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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...

Media Contacts

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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Associated Press: In election misinformation fight, ’2020 changed everything’

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Associated Press: In election misinformation fight, ’2020 changed everything’

The voting advocacy group Common Cause will rely on thousands of volunteers like Bowers to identify misinformation floating around online and push for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to take down the most egregious falsehoods. False claims about voting times, locations or eligibility, for example, are banned across Twitter and Meta’s platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram.

During the 2020 election, platforms applied fact checks, labeled or removed more than 300 pieces of popular, false content that...

Kansas City Star/McClatchy: ‘I’m increasingly concerned’: New WyCo administrator still doing work for Kansas City

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Kansas City Star/McClatchy: ‘I’m increasingly concerned’: New WyCo administrator still doing work for Kansas City

"Even if this administrator isn't violating any law, it can certainly look bad if she's not performing her duties that taxpayers are funding her to do and often the perception can be just as harmful and it can call into question that public servants should be serving the public interests, not minding their own pockets," said Aaron Scherb, director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, a non-partisan government watchdog nonprofit.

Common Cause Scorecard Charts Lawmaker Support for Pro-Democracy Bills in 117th Congress

Press Release

Common Cause Scorecard Charts Lawmaker Support for Pro-Democracy Bills in 117th Congress

As 2022 congressional races ramp up, Common Cause is again tracking the positions of every Member of Congress on issues vital to the health of our democracy. Members of the House and Senate have received letters asking them to co-sponsor and support at least 15 democracy reform bills and informing them that their voting and co-sponsorship record will be published in Common Cause’s “Democracy Scorecard,” which will be distributed to our 1.5 million members, as well as to state and national media, during the lead-up to Election Day.

New York Times: Will Eric Adams Release His Taxes? A Soft ‘No’ Is Now a Qualified ‘Yes.’

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New York Times: Will Eric Adams Release His Taxes? A Soft ‘No’ Is Now a Qualified ‘Yes.’

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a watchdog group, said Mr. Adams never should have hesitated in deciding to release his tax returns.

“This is not a gotcha question from the press — this is the sort of thing that real people on the street pay attention to,” she said. “The mayor shouldn’t be playing cat and mouse with something that should be an obvious transparency measure.”

San Antonio Express-News: Could the highly political redistricting process be more independent? San Antonio may find out

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San Antonio Express-News: Could the highly political redistricting process be more independent? San Antonio may find out

“We see some of the most bare-knuckled fights over political power at the local level,” said Kathay Feng, the national redistricting director of Common Cause, a government watchdog organization.

“Plenty of people have tried creatively to get their way with the commission,” in California, Feng said. “But selecting a group of people who are savvy and listening for exactly that kind of thing makes them well inoculated to those lobbying efforts.”

Politico: Campaign finance watchdog cracks down on untraceable super PAC donations

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Politico: Campaign finance watchdog cracks down on untraceable super PAC donations

“I think we’ve now saw sort of a crack or a fissure in what has been sort of a tradition of Republican commissioners acting as a bloc and citing prosecutorial discretion, vagueness of the law, and a whole host of rationales for their refusals to move forward on any sort of enforcement,” said Stephen Spaulding, senior counsel at Common Cause.

Spaulding previously worked as a senior aide for a former Democratic FEC commissioner.

But Friday’s decision will not end dark money entirely, Spaulding notes. “For...

Cincinnati Magazine: THE CHAOS THEORY BEHIND OHIO’S REDISTRICTING FIASCO

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Cincinnati Magazine: THE CHAOS THEORY BEHIND OHIO’S REDISTRICTING FIASCO

“They’re lying, and they know we know they’re lying,” says Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, one of several non-partisan groups fighting for redistricting reform.

Following the April 4 contempt hearing in the Ohio Supreme Court, Mia Lewis, associate director of Common Cause Ohio, told Spectrum News that the Republican strategy for the last year has been to run out the clock. “They said, ‘Oh, it was impossible to meet that (court) deadline.’ Well, yes, if you’re trying to make it...

New York Daily News: Democrats back election law change to remove former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin from ballot

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New York Daily News: Democrats back election law change to remove former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin from ballot

“This is a problem for New Yorkers who will confront a ballot that does not reflect the reality of the field, and may end up throwing away their vote on a candidate who is not running for office,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/NY. “It’s simply unfair and wrong to present the voters with a false choice.”

Salon: “Unprecedented and dangerous”: Florida GOP gives up power to draw new district maps to Ron DeSantis

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Salon: “Unprecedented and dangerous”: Florida GOP gives up power to draw new district maps to Ron DeSantis

"By inserting himself into the map-drawing process in this inappropriate and unprecedented way, Governor DeSantis began to diminish the prospect that the Legislature would timely pass a legally- and constitutionally-compliant congressional map," reads the lawsuit filed by Common Cause Florida and Fair Districts Now.

Associated Press: Congress seeks input on election reform in New Mexico

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Associated Press: Congress seeks input on election reform in New Mexico

Heather Ferguson of the progressive watchdog group Common Cause New Mexico said New Mexico stands out as a “beacon of light” against states proposing to restrict voting access. She also called attention to vehicle caravans in recent elections that block or intimidate voters at polling locations.

Grid: How Big Tech is quietly pushing for watered-down state privacy laws

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Grid: How Big Tech is quietly pushing for watered-down state privacy laws

“I can generally say that there’s certainly the potential for influence from industry giving money to legislators,” said Yosef Getachew, director of the Media and Democracy Program at Common Cause. ...

Getachew noted that the implications of privacy laws extend well past traditional technology companies.

“A lot of the telecom companies have engaged in certain data practices that implicate them and privacy bills, and a lot of telecom companies are working businesses outside of the traditional telecom...

Georgia Public Broadcasting: Ethics experts say Herschel Walker’s U.S. Senate financial disclosure bears further scrutiny

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Georgia Public Broadcasting: Ethics experts say Herschel Walker’s U.S. Senate financial disclosure bears further scrutiny

But without a listing of clients that might have paid Walker or the company more than $5,000, the true picture of Walker’s finance is incomplete, said Stephen Spaulding with government watchdog group Common Cause.

“According to this candidate’s financial disclosure form, no person or entity paid more than $5,000 for any services provided by him — at the same time, he disclosed an interest in an LLC valued at more than $25 million and that provides ‘business consulting and professional services,’” Spaulding said....

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