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Groups Urge Census Changes to Accurately Count Prison Populations For Redistricting

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Groups Urge Census Changes to Accurately Count Prison Populations For Redistricting

Today, Common Cause and the Prison Policy Initiative urged the U.S. Census Bureau to change how it counts prison populations each decade. The Bureau’s use of differential privacy, the intentional infusion of inaccurate information into population data, creates unnecessary miscounts in data used by state and local officials for redistricting. In a letter to Director Robert L. Santos and other senior officials, the groups emphasized that the populations of correctional facilities are already publicly available and that differential privacy is...

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David Vance

National Media Strategist
dvance@commoncause.org
240-605-8600

Katie Scally

Communications Director
kscally@commoncause.org
408-205-1257

Ariana Marmolejo

Regional Communications Strategist (West)
amarmolejo@commoncause.org

Jennifer Garcia

Regional Communications Strategist (South)
jgarcia@commoncause.org

Kenny Colston

Regional Communications Strategist (Midwest)
kcolston@commoncause.org

Common Cause’s network of national and state democracy reform experts are frequent media commentators. To talk with one of our experts, please reach out to any member of the press team above.

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Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Judge rejects more emergency paper ballot backups at Georgia polls

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Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Judge rejects more emergency paper ballot backups at Georgia polls

“We are disappointed that the court did not grant the relief we requested,” said Aunna Dennis, executive director for Common Cause Georgia . “It’s clear that the demand for these ballots will be extremely high in this election and will far exceed the statutory minimum of 10%.”

NBC News: Early voting begins in Georgia with long lines, high turnout

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NBC News: Early voting begins in Georgia with long lines, high turnout

Aunna Dennis, executive director of the voter advocacy organization Common Cause Georgia, said what happened Monday was a "math problem."

"A lot of people voted on the first day," and "Covid-19 precautions means each voter takes longer," Dennis said, adding that there were also reports of machine problems and a shortage of paper ballots that could be used as backups. "That needs to change," she said.

Washington Post: Pennsylvania emerges as ‘tipping-point’ battleground for Biden and Trump — before and after Election Day

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Washington Post: Pennsylvania emerges as ‘tipping-point’ battleground for Biden and Trump — before and after Election Day

“There are a lot of eyes on the state that’s leading to a sense of increased voter anxiety,” said Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, a voting rights group that is involved in some of the litigation. “There’s a universe of potential litigation out there, and I would be very surprised if we don’t see at least some of it after Nov. 3.”

Roanoke Times (Op-Ed): In redistricting, ‘compromise’ isn’t a bad word

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Roanoke Times (Op-Ed): In redistricting, ‘compromise’ isn’t a bad word

Common Cause endorses Amendment One because “fairness” and “compromise” aren’t bad words. This referendum is at the heart of our mission to empower people to come together to find common solutions.

Justice Ginsburg described the danger of partisan gerrymandering: “It’s drawing a map so people think, ‘Why bother voting? This is a secure Republican district or this is a secure Democratic district, so my vote doesn’t count.’ That’s not a good thing for democracy.”

By shifting the power from...

ABC News: Election experts implore Congress to extend ‘arbitrary’ vote-tallying deadlines

News Clip

ABC News: Election experts implore Congress to extend ‘arbitrary’ vote-tallying deadlines

Despite a consensus among experts that extending the safe harbor deadlines would help states avoid a constitutional crisis, Aaron Scherb, the legislative director at the nonpartisan ethics group Common Cause, said any change could hold “unintended consequences.”

“We think, given the president’s previous remarks … it could be misconstrued by the president as Democrats trying to ‘rig’ the election,” he said.

Scherb argued Congress could wait until after the election and then consider extending the...

Mashable: How to combat voter suppression before, during, and after voting

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Mashable: How to combat voter suppression before, during, and after voting

Sylvia Albert is the director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a national nonpartisan group that runs the Election Protection initiative, which coordinates a coalition of more than 100 organizations to facilitate voting across the country. Albert says that forms of physical intimidation at the polls, including protesters or the illegal threat of violence, have long been used to suppress votes, since the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments. Threats like these were most recently seen during the 2016 presidential and 2018 midterm...

Fox News: Texas governor faces third lawsuit over limit on mail ballot drop-off sites

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Fox News: Texas governor faces third lawsuit over limit on mail ballot drop-off sites

Anthony Gutierrez, the executive director of Common Cause Texas, said that "many" of the voters affected by the rule change rely on public transportation.

“Many of the Texans who qualify to vote absentee have disabilities and are elderly, and they rely on public transportation,” Gutierrez said in a statement. “With only one drop-off site per county, these voters would face challenges in travel that might make it impossible for them to vote. The drop-off site limit will also make the one site in each country prone to lines...

Washington Post: Supreme Court order on mail ballots in South Carolina sparks worries about voter confusion

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Washington Post: Supreme Court order on mail ballots in South Carolina sparks worries about voter confusion

“The idea behind offering greater access to mail ballots during the pandemic is to allow people to have the choice to vote in a way that minimizes their risk of contracting covid,” said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, a voter-advocacy group that recently prevailed in its efforts to suspend a requirement for voters to obtain signatures from two witnesses or a notary for mail ballots in that state.

Business Insider: The key swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin could take longer to report election results. Here’s why.

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Business Insider: The key swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin could take longer to report election results. Here’s why.

"It's more important to ensure that every vote counts than knowing the results on election night," Karen Hobert Flynn, the president of Common Cause, told Insider. "We do expect that part of [Trump]'s playbook is to question the integrity of mail-in voting, which we know can be done safely...we need to be giving time for those votes to be counted."

Dallas Morning News: Third lawsuit filed to stop Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to limit mail ballot drop-off sites

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Dallas Morning News: Third lawsuit filed to stop Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to limit mail ballot drop-off sites

“Many of the Texans who qualify to vote absentee have disabilities and are elderly, and they rely on public transportation,” Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas said in a statement. “With only one drop-off site per county, these voters would face challenges in travel that might make it impossible for them to vote. The drop-off site limit will also make the one site in each country prone to lines and crowds, endangering voters' health.”

Lawsuit Filed to Stop Texas Governor’s Limit on Drop-Off Sites for Absentee Ballots

Press Release

Lawsuit Filed to Stop Texas Governor’s Limit on Drop-Off Sites for Absentee Ballots

Today, Common Cause Texas and the Anti-Defamation League’s Austin, Southwest, and Texoma Regions (“ADL”) filed suit to block the governor of Texas from limiting drop-off sites for absentee ballots to a maximum of one per county during the state’s early voting period, regardless of the size of a county’s population or the distribution of that population. The plaintiffs argue that this order – which Governor Greg Abbott issued by proclamation on October 1 – exceeds his authority and would make it unreasonably difficult for eligible...

Sinclair Broadcasting/WJLA-TV (Washington DC): ‘Ballot security’ or voter suppression? Battle brews over Texas governor’s order

News Clip

Sinclair Broadcasting/WJLA-TV (Washington DC): ‘Ballot security’ or voter suppression? Battle brews over Texas governor’s order

“This is blatant voter suppression and yet another way the politicians in charge are putting barriers between Texans and the ballot box,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. “With last-minute changes and pending litigation, it is increasingly clear that confusion in Texas elections is part of a pattern of voter suppression.”

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