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New York Times: Beyond Georgia: A Warning for November as States Scramble to Expand Vote-by-Mail
“If we have to conduct our elections by mail again there are a lot of glitches that clearly need to be addressed, and a lot more investment needs to be made in voter education,” said Joanne Antoine, the executive director of Common Cause Maryland.
Found in: Common Cause
Editorial Memo: Recent Primaries Are A Wake Up Call For Policy Makers & Election Administrators
No American voter should have to choose between their health and their right to vote. In the first group of elections since the COVID-19 outbreak, the recent primaries showed the challenges and potential of expanding mail-in voting options. They also showed the immediate need for action by election officials and lawmakers to fix problems far too many voters faced in the last few weeks, from long lines at in-person voting centers, to voting machine failures, to mail-in ballot delays.
Found in: Common Cause
USA Today: Long lines in Georgia, Lindsey Graham wards off GOP rivals in SC and other takeaways from Tuesday's primaries
Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said in a statement that her organization and the Brennan Center in January warned the Secretary of State’s Office to be prepared with “sufficient emergency paper ballots in case of voting machine failure.” She noted that in the several months leading up to the election, other voting rights groups issued similar warnings. Dennis also called on Raffensperger to create a task force to prepare contingency plans for the upcoming elections. “There are only five months until the general elections, which will almost certainly see record turnout,” she said. “Today’s problems were avoidable – and they disenfranchised voters. That must not be allowed to happen again.”
Found in: Common Cause
Wall Street Journal: In a Warning for November, Voters Endure Long Lines in Georgia’s Primary Election
Aunna Dennis, executive director of government watchdog group Common Cause Georgia, said that election problems are a recurring issue in the state, particularly affecting black and minority communities. “We’re being disproportionately impacted because we’re not even getting enough supplies for our precincts,” said Ms. Dennis, who is black.
Found in: Common Cause
Washington Post: In Georgia, primary day snarled by long lines, problems with voting machines — a potential preview of November
“It’s the wild, wild West,” said Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia. “I don’t know what to call Georgia right now.”
Found in: Common Cause
U.S. News & World Report: Widespread Voting Issues Raise Alarm in Georgia Primary
And activists on the ground noted multiple issues at the state and local levels, arguing that voters were unable to find concrete information. Aunna Dennis, the executive director of Common Cause Georgia which is the state chapter of a nonpartisan watchdog group focused on voting rights, says that multiple polling locations moved within the 48 hours before the election with little warning and didn't provide proper signage to indicate the changes in locations for voters. And when machines stopped working, some locations only had 20 emergency and provisional ballots on hand. "For us, those are voter suppression tactics at work," Dennis says. "We all need to sit down to better plan, to create an emergency preparedness plan to make elections be more efficient."
Found in: Common Cause
New York Times: ‘The Future Is Blue, Not Purple’: Is This the Year Georgia Flips?
The virus “has had a grave impact, a real dent, in how we’re accessing the ballot,” said Aunna Dennis, the Georgia executive director for Common Cause, a nonpartisan grass-roots organization focused on voting rights. She said the simple question of ballot access should take precedence over any horse-race predictions. “The system is broken here in Georgia,” she said.
Found in: Common Cause
ABC News: Mail-in voting delays in primary cause Pennsylvania to sound alarm about November
Suzanne Almeida, the interim director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, said adding more secure ballot drop boxes would be an easy and cheap way for counties and local election officials to increase accessibility. “Many of these reforms that we're looking at are systemic and require and require significant additional funding,” Almeida said. “It's a culture shift in Pennsylvania, as this is the first election we've ever voted by mail by these numbers. “Folks need to understand that it's better to get it right than to get it quick. That we're just not going to see the kind of results on election night, when we see 2 million absentee ballots. And that's okay, that it's not evidence of shenanigans,” Almeida said.
Found in: Common Cause
Video: John Oliver Does What Donald Trump Cannot by Telling the Truth About Vote-by-Mail
It isn't hard to tell the truth and when it comes to vote-by-mail, no-excuse absentee, and early voting, President Trump should give it a try. What is difficult is being funny while telling the truth about public policy and John Oliver does that brilliantly.
Found in: Common Cause
Associated Press: House race drags on after vote-counting board walks out
“What you can see is our electorate is more engaged than it has been in a primary for decades,” said Heather Ferguson, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico. “They’ve had some time for life to slow down. ... They were watching more news, getting more input about this election. They got fired up and wanted to vote.” At the same time, Ferguson said Common Cause is taking stock of whether participation was hindered by the state’s timetable for initiating absentee ballot applications and lengthy delivery times in remote regions.