How Citizens Assemblies could be used to complement electoral democracy, solving some of it's greatest weaknesses.

1. The Citizens’ Assembly Potential New directions for democratic reform

4. Problem: Elections Select an Elite The Winners Are Often: Lawyers, Well Off, Ambitious, Charismatic, White, Male, and Good at Networking. They also often have an agenda, and are indebted to various individuals and groups. Electoral System

18. Proponents Organize Collect Many Signatures ($$$)‏ Huge Spin Campaigns for and against numerous Initiatives. A Typical Large-Scale Direct Democracy System Due to a high signature threshold, the process is accessible only to rich groups and individuals , who can pay for signature collection. Initiatives can be used to create new laws, and to prevent the legislature from passing laws. Many initiatives are poorly crafted by those with limited expertise in writing legislation. Referendum Confused by spin and overwhelmed by too many initiatives at once, Voters often make poor voting choices .

19. Citizens’ Assemblies Can Fix All This!

20. Proponents Organize Citizens’ Assembly Citizens’ Assembly Led Debate Citizens' Assembly-Enhanced Direct Democracy Collect 10 000 Signatures Rejected Max of 4 are chosen A low, easily attainable threshold Initiatives are selected and rejected based on merit ! Only a small manageable number are put to referendum each time. Referendum The Citizens' Assembly fine-tunes initiatives (With help/input from experts and politicians). Initiatives can be used to pass new laws and to prevent the legislature from passing laws Unlike politicians, Citizens’ Assemblies are highly trusted by voters , making them ideal for leading a low-spin debate.

25. Case Studies

30. FAQs

36. The End

37. Proponents Organize Citizens’ Assembly Rejected Legislature Fine Tuning Passed into Law Citizens’ Assembly Led Debate Max of 4 are chosen Referendum Unlike politicians, Citizens’ Assemblies are highly trusted by voters, making them ideal for leading a low-spin debate. Initiatives are selected and rejected based on merit ! Citizens Assembly Enhanced Direct Democracy Collect 10 000 Signatures Initiatives can be used to pass new laws and to prevent the legislature from passing laws A low, easily attainable threshold