Abuse of Power

Meanwhile, Common Cause New York Executive Director Susan Lerner called for public hearings on maps she called a “major disservice to the voters.” “The Legislature’s proposed congressional maps preserve the Voting Rights Act districts, but the rest of the lines are so heavily gerrymandered they will be non-competitive,” she said.

“The governor of Florida does not have control over all Florida police departments or the FBI. And by proposing this integrity unit, it seems like that’s what he wants: personal, political goon squad,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause. “A police force under the authority of a political individual becomes a political army. That’s similar to, I don’t know, Russia?” Albert said. “In America, we have separation of powers. We have politicians, we have police, we have the judiciary. We have this in place to protect our democracy and to ensure that politicians do not use police as their personal army.”

Kathay Feng, a redistricting expert at Common Cause, said the massive growth in communities of color over the past decade means that their representation should have grown, not shrunk. “It’s a falsehood for political pundits or operatives to say status quo is sufficient,” she said. “You can’t force your 12-year-old to continue wearing the clothes of a 2-year-old. It’s pretending like they haven’t grown.”

“I view the court process as a continuation of the redistricting process,” says Kathay Feng, the national redistricting manager of Common Cause. Unfortunately, some states don’t seem to mind being sued. North Carolina’s maps were among those struck down in the last cycle. Yet, Feng says its lawmakers again approved maps that already are being challenged in new lawsuits. “They cracked and packed Black voters, resulting in the dilution of their votes,” says Feng of North Carolina’s most recent maps, referring to practices in which communities of color are “cracked,” or split up to reduce their political power, or “packed” into the same district in greater numbers than necessary to reduce their power in surrounding districts. “They held sham hearings where locations were moved or, in one instance, the doors to the building were locked. All in all, a bad process.”

The issue has drawn the ire of voting rights groups like Common Cause and the League of Women Voters who have for years pushed the state to move to allow online voter registration. Texas is one of eight states that does not offer it. The League depends on the state's paper copies to provide new citizens with the forms in their welcome packets at naturalization ... ceremonies. "This is a problem that's easily solvable," said Common Cause executive director Anthony Gutierrez. "We ask that the state immediately take steps to fix this problem that they have manufactured. It's time for the state of Texas to join the 21st century, and the rest of the country, and provide online voter registration to every eligible voter in Texas."

“As things stand now, about half of those voters are being blocked from having their voices heard,” Stephanie Gomez, the associate director at Common Cause Texas, said in a statement. “If this isn’t fixed, this single provision of SB 1 could block up to a half-million Texans from voting by mail this year.” “In the meantime, we urge all Texans to be your own advocates for your freedom to vote,” added Gomez. “While the politicians in charge are determined to make it as hard as possible to vote, Common Cause Texas is ramping up our Texas-sized election protection to ensure our communities can make their voice heard at the ballot box.”