Voting Rights

"The two ends of that district have nothing in common," Ann Webb, policy director at Common Cause North Carolina, argued at the time, referring specifically to Senate District 2. "They are far from one another; they have different communities, and they should not be gerrymandered into a district together."

“There is a disconnect between what voters want and what the legislature wants,” said Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio. “It just highlights how gerrymandered the state legislature is.”

The groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, Common Cause PA, All Voting is Local, PA Voice, Action Together NEPA, and PA Stands Up, called for a full investigation and a report to provide transparency for the public. “The county’s conflicting messages to the public on Election Day led to confusion, concern, and doubt in the security and accuracy of votes. These mistakes grow into misinformation,” said Philip Hensley-Robin, executive director of Common Cause PA.

Today, Common Cause, a national, nonpartisan voting rights organization is urging all Americans to let election workers do their job in response to reports of election offices receiving threatening letters, some laced with fentanyl. The letters were sent to offices in California, Georgia, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington following the November 7 election.

“We know it does create another impediment for people trying to get to the polls,” said Ann Webb, policy director at Common Cause North Carolina, a group that has sued to stop gerrymandering and new restrictions on voting. Webb said the voter ID requirement is part an effort by Republican lawmakers to narrow access to voting. “We like to say, ‘In 2023 there will be voter ID. In 2024, there will be more,’” Webb said.

Unfortunately, online voting is not yet a secure method of casting a ballot. The risks are many. Malware on a voter’s personal device could alter a voter’s selections or replace ballot images with fakes. Experts have noted that “Consumer-grade devices with consumer-grade protections are no match for a motivated attacker, particularly if the attacker is a nation-state.” Targeted denial of service attacks could disenfranchise thousands of voters and alter election outcomes.  Voter authentication credentials could be stolen. The list goes on.