Voting Should Matter: A message from our founder

Dear Lazarus Naturals Community,

Core to the mission of Lazarus Naturals is empowering people to make choices and have control over the outcomes of their livelihood. We believe that to fix our democracy we must re-empower American voters to have choice and control to elect and hold accountable our leaders. Only 28% of Americans are satisfied in the way our democracy is working, down from 61% in 1984.

Today, elections in the United States offer very few real choices. In the 2024 Presidential Election, According to the Pew Research Center, 66% of Americans wanted more political parties to choose from. That reflects a broader issue. Structural dynamics, including how primaries are run and how districts are drawn, limit competition and concentrate decision making power away from voters in the general election into the hands of the political parties and primaries.

Voting should matter and should impart the power to dictate the direction of our nation to the people. Due to systemic gerrymandering and limited candidate options, nearly 90% of the 2024 House races were non-competitive. Because these elections are determined during low-turnout primaries (averaging just 7%), the broader public is largely excluded from the democratic process. Implementing Ranked Choice Voting would provide a functional mechanism to restore electoral accountability. By allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference, it creates a system that supports more candidates and does not penalize voters for choosing someone outside the two leading options. You can learn more about this here: https://fairvote.org/our-reforms/ranked-choice-voting.

We believe that when people have real power and choice in elections, it leads to a better representative democracy with greater accountability for candidates and better outcomes for communities that reflect the values of their constituents.

Our Commitment

• We are supporting Ranked Choice Voting efforts in Oregon through the following contributions:

• $15,000 to support defending and sustaining Ranked Choice Voting in Portland through communications and public education efforts

• $20,000 to support the Deschutes County and Bend ballot initiative campaign, helping enable signature gathering and ballot access for upcoming elections

These investments focus on strengthening voter participation and expanding access to more representative election systems at the local level.

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Cheers,

Sequoia Price-Lazarus