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Mashable: How to combat voter suppression before, during, and after voting
Sylvia Albert is the director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a national nonpartisan group that runs the Election Protection initiative, which coordinates a coalition of more than 100 organizations to facilitate voting across the country. Albert says that forms of physical intimidation at the polls, including protesters or the illegal threat of violence, have long been used to suppress votes, since the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments. Threats like these were most recently seen during the 2016 presidential and 2018 midterm elections. "We saw a few isolated incidents, but those isolated incidents were quick. We dealt with them and voters were allowed to vote," Albert explained.
Found in: Common Cause
Fox News: Texas governor faces third lawsuit over limit on mail ballot drop-off sites
Anthony Gutierrez, the executive director of Common Cause Texas, said that "many" of the voters affected by the rule change rely on public transportation. “Many of the Texans who qualify to vote absentee have disabilities and are elderly, and they rely on public transportation,” Gutierrez said in a statement. “With only one drop-off site per county, these voters would face challenges in travel that might make it impossible for them to vote. The drop-off site limit will also make the one site in each country prone to lines and crowds, endangering voters’ health.”
Found in: Common Cause
Washington Post: Supreme Court order on mail ballots in South Carolina sparks worries about voter confusion
“The idea behind offering greater access to mail ballots during the pandemic is to allow people to have the choice to vote in a way that minimizes their risk of contracting covid,” said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, a voter-advocacy group that recently prevailed in its efforts to suspend a requirement for voters to obtain signatures from two witnesses or a notary for mail ballots in that state.
Found in: Common Cause
Business Insider: The key swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin could take longer to report election results. Here's why.
"It's more important to ensure that every vote counts than knowing the results on election night," Karen Hobert Flynn, the president of Common Cause, told Insider. "We do expect that part of [Trump]'s playbook is to question the integrity of mail-in voting, which we know can be done safely...we need to be giving time for those votes to be counted."
Found in: Common Cause
Dallas Morning News: Third lawsuit filed to stop Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to limit mail ballot drop-off sites
“Many of the Texans who qualify to vote absentee have disabilities and are elderly, and they rely on public transportation,” Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas said in a statement. “With only one drop-off site per county, these voters would face challenges in travel that might make it impossible for them to vote. The drop-off site limit will also make the one site in each country prone to lines and crowds, endangering voters' health.”
Found in: Common Cause
Sinclair Broadcasting/WJLA-TV (Washington DC): 'Ballot security' or voter suppression? Battle brews over Texas governor's order
“This is blatant voter suppression and yet another way the politicians in charge are putting barriers between Texans and the ballot box,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. “With last-minute changes and pending litigation, it is increasingly clear that confusion in Texas elections is part of a pattern of voter suppression.”
Found in: Common Cause
Washington Post: Virginia Democrats face choice between idealism and revenge in vote on gerrymandering
“It isn’t that the Democrats don’t try to do it,” said Kathay Feng, national redistricting director for Common Cause. “It’s just that the Republicans had a plan to secure partisan state control of state legislatures in the 2010 cycle.”
Found in: Common Cause
Associated Press: Voting Voting rights groups organize hotline to report interference
“This year presents unprecedented challenges for voters who want to exercise their right to vote and protect their health at the same time,” said Heather Ferguson, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, in a statement. “New Mexicans should feel secure that they can cast their ballot in a number of different ways, and that it will be counted as cast and anyone who interferes or tampers with elections will be held accountable.” Common Cause New Mexico has been running an election protection program since 2008 with no party or campaign affiliation.
Found in: Common Cause
New York Times: N.Y. Voting Officials Need Money. They Were Told to Go to Zuckerberg.
“Something is seriously wrong with New York State’s democracy when less than two months before this November’s historic vote, local boards of election are so broke they are pleading for funding from a charity,” five groups, including the state chapters of Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, wrote in a letter to the governor in mid-September, asking for $50 million in emergency election funds.
Found in: Common Cause
Washington Post: Voting rights advocates sue to block Texas governor’s order limiting counties to one ballot drop-off location
Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, said in a statement that in Harris County, “reducing 11 drop off locations to only 1 severely limits voting access and forces people to choose between voting and their health.” The county, which includes Houston, comprises 1,777 square miles.