2128 Search Results Containing ":"
Bloomberg: Ballots & Boundaries - ‘Veto His Own Maps?’
“Democrats were champing at the bit to have these maps six months ago, now they wish they had a chance to get a better court-approved map,” said Jay Heck, executive director or Common Cause in Wisconsin and a backer of the legislation. “C’mon. What’s he going to do, veto his own maps?”
Found in: Common Cause
USA Today/Gannett: Hawaii has a voter enthusiasm problem, could publicly funded campaigns help?
Common Cause Hawaii’s program manager, Camron Hurt, emphasized the need for more comprehensive changes to make Hawaii’s elections free from outside influence, more competitive and more popular. “I think those (other reforms) are all tools to fix the same wheel. Right. So I think we fixed parts of the wheel, but the wheel still isn’t moving as efficiently as it can,” Hunt said.
Found in: Common Cause
ProPublica/MSN: Wisconsin Picks New Legislative Maps That Would End Years of GOP Gerrymandering
Good-government groups applauded the possibility of a legislative agreement, largely because it brings about stability and a measure of political certainty until the next redistricting process, after the 2030 census. Besides, said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, “The governor’s maps are pretty darn good.”
Found in: Common Cause
Columbus Dispatch (Editorial): Where are the ethics reforms? Ohio has done almost nothing since 2020 Householder arrest
Establish clear and fairly low limits on gifts lawmakers and other officials may accept, while limiting coordination with dark-money groups, reforms suggested by Common Cause Ohio.
Found in: Common Cause
WAER (NPR): NYS redistricting committee could release new congressional map today
Thursday's meeting will be open to the public, but Executive Director of Common Cause New York Susan Lerner says the state’s redistricting process has largely been conducted behind closed doors. “The commission, which has held no meeting, after being charged with drawing a new congressional map, has announced that it’s going to meet on Thursday afternoon, and they’re going to vote on a map," Lerner said. "Nobody’s seen it, nobody’s made any comments about it, nobody has been able to provide feedback.” The bipartisan panel has two weeks to agree on a map to send to New York’s Democrat-controlled legislature for final approval. If they can’t agree on congressional lines, Lerner says the commission runs the risk of delaying this year’s primaries. “If the maps aren’t settled and in the hands of the boards of elections to let candidates know where the boundary lines are, we could see a situation where the primary for congress is pushed back to August, which we think is not helpful to voters," Lerner said.
Found in: Common Cause
Washington Post: Democrats look to Nebraska to shore up Biden’s blue wall
But Gavin Geis, the executive director of Common Cause Nebraska, said the bill is unlikely to be put forward for a full vote before the state’s legislative session ends for the year on April 18. “If the bill did make it out of committee with a priority it would have to be debated on the floor, but that would definitely lead to an extended filibuster,” Geis said in a statement. “So its odds are slim.”
Found in: Common Cause
WUNC: Poll workers, voters adapting to North Carolina's photo ID requirement
Opponents of the ID law, like Common Cause North Carolina's Ann Webb, point out that while its supporters say it will boost election integrity, there is virtually no evidence of the kind of individual voter fraud it would stop. "Ultimately, what the question is here is: What are we gaining from photo ID?" Webb rhetorically asked. "What's really critical at this point is that folks aren't disenfranchised by the uncertainty of what this new requirement means."
Found in: Common Cause
Colorado Politics/Colorado Springs Gazette: Colorado bill tasking attorney general to study online 'misinformation' sparks First Amendment debate
Andrew Barton of Colorado Common Cause, who supports the measure, said his organization has conducted an independent analysis of social media posts and that the study revealed an increasing prevalence of "misinformation" about candidates for office, election processes, and the validity of the country's voting system. "Our democratic institutions only work when we can all engage with them accurately and honestly," Barton said. "Because of the threat of misinformation and disinformation, it's imperative that data around how such information is spread through online media sources can be gathered and examined so the legislature can develop data-driven solutions that help build understanding and trust within our political systems."
Found in: Common Cause
Yahoo! News/USA Today: As the cradle of tech, California looks to be leader in AI regulation
Jonathan Mehta Stein is a co-founder of The California Initiative for Technology and Democracy, a project of good government group California Common Cause, which has been advising legislators on the threats emerging technologies pose to democracy. He points to the growing use of AI in elections across the world as evidence it's no longer a theoretical, but an active practice. In the first month of 2024, deepfakes promulgating misinformation in Bangladeshi and Slovakian elections proved to be significant election disruptions. Here in the United States, AI-generated content is met with considerable concern on the heels of rising political violence and distrust in election processes. "All of these new technologies that can deceive voters and undermine elections are coming on the heels of other depressing trends," Stein said. "In our democracy, trust in institutions and in the media are all-time lows. Beliefs that our elections are being run securely and votes are counted accurately are in doubt among huge percentages of the American population."
Found in: Common Cause
South Bend Tribune (Op-Ed): Our civic health is on life support. Indiana's legislature doesn't care
The recent Indiana Civic Health Index should be a wakeup call for Indiana elected officials, like the alarm of medical devices alerting doctors and nurses to a patient in need of urgent care. If you haven’t read the report, let me call out the alarms clearly. Indiana: * ranked 50th in voting in the 2022 elections * has consistently ranked in the bottom 10 in voting for the last 13 years * moved backward in the rankings for both voting participation and voter registration in the last 11 plus years.