Voting & Elections

Today, Common Cause called on General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Emily W. Murphy to uphold her duty and comply with the Presidential Transition Act by immediately ascertaining President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris as stewards of the incoming administration. The letter to Administrator Murphy emphasized that a peaceful and orderly transition of power is vitally important to national security, to public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to our democracy. The Act defines the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect as the “apparent successful candidates for the office of President and Vice President, respectively, as ascertained by the Administrator following the general elections.”

It’s unlikely that much, if any, of the money will end up going to Trump, said Paul S. Ryan, the vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, a campaign finance watchdog. Ryan, a campaign finance lawyer, pointed out that the governor can give a maximum of $2,800 to Trump’s campaign under federal law. If she wanted more to flow to Trump, she could have directed donors to the president’s own donation site. “In all likelihood, she is keeping this money that she is raising,” Ryan said. “If she were actually interested in raising money for Donald Trump’s own legal efforts, she would use a joint-fundraising committee.” Federal election law makes it difficult for state campaign committees like Noem’s to donate to federal campaigns because it would have to ensure the donations it receives meet federal contribution limits. Ryan compared Noem’s solicitation to Trump’s current fundraising push. Trump’s solicitation, though billed as raising money for his legal fight, notes that half of contributions will go to pay off general election campaign debt. “He’s setting the example at the top of the party, at the top of the ticket,” Ryan said. “It doesn’t surprise me to see Noem doing something similar.”

Aaron Scherb, the director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, told ABC News on Monday that the "petty and unproductive" decision by GSA to withhold key resources to the Biden transition could have the "potential for catastrophic results."  "By GSA not signing off on this, there is certainly some classified intelligence information that the incoming administration would not have access to -- and would potentially not be fully prepared on day one to be able to counteract ongoing efforts from our adversaries like all previous incoming administrations have," Scherb said.    "If the Biden transition team doesn't have access to some of the documents and information," he continued, "there are national security concerns."

As we emerge from the pandemic, access to democracy must remain a priority. Our lives, our families, and our community depend on it. This year’s record turnout shows the pent-up demand of the people for elections that work of all of us.

On Thursday, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the watchdog group Common Cause submitted a joint letter to Jack Dorsey, the Twitter CEO, requesting Trump’s account be temporarily suspended to prevent the spread of misinformation about the election. “We fear that, in the absence of action by Twitter, the president may be successful in his goal of delegitimizing the integrity of our democratic processes for many, and not just Twitter users but other voters and members of the public, sowing uncertainty about the voting and elections process, and potentially inciting violence against civil servants or others,” the groups wrote. A Twitter spokesperson said the company has received the letter and “intends to respond”.

“We’re all hands on deck right now to make sure that we can get folks who had to vote provisionally, that they’re able to cure their ballots,” said Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, the state’s chapter of the national nonpartisan watchdog group. Most counties are almost done counting their outstanding absentee ballots, she said.  Common Cause Georgia requests lists of provisional voters from individual counties, and then volunteers reach out to those voters via text banking, phone banking or door-to-door knocking to inform them how they can cure their ballots, Dennis explained. On Friday, the organization hopes to reach 3,000 voters who cast provisional ballots, she said. “It’s a big effort, but we want to make sure that every vote in Georgia counts,” Dennis said, adding, “We want to make sure that every voter has equitable access to the ballot and to the balloting process, and every vote is counted in Georgia.” Responding to claims that ballot curing is equivalent to election fraud, Dennis said, “the curing process has been accessible for public viewing, so we definitely want to debunk those claims. That’s just fodder, and there’s no basis to those claims.”