About Terry



Terrill “Terry”  Bouricius is a scholar of sortition, international democracy reform advocate, and former American politician who served in the Vermont House of Representatives from the Chittenden-7-4 district from 1991 to 2001, as a member of the Vermont Progressive Party. Prior to his tenure in the state house, he served on the city council in Burlington, Vermont, from 1981 to 1991, from the 2nd district, and served as president of the city council. 

Terry was born in New Mexico, and later attended Middlebury College which brought him to Vermont, where he still resides. He entered state politics with his activity in the Liberty Union Party, which he then left to aid in the creation of the Citizens Party, and ran for state senate and lieutenant governor.

His first elected office was as city councilor in Burlington VT, becoming the first member of the Citizens Party elected in the United States. He was an ally to Mayor Bernie Sanders, and served one term as president of the city council. During this period, Burlington’s city government successfully redeveloped their waterfront into a public park, and instituted a citywide system of “Neighborhood Planning Assemblies” that persists to this day. 

After leaving office, Terry became an advocate for democracy reform, finding traditional partisan politics to be dysfunctional and unrepresentative of everyday people. As an independent researcher and co-founder of the international organization Democracy R&D, Terry’s concept of ‘multi-body sortition’ has been influential in the creation of several world-first citizens’ assemblies in Europe.


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