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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...

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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Freedom to Vote Act Represents Huge Step Forward

Press Release

Freedom to Vote Act Represents Huge Step Forward

The negotiated framework in the Freedom to Vote Act represents a huge step forward for the people. It shows the Senate is working to find a path forward to get this landmark legislation signed into law. This legislation will strengthen our freedom to vote so that we all, regardless of political party, background, or where we live, have an equal say in the future for our family and community. The legislation leads to fair maps for Congressional districts and ending gerrymandering forever. It also makes important steps to curtail secret money in...

ABC News: Biden stands by Newsom, warns the country’s future is on the ballot in California’s recall election

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ABC News: Biden stands by Newsom, warns the country’s future is on the ballot in California’s recall election

Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause, a nonpartisan, liberal-leaning political advocacy organization, told ABC News that such claims should be expected.

"There will inevitably be claims that the election is rigged because the purveyors of the 'big lie' need these local and state elections in between the major national elections to keep up their momentum; but all of their allegations in the November 2020 election fell flat," Stein said. "There's nothing new under the sun here. And we assume that...

Sacramento Bee/Inside Sources (Op-Ed): Congress must make Constitution’s promise a reality

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Sacramento Bee/Inside Sources (Op-Ed): Congress must make Constitution’s promise a reality

Constitution Day honors our founding charter, as amended. It celebrates an enduring commitment to freedom and a democracy where all of us are supposed to have an equal voice in the decisions that affect our country, no matter our ZIP code, what we look like, or how much money we have in the bank.

But from its inception, the Constitution denied democracy — at times violently — to whole swaths of people: indigenous people; enslaved people; Black people; women; the unhoused; immigrants; those who do not own property — the...

Associated Press: Indiana Republicans may seek to bolster congressional hold

News Clip

Associated Press: Indiana Republicans may seek to bolster congressional hold

Common Cause Indiana executive director Julia Vaughn criticized Torchinsky’s work as “more political than legal” to assist with partisan gerrymandering. ...

Legislative Republicans held nine public redistricting hearings around the state last month without any proposed maps for review. The only hearings planned with the maps in hand will start the day after they are released on Tuesday and will only be held on weekdays at the Statehouse in Indianapolis.

Vaughn and other activists have unsuccessfully pushed...

CNN: 2013 Voting Rights Act ruling could make it easier for states to get away with extreme racial gerrymandering

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CNN: 2013 Voting Rights Act ruling could make it easier for states to get away with extreme racial gerrymandering

To analyze whether a map is Voting Rights Act-compliant, one needs to look at past election results, often at the precinct level, and not every state offers such information in a single database, according to Kathay Feng, the national redistricting director for the voting rights group Common Cause.
"You would have to go to each county, and each county would give it to you in a slightly different format, and you have to figure out how that all could be put together," Feng said

Sinclair Broadcast Group/KATV: The new Texas voting law: What it does and does not do

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Sinclair Broadcast Group/KATV: The new Texas voting law: What it does and does not do

“Rather than making it easier for Texans to vote for elected leaders who will prioritize our health and safety above their political ambitions, Governor Abbott has just attempted to silence voters from being heard in the next election,” said Stephanie Gomez, associate director of Common Cause Texas, one of the organizations suing over the new law.

Associated Press: Coalition presses for transparency in state redistricting

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Associated Press: Coalition presses for transparency in state redistricting

“The Reapportionment Commission must take all necessary steps to make sure the new district maps are drawn in a fair and transparent process the public can easily understand,” John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, said in a statement.

Bloomberg Government: Beaches, Bears, Vineyards, and Pencils: Ballots & Boundaries

News Clip

Bloomberg Government: Beaches, Bears, Vineyards, and Pencils: Ballots & Boundaries

“Maintaining communities of interest intact in redistricting maps should be second only to compliance with the United States Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act as a consideration in redistricting,” according to redistricting principles outlined by the watchdog group Common Cause.

Facebook & Twitter Backing Off Election Disinformation Enforcement

Press Release

Facebook & Twitter Backing Off Election Disinformation Enforcement

A new investigation by Common Cause’s disinformation analysts has revealed that social media giants Facebook and Twitter seem to have backed away from enforcement of their own policies and enforcement practices when it comes to combatting election-related disinformation. The white paper, “Trending in the Wrong Direction: Social Media Platforms’ Declining Enforcement of Voting Disinformation,” reveals that the social media platforms appear to have dramatically scaled-back their practices of removing or labeling dangerously false claims...

Washington Post: New Texas voting bill deepens growing disparities in how Americans can cast their ballots

News Clip

Washington Post: New Texas voting bill deepens growing disparities in how Americans can cast their ballots

“We’ve had a very functional system of election administration,” said Common Cause Ohio Executive Director Catherine Turcer, adding, “It is genuinely surprising that after a successful election where more Ohio voters participated than ever before, that any legislator would think about making it harder to vote.” ...

Turcer, of Common Cause Ohio, said voters’ confidence would grow if they understood the election rules already in place.

“The distrust of election officials and election administration has...

Salon: Georgia GOP called “shameless” for trying to use new voting law to oust local election officials

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Salon: Georgia GOP called “shameless” for trying to use new voting law to oust local election officials

"It appears that they would like to take over the county board of elections," Aunna Dennis, the executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said in an interview with Salon, calling the move part of a "coordinated strategy" that represents Republican "opposition to, basically, democracy." Dennis also warned that "whatever happens in Fulton is going to domino across the state" and that if this approach is successful for Republicans, other states with GOP-majority legislatures could soon follow.

"This would become a domino effect...

Washington Post: Trump Tower’s key tenants have fallen behind on rent and moved out. But Trump has one reliable customer: His own PAC.

News Clip

Washington Post: Trump Tower’s key tenants have fallen behind on rent and moved out. But Trump has one reliable customer: His own PAC.

“He’s running a con,” said Paul S. Ryan, a campaign-finance expert at the watchdog group Common Cause. “Talking about political expenses — but, in reality, raising money for self-enrichment.”

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