Voting & Elections

Suzanne Almeida, the interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, said "the short answer is, we’re a little bit worried about everything." But she noted that challenged voters in Pennsylvania can get a witness to verify their identity, or vote with a provisional ballot and later prove their identity. She said she is part of a large coalition of election protection groups that will have 2,000 volunteers on the ground monitoring the polls and "roving teams" deployed to any problem areas. "We are really trying to plan for every eventuality," she said. "And hope that we need to use none of our contingency plans."

Liza McClenaghan, chair of Common Cause Florida, said the signature examiners are trained, “so it is not as random as people think. But it is not a court-of-law signature process.”

In addition to poll workers, election offices and attorney general offices, Common Cause has a hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683), with staff who have direct lines to election officials, according to Sylvia Albert, the director of voting and elections for the non-partisan watchdog group Common Cause.. "There are tons of organizations and lawyers who are out there and we have your back," she said.

Alyssa Canty does outreach to first-time voters for the non-partisan group Common Cause. “They’re definitely activated, they definitely enjoy, like, voting early, or either voting by mail, so I think we will definitely see decent turnout, but it may not just be, like, on Election Day,” she said.

“Normally we get 6,000 volunteers. This time, so far we have upwards of 40,000 volunteers,” said Sylvia Albert, who is the director of voting and elections with Common Cause. “It shows real interest and desire by the American people to ensure a free, fair and safe election.”

Jesse Littlewood, vice president for campaigns at Common Cause, called the effort by the secretaries of state a “remarkable” attempt to “strong-arm Facebook.” “It’s troubling to see those overseeing elections try to stop what appears to be a successful project to register voters,” he said.