2123 Search Results Containing ":"
NPR (AUDIO): Robocalls, Rumors And Emails: Last-Minute Election Disinformation Floods Voters
"2020 has been a year like no other because not only have we seen a higher volume of online mis- and disinformation, we have also changed a lot of processes about our society, including the way we administer elections," said Jesse Littlewood, who leads the Stopping Cyber Suppression program for Common Cause. His nonpartisan group has already identified close to 5,000 incidents this year. Littlewood noted that the shift to more mail-in voting because of the pandemic has opened the way for a whole new wave of disinformation.
Found in: Common Cause
Virginian-Pilot/Inside Sources (Op-Ed): Make Election Day a federal holiday
Americans should have options to vote in a secure and accessible way. One possibility many have raised is making Election Day a national federal holiday. While giving Americans a day devoted to voting is a good idea, it must also be coupled with other election reforms to make sure no one is left out of the political process.
Found in: Common Cause
USA Today: Native Americans battle COVID-19 and other voting obstacles as Election Day nears
In New Mexico, Amber Carillo is helping members of the state's various tribes get information on the best way to register ahead of the Oct. 31 deadline. A member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe with relatives in the Acoma Pueblo, Carillo is particularly distressed whenever she gets word of another elder who has died from complications of COVID-19. “These are people that carry our cultural wisdom and language,” says Carillo, a Native American voting rights organizer with the activist group Common Cause New Mexico. “For us, when they die, it’s like the Library of Congress burning down.”
Found in: Common Cause
USA Today: Worried about voter suppression? Lawyers set up national hotline to answer questions about election laws
Common Cause Pennsylvania, a nonpartisan watchdog group and Election Protection partner, is hearing from voters who want reassurance they’re doing everything right. “We are seeing such incredible voter anxiety in Pennsylvania that is really a result of a lot of the new laws,’’ said Suzanne Almeida, the group's interim executive director. Almeida pointed to various election changes, including vote-by-mail available to eligible voters for the first time in some states, satellite election offices and deadline extensions. “All of which is in the midst of probably the most fraught election – at least of my lifetime,’’ she said.
Found in: Common Cause
BuzzFeed: This Is How Thousands Of Americans Are Preparing To Take On Trump If He Refuses To Leave Office
The groups are also planning for Election Day itself. The nonpartisan grassroots group Common Cause is appointing “election protection volunteers,” which it describes as “voters’ first line of defense against restrictive election laws, coronavirus-related voting disruptions, or anything else that could silence their voices.” Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, told BuzzFeed News that the volunteers will monitor the polls from outside voting stations while others watch for online disinformation and field calls to a hotline set up to take reports of voting problems, which could be anything from a lack of wheelchair access to illegal campaigning inside polling stations to explicit voter intimidation. In 2016 and 2018, the group had about 6,500 volunteers; this year, the number went up exponentially to more than 36,000. Albert said the thousands of unarmed volunteers outside polling stations will be trained to handle situations in which they face intimidation or violence, although she believes that anything of the sort is unlikely to happen.
Found in: Common Cause
Associated Press: Census takers fall short of target goal in areas of US
Rhode Island is one of about 10 states projected to lose a congressional seat, based on anticipated state population figures in the 2020 census. It could take as few as 30,000 overlooked people for the nation’s physically smallest state to revert back to having a single House district, said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, a nonprofit watchdog. The early conclusion of the census “is really going to stymie our efforts, not only to maintain that second district but also to have fair representation in our state legislature,” Marion said.
Found in: Common Cause
New York Times: Trump Promised Seniors Drug Discount Cards. They May Be Illegal.
Under the Hatch Act, government officials are prohibited from using government resources to engage in partisan political activity, and from commanding other government employees to do so. Paul Seamus Ryan, a vice president at the government watchdog group Common Cause, said that if explicit communications surfaced linking the discount cards to the president’s re-election, health officials could face punishment. “It is likely these are people who could face criminal and civil legal liability if they go through with this scheme and it is for a political purpose,” he said.
Found in: Common Cause
McClatchy: Emailed threats in Florida dry up as congressional delegation asks for FBI briefing
Jesse Littlewood, vice president of campaigns at watchdog group Common Cause, said emails and videos meant to make the elections system look insecure or suspicious follow a pattern of attempts to “shake people’s faith in the integrity of our elections.” The problem is not exclusively foreign either, he added. “We have seen some domestic bad actors use disinformation to create mistrust and it has had measurable effects,” Littlewood said. “These examples try to prey on and stoke people’s fear, and that has been amplified.”
Found in: Common Cause
New Results: Common Cause Releases "Our Democracy 2020" Candidate Surveys
Common Cause today released the results of its Our Democracy 2020 candidate surveys. More than 200 candidates for Congress, including in certain swing House and Senate races, responded on how they promise to defend and strengthen our democracy.
Found in: Common Cause
VICE News: The US Eliminated Nearly 21,000 Election Day Polling Locations for 2020
“Putting all your eggs in one basket seems like a very bad idea—and it’s avoidable. We’ve seen what happened in the primaries,” said Sylvia Albert, the national director of voting and elections at the good-government organization Common Cause. ... Even in states that have dramatically expanded mail voting, cuts to in-person Election Day voting sites could lead to disenfranchised voters — and could disproportionately impact poor and nonwhite voters as well as younger voters who are less likely to live at the same address they did in the last election. “You cannot fault voters for being hesitant about vote-by-mail. Obviously I think it’s a great option, but that’s what it is — an option. Voters should be able to choose whichever way they want to vote,” said Albert, Common Cause’s national director of voting and elections.