Voting Rights

Sylvia Albert, national voting and elections director of the government watchdog group Common Cause, called Republicans’ voter suppression efforts “shameless”. “These bills are shameless, partisan efforts to silence us,” Albert said in a media briefing last week. “And it’s not a coincidence that these bills are being introduced after a free and fair and secure election with record turnout. Americans exercised their right to vote and, in response, these politicians are saying, ‘actually, we didn’t really want you to vote’.” Quentin Turner, Michigan program director for Common Cause, said that Republican suppression efforts in the state targeted communities of color, particularly a proposal to restrict access to absentee ballot drop boxes after 5pm. “A lot of working-class people in Michigan, in Detroit especially, may not be out or done with their day by 5pm,” said Turner. “So they may not be able to go to a drop box that’s close to them. “While it doesn’t specifically say in the bill that it’s targeting Black and brown voters, the nature of the specifications of the prohibition would have a larger adverse impact in those communities.”

For example, in the name of standardized voting practices, SB 7 would close mega-voting centers at arenas and stadiums in large cities and ban extended voting hours, Common Cause Texas spokesman Anthony Gutierrez said. It also would allow poll watchers to shoot video of disabled voters getting help casting a ballot, change mail-in ballot drop-off rules and ban local officials from sending a vote-by-mail application unless requested by voters, he said. "SB 7 is over 30 pages of substantive and discriminatory changes to how voting works," Gutierrez said. "Dan Patrick is straight-up lying to Texans in an attempt to save his floundering voter suppression bill."

Elias has also been scrutinized by watchdog groups for his work on campaign finance issues, including his role in convincing the Federal Election Commission to loosen restrictions on congressional lawmakers engaging with Super PACs. “He is not a big fan of restrictions on money in politics,” says Paul S. Ryan, Vice President of Policy and Litigation at the non-partisan accountability group Common Cause. “He has done a very good job as an attorney of fighting for the ability of political parties to raise and spend money however they choose.”

Anthony Gutierrez, the executive director of the Texas chapter of Common Cause, a government watchdog group, said those statements were significant and could help sway lawmakers, including Dade Phelan, the speaker of the Texas house of representatives. Gutierrez has been involved in fights over voting rights for over a decade and said he could not recall another instance where there was the kind of broad opposition to the bills that exists now. “A lot of us are thinking that Texas is the next Georgia, but I think the big difference is all these prominent voices weighing in are coming in much earlier,” he said.

“It’s absolutely the case that his legacy lives on here,” said Stephen Spaulding, senior counsel for public policy at Common Cause, a nonpartisan nonprofit backing the For the People Act. “I just remember it being a very iterative process by which they worked very closely with outside groups to craft the most robust bill,” Spaulding, who was involved in the roundtable discussions, said. “Mr. Lewis was very involved in the details, as was his staff.”

“I think it’s somewhat irresponsible of them to come out after a law has passed,” said Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, a voting rights group. “There’s still opportunity for some things to change. We are obviously going to court. We filed a case with our coalition partners and other legal teams to really combat this. So we still need that added pressure from corporations in Georgia to take this stand against these suppressive tactics.”