WHAT IS SORTITION
In simple terms, sortition is appointment to political positions by lottery. In America, this would mean either replacing congress or adding to congress a body of randomly selected people from the population. Laws would be written and discussed by ordinary people. Judges would be confirmed by ordinary people. Constitutional amendments would be written and ratified by ordinary people. 

 

Although it may sound radical at first glance, it is a deeply researched and nuanced democratic plan, and it is important to understand how it works, the checks and balances that would remain intact, and its success rate in other countries. 

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HOW CITIZEN ASSEMBLIES WORK
The country would be split into districts of equal population to ensure geographical representation, and a certain number of people from each would be randomly selected and invited to participate in the Citizen’s Assembly. From the people who accept the invitation they receive, a subset of individuals that accurately represent the demographic makeup of the region would be chosen to serve their term in the Citizens Assembly. 

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Experts on each topic would staff this Assembly to teach the people about the issues being discussed and run discussions and votes. Assembly members would draft and vote on laws, and whatever a majority of this assembly votes on will become law. 

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CHECKS AND BALANCES

In a perfect world, and perhaps in the long term of this system, these citizens assemblies would completely replace electoral politics altogether. This system would entirely eliminate the problem of money in politics, the power of lobbying corporations, and the influence of political parties on politics. 

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However, we understand the impossibility of such sweeping changes right away. In our proposed system, this citizens assembly would still be checked by the elected house of representatives, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. Different powers will be given to different houses. For example, the Citizens Assembly will be given the power to confirm appointments, impeach other elected officials, and the Elected House will keep their power over most federal budget spending. 

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We will also be instituting significant reforms in campaign finance and electoral procedures, like ending the electoral college, preventing the unlimited spending of money on campaigns, and implementing Federal Clean Elections and ranked choice voting.