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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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Associated Press: Some in GOP want ballots to be counted by hand, not machines

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Associated Press: Some in GOP want ballots to be counted by hand, not machines

“It’s coming from conspiracy theories and lies,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a nonpartisan group that advocates for expanded voter access. “It’s attempting to lower people’s confidence in elections.”

Albert and others said it’s unrealistic to think election officials can count millions of ballots by hand and report results quickly, given that ballots often include dozens of races. The partisan review last summer of the 2 million ballots cast in Maricopa County, Arizona,...

VICE News: Looks Like Ron DeSantis Is Getting His Election Police Force

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VICE News: Looks Like Ron DeSantis Is Getting His Election Police Force

“The governor of Florida does not have control over all Florida police departments or the FBI,” Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, told VICE News when DeSantis first announced his plans. “And by proposing this integrity unit, it seems like that’s what he wants: a personal, political goon squad.”

Salon: Trump wants his fans to pay for new “Trump Force One” plane after emergency landing

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Salon: Trump wants his fans to pay for new “Trump Force One” plane after emergency landing

"PACs are often used as slush funds," Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert at the good government nonprofit Common Cause, told CNN. "Campaign finance law doesn't require PAC money to be used for political purposes, leaving open the possibility that Trump could use PAC funds to pay for private plane repairs."

Los Angeles Times: A small-city mayor takes on big money and political propaganda

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Los Angeles Times: A small-city mayor takes on big money and political propaganda

“Corporations can essentially buy elected officials ... by pumping money into getting their preferred candidates into office,” or by opposing those “not as beholden or sympathetic,” said Sean McMorris of California Common Cause, a nonprofit good-government organization.

Associated Press: Tennessee kickback scandal leaves GOP reps feeling betrayed

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Associated Press: Tennessee kickback scandal leaves GOP reps feeling betrayed

Longtime Tennessee public interest lobbyist Dick Williams, who heads Common Cause Tennessee, said the alleged Phoenix Solutions scheme is a “more extreme” example that likely doesn’t indicate a larger problem with the system, which can always use fine-tuning.

“It’s an example that in any group of people, including legislators, you’re going to have a few people that are wanting to game the system, one way or another, and be deceitful of, supposedly, their friends even,” Williams said.

CNN: Florida lawmakers are poised to pass a bill that would create an election police force. What would it do?

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CNN: Florida lawmakers are poised to pass a bill that would create an election police force. What would it do?

"No voter should have to factor the likelihood of getting investigated into their calculation of whether and how to vote. No one should face felony prosecution for helping three friends by taking their ballots to the post office," Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, said in a statement in late February. "Our 'government by the people' is stronger and more representative when more people vote."

Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs Republicans in electoral map disputes

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Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs Republicans in electoral map disputes

Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, a group defending the state's new districts, called Monday's action a victory.

"We're pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the legislative defendants' shameless attempt to impose their gerrymandered congressional map upon North Carolina," Phillips said.

Inside Sources/Tribune News Service (Op-Ed): Elected Jailers and the Money Behind Their Campaigns

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Inside Sources/Tribune News Service (Op-Ed): Elected Jailers and the Money Behind Their Campaigns

The Paid Jailer report suggests that industry donations to sheriffs are not only likely damaging to justice and democracy but also incredibly common. Construction companies contribute tens of thousands of dollars and then go on to build bigger jails. Legal firms fund races and end up representing the sheriff’s office in misconduct cases. Our research uncovered more than $6 million in contributions from donors with potential ethical conflicts. More than 40 percent of contributions to sheriffs we studied came from conflicted donors whose...

HuffPost: Republicans Ask Supreme Court To Back A Radical Theory On Voting Rights

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HuffPost: Republicans Ask Supreme Court To Back A Radical Theory On Voting Rights

“If we can say only legislatures are able to make laws regarding the time, place, manner of elections, and courts don’t have any ability to change or constrain those laws, we’re really looking at a significant change in the balance of power between the three branches of state governments, as well as the level of intervention from federal courts in state lawmaking,” said Suzanne Almeida, redistricting counsel for Common Cause, a nonpartisan nonprofit involved in both the North Carolina and Pennsylvania cases.

USA Today: Texas primary tidbits: Greg Abbott, Beto O’Rourke, Donald Trump, party in-fighting

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USA Today: Texas primary tidbits: Greg Abbott, Beto O’Rourke, Donald Trump, party in-fighting

"We saw vote-by-mail applications and ballots rejected at unprecedented rates, poll sites opening late or not opening at all due to election worker shortages, and widespread technology issues," said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas.

Calling for federal action, Gutierrez said it won't get any easier for Texas or other states: "These issues we’re seeing today will be far bigger problems in November when we have exponentially more people showing up to the polls."

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