,000 (including his own donation of approximately $18,000) -- quickly approaching the $150,000 maximum for the entire campaign through the November election. Because candidates can spend only $75,000 during the primary, Pedersen already has $60,000 ready for the general election.
Because SEEC prominently publishes the amount of vouchers a campaign chooses to "redeem" (cash in), some news media outlets have reported just vouchers
redeemed
whereas the broader picture should include vouchers
received
(collected). SEEC makes the voucher collection information available on their "Program Data" website as an Excel file every few days -- but without the geographic origin of the vouchers. Candidates, like Pedersen, who have also raised traditional dollars would need to redeem a relatively small amount of vouchers whereas candidates with little in traditional donations must redeem a larger amount of vouchers.
It's also important to highlight the large percentage of cash donations received from outside of Seattle.
[Note: The charts on the
SEEC website
can be misleading because the percentages often include the candidate's
personal contribution
in a separate category -- which artificially lowers the category for "District 4." For an "apples-to-apples" comparison of who has the most support from their district, the candidate's personal contribution should probably be removed from both the numerator and denominator. There are several ways to sort the data from SEEC, all of which still point to Pedersen earning the most support from his home district, D-4.]
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Alex Pedersen, a progressive results-oriented Democrat, was the first candidate in the entire city to qualify for the city's Democracy Voucher program in this year's Council campaigns and has also been a leading fundraiser as he runs on a platform of accountability, transparency, and results.
Pedersen officially launched his campaign on November 28, 2018 for District 4. Because the incumbent Rob Johnson vacated his seat early, the City Council appointed a temporary caretaker until D-4 voters choose their own 4-year Councilmember in the August primary and November general elections.
District 4 is home to approximately 100,000 residents in 20 neighborhoods including Bryant, Belvedere Terrace, Cowen Park, Eastlake, East Fremont, Hawthorne Hills, Inverness, Laurelhurst, Magnuson Park, Maple Leaf, Ravenna, Ravenna Springs, Roosevelt, Sand Point, the U District, University Park, View Ridge, Wallingford, Wedgwood and Windermere.
- Link to Alex Pedersen's bio: https://electalexpedersen.org/meet-alex/
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Paid for by Elect Alex Pedersen, P.O. Box 15235, Seattle, WA 98115
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