This is a sponsored feature. All opinions are 100% from Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at USFCA chapter.
By Guest Contributor: Joshua Berman
Voter turnout in California during the previous election cycle was bad. How bad to be exact? Around 42% of registered voters bothered to show up to the polls. People in my age demographic of 18-19 years were more likely to be arrested than to vote. This voting epidemic is a symptom of a much larger problem.
That problem is that citizens don’t feel that their vote actually matters. Examining the problem in greater detail reveals that we have nothing but the legislative system in California to blame. The scope of elections are way too large, and most representatives don’t actually know the people they serve. As it stands, there can be as many as 50,000 people per State Assembly District, and up to 1 million per State Senate district. Each enormous district gets only one representative. The system forms career politicians who cater their agenda towards corporations and special interests groups that can afford to fund their election campaigns. As a result, everyone else is left at the wayside, and the opinions of everyday Californians are completely ignored.
The solution that the Neighborhood Legislature Reform Act is putting forth is to shrink the size of districts from 500,000-1,000,000 people to 5,000-10,000 people. In addition, it would expand the number of seats in the California State Legislature from 120 members to 12,000 neighborhood representatives. 120 members would stay in Sacramento and handle the day-to-day operations of the legislature while the rest would remain local. As a result, the scope of political campaigns would be a lot smaller, and candidates wouldn’t need a ridiculous amount of money to win campaigns. This would create motivation for candidates to go door-to-door and gain votes through ideas and principles instead of checkbooks and bribes.
As a grassroots movement, the Neighborhood Legislature relies heavily on the support of concerned citizens who want to improve the way politics are done in California. Our organization is equally as focused on getting on the ballot as we are to empowering communities and individuals. As a Neighborhood Legislature Fellow, my job is to reach out to students at the University of San Francisco who wish to gain experience operating within a political campaign. Starting in the summer, the Neighborhood Legislature will be launching our Neighborhood Ambassadors program. This will allow students to empower their community through raising awareness and gathering signatures to get our initiative on the 2016 ballot.
If you’re interested in learning more about our Neighborhood Ambassadors program, feel free to send me an email at joshuaneighborhoodlegislature@gmail.com. Our current political system is broken, but with your help it doesn’t have to stay that way.