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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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Santa Fe Reporter: NM Judge Bars Insurrectionist Couy Griffin From Public Office

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Santa Fe Reporter: NM Judge Bars Insurrectionist Couy Griffin From Public Office

Common Cause New Mexico, which filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs, hailed Mathew’s decision for having far-reaching consequences. “Judge Mathew’s decision is a signal to elected officials everywhere who want to snub their noses at the constitution, foment mob violence and disobey the law,” said Mario Jimenez, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, in a statement. “Our elected officials—and candidates—must obey the law. They are not above it. That’s the very essence of democracy, and this ruling affirms...

The 19th News: What makes state legislatures uniquely prone to alleged harassment

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The 19th News: What makes state legislatures uniquely prone to alleged harassment

Heather Ferguson, the state director of Common Cause in New Mexico — a progressive voting rights and elections reform organization — spoke with investigators in the Ayana complaint. Ivey-Soto once referred to Ferguson and her co-director as “hips and lips,” and has publicly admitted to doing so. Ferguson said what concerns her the most is knowing that experiences like hers are happening around the country. 

“In varying degrees, this is something that occurs in different statehouses based on the level of...

Insider: Out of 18 pro-democracy bills in 2022, the US Senate filibuster torpedoed 17 of them: report

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Insider: Out of 18 pro-democracy bills in 2022, the US Senate filibuster torpedoed 17 of them: report

Common Cause also ranked individual members of Congress on their pro-democracy efforts, with 101 members — all Democrats — earning a perfect score. That's a more than 70% increase over the number of members of Congress who had perfect scores (58) in the 2020 Democracy Scorecard.

Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn cited the legislative filibuster as the roadblock to pro-democracy reform. 

"In the end, with high levels of support in Congress and an overwhelming outpouring of public support, Congress ran...

Common Cause Scorecard Charts Lawmaker Support for Pro-Democracy Bills in 117th Congress in Wake of January 6th

Press Release

Common Cause Scorecard Charts Lawmaker Support for Pro-Democracy Bills in 117th Congress in Wake of January 6th

As the January 6th Select Committee is reportedly set to hold more hearings this month, and less than two years since January 6th, Common Cause is releasing its 2022 Democracy Scorecard, which tracks the positions of every Member of Congress on issues vital to the health of our democracy during the 117th Congress. Throughout this Congress, members of the House and Senate were notified that various votes on key democracy issues – including many related to January 6th and its aftermath - would be counted in the Scorecard, which will be...

Vox: How election deniers could sway the 2024 election

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Vox: How election deniers could sway the 2024 election

“The problem for Republicans is that the Wisconsin Elections Commission was pretty scrupulous. It did not tilt elections towards Republicans like they thought it would,” said Jay Heck, executive director of the democracy group Common Cause Wisconsin.

If a Republican secretary of state presided over elections, they could tighten up rules around voting, from identification requirements to who could cast an absentee ballot and where they could drop it off — policies that, individually, might not cause a huge drop-off in...

Bloomberg: Trump Allies Back Mass Challenge to Voter Eligibility in Georgia

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Bloomberg: Trump Allies Back Mass Challenge to Voter Eligibility in Georgia

Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said the group has heard of similar efforts in Harris County, Texas; and Florida, but the challenges in Georgia are the most extensive currently underway.

She said it’s also troubling because Georgia law allows the state to take over local elections boards if it finds them incompetent. Many clerks are worried that if they don’t do a quick vetting of the mass challenges or the challenges lead to longer lines on Election Day, they’ll face a state takeover.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: In battleground Georgia, new voters on the rise before ‘22 election

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Atlanta Journal-Constitution: In battleground Georgia, new voters on the rise before ‘22 election

New voters will turn out if they’re concerned about issues that are important to them, such as democracy, taxes, education and housing costs, said Aunna Dennis, executive director for Common Cause Georgia, a government accountability organization.

“All these people are joining in democracy and getting their voices heard at the ballot box,” Dennis said. “We have to pay attention to why they want to go out and vote, and what they care about.”

Santa Fe New Mexican (Op-Ed): For Couy Griffin, the ‘aw shucks’ defense won’t work

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Santa Fe New Mexican (Op-Ed): For Couy Griffin, the ‘aw shucks’ defense won’t work

Faced with clear evidence that he rallied the mob while it broke Capitol windows and became increasingly violent, he said this was not actually a “mob” but was simply “just a crowd,” like at a sporting event that just got out of hand. And when a D.C. police officer who was there trying to control the “crowd” told the court another story, Griffin continually resisted.

He reverted to a claim that antifa, shorthand for left-wing anti-facists, was to blame and said the police officer who died the day after the riot died...

Bloomberg: State High Court Races Matter More ‘Than Ever’ In Post-Roe Era

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Bloomberg: State High Court Races Matter More ‘Than Ever’ In Post-Roe Era

Redistricting is a hyper-partisan issue in the state that’s likely to have a direct but unpredictable impact on the races this year, said Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio.

Only one Republican justice, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, ruled against the GOP-controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission. She must retire this year due to age restrictions, meaning a new GOP replacement could clear the legislature to draw lines without court interference.

Turcer noted this is the first time...

ABC News: False accusations of election fraud prompt some election workers across the US to quit ahead of Election Day

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ABC News: False accusations of election fraud prompt some election workers across the US to quit ahead of Election Day

Sylvia Albert, the director of voting and elections at the nonpartisan government watchdog group Common Cause, said that the increased retirements and resignations mean that the country must invest in "the infrastructure to train the next generation of election workers."

"We're going to run an election and we're going to make sure people can vote -- we're just going to have to use all hands on deck," she said of the upcoming midterms. "But we should be looking towards a long-term solution of proper investment in the election...

Washington Post: In new election, Big Tech uses old strategies to fight ‘big lie’

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Washington Post: In new election, Big Tech uses old strategies to fight ‘big lie’

“The ‘big lie’ has become embedded in our political discourse, and it’s become a talking point for election-deniers to preemptively declare that the midterm elections are going to be stolen or filled with voter fraud,” said Yosef Getachew, a media and democracy program director at the liberal-leaning government watchdog Common Cause. “What we’ve seen is that Facebook and Twitter aren’t really doing the best job or any job in terms of removing and combating disinformation that’s around the ‘big lie'.”

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