Voting & Elections

But to really grasp the impact that gerrymandering has had on abortion laws, you have to look back to 2010, said Dan Vicuña, the national redistricting manager at voting rights watchdog group Common Cause. That election year, Republicans set out to win control of as many statehouses as possible, which gave them power to redraw state and congressional districts after the census. “That effort succeeded beyond their wildest dreams,” Vicuña said. “Republicans took over tons of state legislatures, and they were interested in gerrymandering.” Since then, he said, it’s no surprise that the number of abortion bans passed at the state level has exploded.

John M. Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, emphasized that, “The Constitution is crystal clear that the census is to count every resident of the United States, regardless of their citizenship status. Any attempt to discourage participation by non-citizens is an affront to that constitutional purpose.” “For Rhode Islanders, millions of dollars of federal money and political representation for their communities hang in the balance,” Marion said. “It is imperative we make sure every Rhode Islander participates in the census.”

“Chairman Cummings was an American hero. He used his power for good and fought for the voices of everyday Americans. He recognized that the right to vote was sacred and fiercely decried efforts to suppress the vote. He was a humble statesman who called out injustice and sought to make the world a better place for his constituents and for all Americans. He will be dearly missed by Common Cause and our 1.2 million supporters.”

“There are a lot of advocates and community members who thought the bill was signed, a switch was flipped. That we won. In fact, that’s not the case,” said Jay Young of Common Cause Illinois, which backed automatic voter registration. “This is exceptionally frustrating.”

“Nobody understands what that legal gobbledygook means,’’ said Liza McClenaghan, state chair of Common Cause Florida, one of several groups that have asked state officials to update their forms to reflect the changes to state law. “It is confusing. If they had had even an emergency hearing, they would have 90 days to go through the regulatory process and they could have gotten comments on how to make this understandable.’’