Campaign-finance laws were designed to limit the influence of private actors in elections — “to prevent not only the actual corruption of public officials but even the appearance of corruption that could undermine voter faith in government,” as Paul S. Ryan, the vice president of policy and litigation at the election-watchdog group Common Cause, told me.

"He's saying that he needs donors' money for election-challenge litigation, but he's putting the money into an account to be used for his political future," said Paul Ryan, the vice president for policy and litigation at Common Cause.


Fundraising limits are higher for leadership PACs than candidate committees. A donor could only contribute a maximum of $2,800 at this point for a 2024 presidential campaign but can contribute $20,000 to a leadership PAC in four, annual installments by that date, Ryan notes.

Aaron Scherb, the director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, told ABC News on Monday that the "petty and unproductive" decision by GSA to withhold key resources to the Biden transition could have the "potential for catastrophic results." 

"By GSA not signing off on this, there is certainly some classified intelligence information that the incoming administration would not have access to -- and would potentially not be fully prepared on day one to be able to counteract ongoing efforts from our adversaries like all previous...

Suzanne Almeida, the interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, said "the short answer is, we’re a little bit worried about everything."

But she noted that challenged voters in Pennsylvania can get a witness to verify their identity, or vote with a provisional ballot and later prove their identity.

She said she is part of a large coalition of election protection groups that will have 2,000 volunteers on the ground monitoring the polls and "roving teams" deployed to any problem areas.

In addition to poll workers, election offices and attorney general offices, Common Cause has a hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683), with staff who have direct lines to election officials, according to Sylvia Albert, the director of voting and elections for the non-partisan watchdog group Common Cause..

"There are tons of organizations and lawyers who are out there and we have your back," she said.

Alyssa Canty does outreach to first-time voters for the non-partisan group Common Cause.

“They’re definitely activated, they definitely enjoy, like, voting early, or either voting by mail, so I think we will definitely see decent turnout, but it may not just be, like, on Election Day,” she said.

"There is no telling how many that could be but it may be tens of thousands of ballots will come in late and not be counted even if they were mailed and postmarked before or on Nov. 3," Jay Heck, the Wisconsin executive director of Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to protecting and improving voters' rights and access to the ballot, told ABC News.

Under the Hatch Act, government officials are prohibited from using government resources to engage in partisan political activity, and from commanding other government employees to do so. Paul Seamus Ryan, a vice president at the government watchdog group Common Cause, said that if explicit communications surfaced linking the discount cards to the president’s re-election, health officials could face punishment.

“It is likely these are people who could face criminal and civil legal liability if they go through with this...

“Putting all your eggs in one basket seems like a very bad idea—and it’s avoidable. We’ve seen what happened in the primaries,” said Sylvia Albert, the national director of voting and elections at the good-government organization Common Cause. ...

Even in states that have dramatically expanded mail voting, cuts to in-person Election Day voting sites could lead to disenfranchised voters — and could disproportionately impact poor and nonwhite voters as well as younger voters who are less likely to live at the same...

While that ruling is likely to draw an appeal, any prolonged legal uncertainty for the absentee ballots could threaten a voter’s opportunity to cure the ballot in time.

“The longer a voter says, ‘Oh I turned in my ballot, it must be good,’ when they do finally hear from the county, they might be more suspicious about it, considering how much disinformation there is going around,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause, a voting rights group.