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Groups Urge Census Changes to Accurately Count Prison Populations For Redistricting

Press Release

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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House to Pass New COVID Relief Package, Senate Must Follow Suit

Press Release

House to Pass New COVID Relief Package, Senate Must Follow Suit

The House is poised to pass a modified COVID-19 relief package to provide assistance to Americans whose lives have been upended by the pandemic, and to bolster pillars of our democracy strained under the national health crisis. The Senate must act after refusing to move on a more robust relief package passed by the House in May. It is past time for Senate Republicans to move to help the American people instead of focusing on trying to ram through the confirmation of another Supreme Court Justice while ignoring the plight of their constituents.

Common Cause Georgia Urges Secretary Raffensperger to Ensure Georgians Are Not Denied the Right to Vote on November 3

Press Release

Common Cause Georgia Urges Secretary Raffensperger to Ensure Georgians Are Not Denied the Right to Vote on November 3

"In June, Georgia voters were denied their right to vote when polling places ran out of ballots. If Secretary Raffensperger has taken any action to prevent that from happening again -- for example, by increasing the number of paper ballots in each polling place -- we haven’t heard about it."

Politico: Trump calls for poll watchers. Election officials call for calm.

News Clip

Politico: Trump calls for poll watchers. Election officials call for calm.

Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause, also noted that fears over mass voter intimidation efforts in past years have not materialized, even when Trump urged supporters to go to the polls in 2016.

“He likes the chaos, he wants to create chaos, because he thinks it benefits him,” Albert said. ‘We don't want to give him what he wants, which is fear and intimidation and chaos.”

Associated Press: Judge says ending 2020 census on Oct. 5 may violate order

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Associated Press: Judge says ending 2020 census on Oct. 5 may violate order

The Trump administration attorneys said the lawsuit was premature since it’s impossible to know who will be affected by the exclusion order before the head count is finished and whether the Census Bureau will come up with a method for figuring out who is a citizen.

But Gregory Diskant, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, Common Cause, said waiting to challenge the president’s memo until after the apportionment numbers are turned in would create even greater problems. 

Trump Continues Attempts to Confuse Voters & Undermine Faith in Elections on Debate Stage

Press Release

Trump Continues Attempts to Confuse Voters & Undermine Faith in Elections on Debate Stage

President Trump further attempted to confuse voters and undermine the integrity of our elections tonight. Instead of encouraging people to participate in the political process, he continued to spread lies to try to delegitimize the election results. Voters should know the truth: voting by mail is a secure, tried, and tested process with checks, balances, and safeguards. 

Washington Post: Courts view GOP fraud claims skeptically as Democrats score key legal victories over mail voting

News Clip

Washington Post: Courts view GOP fraud claims skeptically as Democrats score key legal victories over mail voting

“The positive thing that we can say is that the majority of election officials in this country have moved to provide more access to the ballot,” said Sylvia Albert, director of Common Cause’s voting and elections program, on a call with reporters last week.

Albert said voters have benefited from a general shift toward mail voting this year but added that a clear winner in the legal battles has not emerged.

“I would actually say it’s a mixed bag, and that’s the reflection of the decentralization of our...

Associated Press: Voters’ poorly marked ovals could lead to contested ballots

News Clip

Associated Press: Voters’ poorly marked ovals could lead to contested ballots

“This could be 2000′s hanging chad in Pennsylvania,” said Suzanne Almeida, interim director of the state chapter of the nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause. “Potential challenges, delays in results, questions on which ballots count and who counts them — there are just a lot of questions, and that could open up Pennsylvania to a lot of uncertainty.”

The group is working with election officials statewide, emphasizing clear and consistent guidelines for dealing with questionable marks, such as when a voter circles a name...

HuffPost: Mail-In Voting Rules Still Up In The Air As Republicans Appeal Election Decisions

News Clip

HuffPost: Mail-In Voting Rules Still Up In The Air As Republicans Appeal Election Decisions

“The federal judiciary is not being a great avenue for relief,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause, a nonpartisan nonprofit. “Some state courts have provided more. And that’s where you’ve seen more orders for expanded access.” ...

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling extending the ballot receipt deadline could be the first case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Normally, decisions made by a state’s highest court are the last word on election matters. “What...

TIME: ‘They Have Lost So Much But They Will Not Lose Their Right To Vote.’ Advocates Fight To Enfranchise Americans Displaced by Wildfires

News Clip

TIME: ‘They Have Lost So Much But They Will Not Lose Their Right To Vote.’ Advocates Fight To Enfranchise Americans Displaced by Wildfires

Kate Titus, executive director of Common Cause Oregon, says another problem is just the uncertainty of the period. Someone whose home has just burned down doesn’t necessarily know they will be living more than five weeks from now. “A lot of people in this chaotic situation aren’t sure yet where they will be on Election Day,” she says. (Common Cause supports the voter registration deadline being moved to as close as election day so people can re register new addresses as needed.)

Reuters: Special Report – Will your mail ballot count in the U.S. presidential election? It may depend on who’s counting and where

News Clip

Reuters: Special Report – Will your mail ballot count in the U.S. presidential election? It may depend on who’s counting and where

Some inconsistencies likely arose from confusion over the last-minute court rulings, according to Jay Heck, state director for Common Cause Wisconsin, a government watchdog group. The appeals court reversed the district court’s lifting of the witness requirement just days before the election, he noted, leaving election officials disoriented. Heck also pointed to Wisconsin’s “unusually decentralized” election administration system, in which 1,850 separate municipalities handle voter registration and absentee ballots.

Washington Post: Philadelphia election official warns ‘naked ballots’ may lead to tens of thousands of rejected ballots for November

News Clip

Washington Post: Philadelphia election official warns ‘naked ballots’ may lead to tens of thousands of rejected ballots for November

“The silver lining of this decision from the state Supreme Court is now that we know the rules, we can educate voters about the rules,” said Suzanne Almeida, director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, a good-government group that works on voter access matters.

“And I have every confidence that voters can learn the rules right. There are plenty of ways, plenty of places in election law where we require voters to know specific steps that they need to take. This is just one more of those,” Almeida said.

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