Voting Rights

Kathay Feng, a redistricting expert at Common Cause, said the massive growth in communities of color over the past decade means that their representation should have grown, not shrunk. “It’s a falsehood for political pundits or operatives to say status quo is sufficient,” she said. “You can’t force your 12-year-old to continue wearing the clothes of a 2-year-old. It’s pretending like they haven’t grown.”

Election officials in a rural Georgia county are weighing plans to close all but one polling place ahead of this year's elections, alarming local voting and civil rights groups. CNN's Dianne Gallagher reports and speaks with Common Cause Georgia Executive Director Aunna Dennis.

“We’re not going to give up and take our marbles and go home. We’re going to continue to fight, as we are also fighting at the state level,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, the president of Common Cause. She said that Common Cause would work to educate voters about their rights, recruiting poll monitors, and support groups that are bringing forward litigation. “There are going to be a lot of fronts to fight this battle at the state level, but in many ways it’s going to be a whack-a-mole,” Flynn said.

The fight for voting rights does not end tonight. It is up to the Senate to fix this, and nobody is giving up. The 48 Senators who voted tonight to protect the right of every American to vote are not giving up. The advocates, the voters, and Common Cause and our allies are not giving up. Our nation is stronger when every one of us has a voice in choosing our elected officials. The fight for voting rights will continue – in the Senate and in statehouses across the country.

It’s a now or never moment for our democracy. With an imminent vote to advance the voting rights legislation facing the U.S. Senate, there’s one truth Mr. Portman and other Republican senators can’t escape: The vote is a choice between voter protection and voter suppression. We hope they stand on the side of the voters and choose to protect and strengthen our freedom to vote in Ohio. No Senate rule like the filibuster should stand in its way.