The Paid Jailer report suggests that industry donations to sheriffs are not only likely damaging to justice and democracy but also incredibly common. Construction companies contribute tens of thousands of dollars and then go on to build bigger jails. Legal firms fund races and end up representing the sheriff’s office in misconduct cases. Our research uncovered more than $6 million in contributions from donors with potential ethical conflicts. More than 40 percent of contributions to sheriffs we studied came from conflicted donors whose...

"The current process right now will not even inform the public that anything is happening one way or the other," Heather Ferguson, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico.

She said the process is "completely behind closed doors and out of public view. That does not instill trust in the public in the process itself."

Nor will it encourage others who may have similar complaints against lawmakers to come forward, Ferguson added.

Voters should prepare in advance if they want to cast an absentee ballot this year, said Aunna Dennis, executive director for Common Cause Georgia, a government accountability organization.

“Start the process early to be as prepared as possible so you don’t have to face hurdles that may come,” Dennis said. “We don’t know just yet what the impact is going to be until we actually have the primary.”

"Anytime you add a step to the process ... you lose voters who are making a good-faith effort to cast their ballot," said Katya Ehresman, the grassroots organizer for Common Cause Texas, a nonpartisan group that advocates for government reform.

Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera, executive director of Common Cause Minnesota, said in a statement that the courts fell short of the panel’s goal to keep communities of color intact within districts, citing splits between House districts for Black immigrant communities in the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities and Latino communities in the southwestern suburbs.

“Minnesotans don’t want Republican or Democratic maps — we want fair maps that give us a voice in our government, regardless of political party, race, or...

Constitutional amendments – which must be passed in identical form in two legislative sessions before being presented to voters on a ballot – should be used sparingly. And they certainly should not be used to let one branch of government sidestep the checks and balances of the other branches.

But Pennsylvania legislators are now using the amendment process to take power from other branches of government and increase their own influence.

“In the 2001 cycle, there was essentially a gentleman’s agreement that enabled everyone to run for reelection and stay in power,” said Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause, which pushed for the independent redistricting commission. “This was a process that was exactly the opposite. The commission was literally moving lines and making massively important decisions on a livestream. They’re going to stumble, and thousands of people are going to watch it. But I don’t think I would trade that for a cleaner...

"Unfortunately, we had a Republican legislature so determined to make it harder to vote that there just was not any thought given to implementation," said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. "At every level, this is just a mess."

Common Cause Texas, like other local groups, has set up a hotline and is calling on voters to educate themselves on the new law. Gutierrez said advocates are also suggesting voters include both ID numbers on their application to ensure they aren't rejected.

The fight for voting rights goes on, even though every Senate Republican, joined by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), tried to shut it down on January 19. They refused to adjust a Senate rule best known for obstructing civil rights legislation. The filibuster rule – requiring 60 votes to advance most legislation if any senator objects – has been modified or waived more than 160 times in recent decades. Just in December, an exception was granted for legislation dealing with the debt ceiling, with the support of...

“Today’s ruling is an unequivocal win for North Carolina’s Black voters who were most harmed by this extreme partisan gerrymander,” Allison Riggs, a lawyer with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, said in a statement. Riggs represented Common Cause.

“At every level, North Carolina’s GOP leadership diluted representation of communities of color to entrench their own political power in ways that were both obvious and egregious,” her statement said.