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Trump Must Sign Ethics Pledge & Transition Documents

Press Release

Trump Must Sign Ethics Pledge & Transition Documents

President-elect Donald Trump still has not signed legal documents – including an ethics pledge - needed to formally begin his administration’s transition of power. Candidates usually file these documents well in advance of the election. As a result of this delay, the government cannot provide security clearances, briefings and resources to Trump’s incoming team before he is sworn into office on January 20th.

Media Contacts

David Vance

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

Katie Scally

Communications Director
kscally@commoncause.org
202-736-5713

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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PolitiFact: Fact-checking ‘Succession’: What happens if a fire destroys 100,000 absentee ballots in Milwaukee?

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PolitiFact: Fact-checking ‘Succession’: What happens if a fire destroys 100,000 absentee ballots in Milwaukee?

A similar case would go through the court system in Wisconsin and eventually find its way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin. Republicans may also appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Unfortunately, I think politics would play a role in both state Supreme Court and in the U.S. Supreme Court," Heck said, "which is why this hypothetical scenario I hope never happens, because it would be awful."

Houston Chronicle: Texas lawmakers decline online voter registration bills, despite 40-plus states having the option

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Houston Chronicle: Texas lawmakers decline online voter registration bills, despite 40-plus states having the option

"We've had 130-something days and no hearings on online voter registration, but multiple hearings on criminal penalty bills or firing elections administrator bills or state takeover bills," said Katya Ehresman, the voting rights program manager for Common Cause Texas. "That is a clear priority of lawmakers, as opposed to making it easier for people to vote, and instead just kind of spread these conspiracy theories of unfounded voter fraud."

Broadcasting & Cable (Op-Ed): Why Standard General’s Proposed Tegna Merger Hurts Our Democracy

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Broadcasting & Cable (Op-Ed): Why Standard General’s Proposed Tegna Merger Hurts Our Democracy

Local news is facing a stiff headwind as it fights to remain viable in an environment where media consolidation is gutting newsrooms across the country. That is why Common Cause is opposed to gigantic hedge funds and investment groups taking over media outlets — because inevitably, they are in it to extract profits.

NPR: Is drawing a voting map that helps a political party illegal? Only in some states

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NPR: Is drawing a voting map that helps a political party illegal? Only in some states

State courts have become the battleground for partisan gerrymandering after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2019 ruling in the case known as Rucho v. Common Cause.

"For several decades, people in the states had held out hope that the Supreme Court would lay down a standard for finding that partisan gerrymandering had happened and potentially overruling maps where that kind of vote rigging had happened," says Kathay Feng, vice president of programs at Common Cause, the advocacy group that has also helped lead the ongoing case...

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska Redistricting Board adopts final political map after landmark gerrymandering ruling

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Anchorage Daily News: Alaska Redistricting Board adopts final political map after landmark gerrymandering ruling

After April’s decision, Alaska became the 13th state to have its highest court interpret the state’s constitution to ban partisan gerrymandering. A further seven states have a statutory ban on partisan gerrymandering, according to Dan Vicuña, national redistricting manager at Common Cause, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that campaigns to end gerrymandering across the nation.

“Whether it happens in a red state or a blue state, a constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering is always a landmark victory for the...

Politics PA: Federal Suit Over PA Voter Rolls Settled

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Politics PA: Federal Suit Over PA Voter Rolls Settled

“Today, we put Judicial Watch’s false claims about the security of our elections to rest. This settlement confirms what the vast majority of Pennsylvanians know: our elections are free and fair,” said Jill Greene, voting and elections manager at Common Cause of Pennsylvania. “We’ll continue to protect our neighbors from attempts by outside groups to rob them of their right to vote.”

Delaware News Journal: Voting rights for Delaware corporations being weighed; Bill advanced to allow artificial entities say in Seaford elections

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Delaware News Journal: Voting rights for Delaware corporations being weighed; Bill advanced to allow artificial entities say in Seaford elections

Claire Snyder-Hall, executive director of Common Cause Delaware, an organization that advocates for open government, called this an "outrageous attempt to get wealthy property owners, some of whom don't even live in Delaware, an unfair say in town elections."

"We're seeing attacks on freedom to vote all over the country, and mostly Republicans trying to create barriers to voting," she told Delaware Online/The News Journal. "And this is kind of a different way of getting at the same thing, right?

"It's like 'Oh, we...

The Guardian: ‘Impossible to hold him accountable’: DeSantis signs laws to ease 2024 run

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The Guardian: ‘Impossible to hold him accountable’: DeSantis signs laws to ease 2024 run

“It looks like they’re laying the groundwork to transfer the money to some sort of vehicle that would support his presidential run,” said Stephen Spaulding, a campaign finance expert at Common Cause, a government watchdog group. “What that, again, goes to show is how loose the coordination rules are, how they need to be strengthened, and how existing rules need to be enforced.”

Texas Tribune: Eliminating countywide voting in Texas would make the process harder on voters, cost more money, election leaders say

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Texas Tribune: Eliminating countywide voting in Texas would make the process harder on voters, cost more money, election leaders say

“It is stunning to me that this bill has moved forward,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. “Countywide voting is the solution to so many problems.”

“If we end countywide voting, we are just ramping up more and more confusion for Texans,” Gutierrez said. He pointed to a study by the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs, which found that confusion over voter ID laws kept some people from voting in Harris County.

Politico: The Supreme Court has an electoral ‘bomb’ on its hands. Will it defuse it before 2024?

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Politico: The Supreme Court has an electoral ‘bomb’ on its hands. Will it defuse it before 2024?

The North Carolina state court ruling “makes it even more clear that the Supreme Court needs to make a decision about whether or not that legislature should be able to rule over federal elections without any checks or balances or if we still want courts to have a role,” said Kathay Feng, the vice president of programs at the good government group Common Cause. Common Cause is one of the parties in the federal lawsuit opposing the ISL theory.

“We need to have a definitive answer from the Supreme Court,” she continued.

Associated Press: Air Force One doubles as a campaign jet for Biden’s reelection run. Who pays what?

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Associated Press: Air Force One doubles as a campaign jet for Biden’s reelection run. Who pays what?

When it comes to paying back the government for travel, “it’s always somewhat of an opaque process for how it’s reimbursed,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at the watchdog group Common Cause. “It’s a little bit more of an art than a science.”

Roll Call: DOJ urges Supreme Court not to decide case on federal elections

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Roll Call: DOJ urges Supreme Court not to decide case on federal elections

Only one party in the case, Common Cause, argued for the Supreme Court to decide the issue — and rule against North Carolina. In a brief filed Thursday, the group argued that the mere fact that North Carolina’s high court ruled in the case means the U.S. Supreme Court can still decide it.

“Petitioners’ core contention before this Court is that the Elections Clause prohibits state constitutions—and state courts—from imposing limits on the authority of state legislatures over congressional redistricting. But the North...

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