---
title: Healthy Democracy
type: practice
status: active
country: US
website: https://healthydemocracy.org
logo: /assets/org-logos/healthy-democracy.svg
contact:
  checked: 2026-08-01
  email: info@healthydemocracy.org
  form: https://healthydemocracy.org/contact
  phone: +1 503 841 6865
  source: https://healthydemocracy.org/contact
summary: A US non-profit that designs and runs Citizens' Initiative Reviews — structured
  deliberative processes where randomly selected citizens evaluate ballot measures
  and publish findings for the wider electorate.
concepts:
- citizens-assembly
- deliberative-democracy
- sortition
- direct-democracy
location:
  latitude: 45.5231
  longitude: -122.6765
  name: Portland, Oregon, USA
rss_feed: https://healthydemocracy.org/feed
events:
- date: '2007-01-01'
  title: Founded (as Healthy Democracy Oregon) by Tyrone Reitman and Elliot Shuford
    to run the Citizens' Initiative Review
  url: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/healthy-democracy/
  quote: Healthy Democracy was founded in 2007 as “Healthy Democracy Oregon” by Crosby
    and his wife and two activists, Tyrone Reitman and Elliot Shuford.
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-10'
  notable: true
- date: '2011-07-21'
  title: Oregon House Bill 2634 signed into law, making the Citizens' Initiative Review
    a permanent part of the state's initiative process
  url: https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/healthy-democracy/
  quote: 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
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-10'
  notable: true
activity:
  dod:
    checked: 2026-07-16
    date: 2026-07-16
    note: Website loaded directly; active programs listed (Civic Assemblies, CIR,
      Deschutes Civic Assembly on Youth Homelessness billed as 'world's first tech-assisted
      assembly'), operating since 2007
    url: https://healthydemocracy.org
  rss:
    checked: 2026-08-17
    date: 2026-02-17
    note: 'Latest post: Want residents, not politicians, to find answers to LA’s thorniest
      problems? Try'
    url: https://healthydemocracy.org/la-assembly-news/2026/02/16/want-residents-not-politicians-to-find-answers-to-las-thorniest-problems-try-a-civic-assembly/
last_checked: '2026-07-16'
---

Healthy Democracy developed and institutionalised the **Citizens' Initiative Review** (CIR) — a process in which a randomly selected, representative panel of citizens spends several days intensively studying a ballot measure: hearing from proponents and opponents, questioning experts, and deliberating together. The panel's findings — a balanced statement of key arguments and evidence — are then published in the official voter's guide sent to all voters before the election.

The CIR has been used in Oregon since 2011 and has since been piloted in other US states. It addresses a specific problem: direct democracy (ballot initiatives) gives citizens power to make law, but most voters have neither the time nor the information to evaluate complex measures carefully. The CIR creates a small group that *does* do that work, and makes their findings available to everyone.

This is a practically important design: it shows how deliberative democracy methods can be integrated into existing electoral infrastructure rather than requiring wholesale institutional redesign.

## Links

- Website: [healthydemocracy.org](https://healthydemocracy.org)

## See also

- [Citizens' Assembly](../concepts/citizens-assembly.md)
- [Sortition](../concepts/sortition.md)
- [Direct Democracy](../concepts/direct-democracy.md)
- [newDemocracy Foundation](newdemocracy.md)