Without ranked choice, the city would likely be awaiting a runoff election that could cost millions, said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/New York.

Exit polling from Lerner's group also found that voters took advantage of the new system. More than 80% of voters ranked at least two candidates in the mayoral primary, and more than 40% ranked five candidates.

Lerner also stressed the delay in results is not because of ranked voting but rather state laws protecting voters' rights around when absentee...

"What's driving these efforts is anti-democratic sentiment," Sylvia Albert, executive director of the nonprofit good government group Common Cause, said in an interview with Salon. "These individuals attempted to overturn an election and they were unable to do so. So they are now attempting to change the rules so that next time they can overturn the will of the people."

Depending on the state, "these individuals might now have the power to close polling stations or limit voting machine access," Albert warned. "This is part and...

"These election workers are feeling the brunt of former President Trump and various Republican allies lying about the election," said Sylvia Albert, voting and elections director for the government watchdog group Common Cause. "All of a sudden, these election workers are part of some vast conspiracy."

Albert says that what election officials have described represents "a level of threat and intimidation against election officials that you just don't see in a democracy."

"We're seeing election officials receive...

“Democracy takes time, and every vote counts,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a good government group. “Accurate and fair election results are worth waiting for.”

"Colorado is modeling how the country could be governing itself in the future," said Kathay Feng, the national redistricting director for good-government watchdog Common Cause. "It is an explicit rejection of the scorched-earth tactic that has been used by some party leaders, a way of demonstrating that we can bring people back to the table and make democracy work," Feng said.

Previously, voter registration was halted 28 days before any election as a precaution against possible double-voting while county clerks updated registration rolls painstakingly by hand with paper and ink, said Mario Jimenez, a policy campaign manager with the progressive good-government group Common Cause New Mexico.

That is no longer necessary with advances in electronic record keeping and technology that synchronizes voter registration records with state motor vehicle databases.

Jimenez believes the switch to...

“Republican intransigence on voting rights is not an excuse for inaction and Senator Manchin must wake up to this fact,” said Karen Hobart Flynn, the president of Common Cause, a government watchdog group, which backs the bill.
“If Senator Manchin thinks there should be more input from Republicans – as there was in last month’s Senate markup, when several Republican amendments were adopted by the committee – you do that by advancing the bill through the legislative process,” Stephen Spaulding, senior counsel for public...

Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a good government advocacy group, said in an interview that while Ms. Farhadian Weinstein would not have been required to disclose the meeting publicly in the district attorney’s race, the information was “certainly relevant to the job she’s applying for.”

“It’s information that voters will want to consider, and it’s up to them to decide how this factors into their ultimate choice,” Ms. Lerner said.

Paul S. Ryan, Common Cause’s vice president of policy and litigation, said he had mixed feelings about the outcome. While he felt “vindicated” by the fine, he said, he was frustrated that Mr. Trump, whom he called “the mastermind of the illegal scheme,” had not been held accountable. 

Mr. Cohen, who has served time in prison in part for his involvement in the payments, said during his trial that the transaction had been part of an effort to cover up Mr. Trump’s “dirty deeds.” Mr. Pecker had agreed to an immunity...

“The choice to push this legislation forward in the dark, despite overwhelming opposition from the people of Texas, is about the politicians in power doing everything they can to manipulate the outcome of future elections to keep themselves in power,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas.