Healthy Democracy is a left-of-center organization that partners with governments, nonprofits, and other organizations to host panels of experts to develop various left-progressive policy proposals. ¹ It is known for its promotion of Citizens’ Initiative Reviews, explanations of ballot measures. ²

Background

In the early 2000s, Ned Crosby, an academic and the author of Healthy Democracy, and his wife Pat Benn conceived the idea of the “Citizens’ Initiative Review,” a more transparent and stakeholder-oriented version of democracy which later became an initiative of Healthy Democracy. The key idea of this early formulation of the Citizens’ Iniative Review was the “Citizens Jury” process, which became the theme of the affiliated institution the Center for New Democratic Processes. ³

Healthy Democracy was founded in 2007 as “Healthy Democracy Oregon” by Crosby and his wife and two activists, Tyrone Reitman and Elliot Shuford. ⁴

Activities

Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR)

The Citizens Initiative Review (CIR) is a program of Healthy Democracy. It hosts lottery-selected panels to “investigate ballot measures” and report on their contents in a manner allegedly “removed from campaign messaging and financial influence” for the benefit of voters. ⁵

In 2009, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 2895, approving of a Citizens’ Initiative Review pilot practice based on previous conversations between staff of Healthy Democracy, the League of Women Voters of Oregon, and Oregon’s then-Secretary of State Kate Brown (D). This pilot exercise saw Healthy Democracy undertake Citizens’ Initiative Reviews — explanatory commentaries and glosses of ballot measures — of two Oregon ballot measures. The Reviews were evaluated by University of Washington professor John Gastil who was funded by a grant from National Science Foundation. ⁶

In 2011, Oregon state legislators sponsored House Bill 2634 which made the Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) process an official and permanent part of Oregon’s elections, giving it a governance team and full authorization to select panels of reviewers. Healthy Democracy was selected to do the first reviews in 2012, with John Gastil continuing to study the CIR process for academic insight. In 2014, Healthy Democracy undertook a county-level initiative review in Jackson County, Oregon, and out-of-state CIR pilots in Colorado and Phoenix, Arizona. ⁷

Healthy Democracy’s CIR program now has a history of activity in multiple states, including Oregon, Arizona, and Colorado but also California, Massachusetts, and even in Finland and Switzerland. ⁸

Memberships

Healthy Democracy is a member of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD), an educational organization for community activists; the Bridge Alliance, a large coalition of mostly left-leaning organizations involved in election administration and campaign speech regulation; Democracy R&D, an international network of policy developers; and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Innovative Citizen Participation Network. ⁹

Leadership

Healthy Democracy was founded in 2007 as “Healthy Democracy Oregon” by Crosby; Benn; Tyrone Reitman, the founding director of Policy Jury Group; and Elliot Shuford, the senior management auditor at Metro Regional Government in Portland, Oregon. Crosby and Benn remained co-directors until 2011, when policy proposals aligned with the CIR concept became Oregon law; Shuford remained until 2012. ^{10 11} Reitman remained as executive director until 2015. ¹²

As of July 2022, Healthy Democracy’s staff was led by Alex Renirie and Linn Davis, program co-directors; Grace Taylor, director of operations; and Kacey Bull, director of outreach and communication. ¹³ John Horvick, the vice president and political director of DHM Research, chaired the board. Other board members were Jim Scherzinger, former chief operations officer of the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS); Lyn Carson, former professor of applied politics at the University of Sydney Business School; Awab Al-Rawe, a program analyst at Oregon Health Authority; and Sam Henry, a then-undergraduate university student and artist. ¹⁴

1. “Our Story.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 10 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-story/.
2. “Our Story.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 10 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-story/.
3.  “Our Story.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 10 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-story/.
4.  “Our Story.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 10 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-story/.
5. “Our Story.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 10 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-story/.
6. “Our Story.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 10 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-story/.
7.  ^[1] “Our Story.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 10 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-story/.
8.  “Citizens’ Initiative Review.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 11 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/programs/citizens-initiative-review/.
9. “Our Story.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 10 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-story/.
10. “Our Story.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 10 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-story/.
11. “Elliot Shuford.” LinkedIn. Accessed 11 July 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-shuford-80a5864/.
12. “Our Story.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 10 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-story/.
13. “Our Staff.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 11 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-people/our-staff/.
14.  ^[1] “Our Board.” Healthy Democracy. Accessed 11 July 2022. https://healthydemocracy.org/who-we-are/our-people/our-board/.