Abuse of Power

Claire Snyder-Hall, executive director of Common Cause Delaware, criticized the House vote, saying corporations have no place in elections. “In a state with more registered businesses than residents, this bill gives wealthy outsiders the power to override the actual people of Seaford,” she said in a news release.

In the federal case, Common Cause vice president Kathay Feng said her group’s lawsuit also is supported by the Alabama decision, despite focusing on a different section of law. “The Alabama ruling sent a very clear message that the court was going to look closely at the history of discrimination,” Feng said. “… Florida has a history of discriminating against black voters. And the impact was directly to take away the opportunity to vote from Black voters in the panhandle of Florida.”

"It was very shocking to see this attempt to have artificial entities have voting rights," said Claire Snyder-Hall, executive director of Common Cause Delaware, a watchdog group. "We're seeing voter suppression all over the county, and this is the flipside," she added. "It's not saying the residents of Seaford can't vote, but it's diluting their votes by allowing nonresidents to vote."

“We’ve seen…candidates really pushing the envelope here, and there has been a rise in single-candidate super PACs,” said Stephen Spaulding, Vice President of Common Cause, a group dedicated to lessening the impact of special interests in government and politics. “You have super PACs essentially operating as arms of campaigns — only they can take unlimited amounts of money from nearly any source,” Spaulding said. “It’s time for Congress to step in and pass legislation to make clear that independent spending is supposed to be truly independent,” Common Cause’s Spaulding said.

“Greg Abbott either didn’t read this bill closely enough to understand what it really does or is deliberately working to make it harder for Texans with disabilities to vote,” Katya Ehresman, the voting rights manager for Common Cause Texas, said in a statement.

To date, those consequences are “essentially a slap on the wrist,” Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at nonprofit government watchdog Common Cause, told Raw Story earlier this month.