Abuse of Power

Americans deserve to know the full truth about the attack on our democracy January 6th at the U.S. Capitol when a violent, racist mob attempted to overturn the result of the 2020 election. The select committee established today by the U.S. House of Representatives will get to the bottom of what happened and the causes behind the attack that left fatalities and scores of seriously injured in its wake. The truth is vitally important to establish at a time when many – even some Members of Congress - are trying to whitewash the vicious attack by a mob bearing Confederate flags, bear spray, cudgels, and zip ties with bombs and weapons caches hidden nearby.

“Updating the Electoral Count Act would be a great addition to that bill,” said Aaron Scherb, the director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, a good-government group instrumental in pushing the For the People Act. “Because presidential elections only occur every four years, there's kind of a natural ebb and flow of what people pay attention to or what problems rise up.” 

Common Cause is urging every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote “yes” on a resolution to create a select committee to investigate the attack January 6th on the United States Capitol by a violent mob attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The letter notes that Common Cause plans to key-vote final passage of H.Res. 503 to create the select committee to investigate the deadly insurrection in our next Democracy Scorecard, which we send to our 1.5 million members. 

"What's driving these efforts is anti-democratic sentiment," Sylvia Albert, executive director of the nonprofit good government group Common Cause, said in an interview with Salon. "These individuals attempted to overturn an election and they were unable to do so. So they are now attempting to change the rules so that next time they can overturn the will of the people." Depending on the state, "these individuals might now have the power to close polling stations or limit voting machine access," Albert warned. "This is part and parcel of a very anti-democratic push to make sure that people who vote against you don't get to vote and if they accidentally do, 'Don't worry, we'll throw out their votes.'"

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Georgia challenging voting restrictions enacted since the 2020 election that federal authorities allege discriminate against Black Americans. The suit challenges Georgia’s so-called “Election Integrity Act,” which was passed in March by the Republican majority in the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp. The law imposes new limits on the use of absentee ballots, gives the legislature greater control over elections in the state, and makes it a crime for outside groups to provide food and water to voters waiting at polling stations.

"These election workers are feeling the brunt of former President Trump and various Republican allies lying about the election," said Sylvia Albert, voting and elections director for the government watchdog group Common Cause. "All of a sudden, these election workers are part of some vast conspiracy." Albert says that what election officials have described represents "a level of threat and intimidation against election officials that you just don't see in a democracy." "We're seeing election officials receive death threats, they've been doxed, they're in hiding," Albert said. The prospect of experienced election workers resigning from these already "thankless jobs," as Albert described them, raises an even more troubling question: Who will replace them?