Election Integrity

There are two important pieces of voting news coming out of Illinois today, one good and the other ominous.

The failure of congressional leaders to staff an independent investigation is fast becoming the only question in Washington that matters. What will it take for Congress to make the Russia investigation the priority the American people believe it deserves?

Today’s revelations that the Pentagon Inspector General is investigating disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and that the White House is stonewalling congressional probes of Flynn’s ties to Russia underscore the need for a nonpartisan independent investigation of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Iowa and New Hampshire set the trends for presidential elections.Let’s hope that their influence does not extend to election laws.

Today, local Common Cause activists delivered a petition to Gov. Terry Branstad at the Capitol urging him to veto a new voter suppression bill passed by the legislature. House File 516 requires voters to show specific forms of government-issued identification at the polls and will roll-back early voting opportunities.

As news breaks about Trump campaign officials embroiled in the FBI Russian investigation, local Common Cause activists began nationwide delivery of petitions to Members of Congress, urging them to support the formation of an independent commission to investigate the Russian government’s attack on the 2016 election. The deliveries of constituent signatures come in the wake of media reports late yesterday revealing that Trump campaign advisor Carter Page was under investigation by the FBI last summer resulting in the granting of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant by a secret court. In visits to district offices from Florida to Alaska and from Maine to Arizona, activists are emphasizing that the partisan atmosphere in Washington is too charged currently for a full and fair investigation by members of Congress.