AUGUST 2023

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🥳 Today, Common Cause celebrates its 53 years of fighting for good governance, official accountability, and the civil rights of young people.

From the start, youth voting rights have been a top priority for Common Cause because we’ve always recognized young people are at the heart of our democracy and our future. In fact, our organization’s first major victory was passing the 26th amendment, which lowered the national voting age from 21 to 18. 

Since then, we have continued to work with and for young people through youth leadership development opportunities, college democracy fellowships, and legislative efforts to further increase young Americans’ political power. Our newest goal? Guaranteeing 16- and 17-year-olds have the right to vote. Common Cause has been working to make that goal a reality through national, state, and local efforts.

💻 WiFi is essential for college students, whether it be for homework, virtual classes, or just kiki’ing with your classmates. But an estimated 12 million students in the U.S. still don’t have internet access. 

If you’re one of those students, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) may be able to help. The ACP is a federal program that provides eligible households with free or discounted internet. If you think you may qualify, learn more here.

Every student deserves access to the fast, reliable, and affordable internet they need to thrive in our modern academic environment. Unfortunately, millions of homes are missing out, due to a lack of knowledge around this program. But there’s still time to inform these families. If you’ve benefited from the ACP and now have access to affordable internet, please share your story.

Anusha Kumar is a student at Northwestern University and was a 2023 Summer intern with Common Cause Illinois.

During her internship, Anusha researched Illinois election laws and their court systems. Additionally, Anusha learned about the diverse constituencies that exist across Illinois and worked to promote the voices of BIPOC and youth throughout the state.

At the end of the summer, Anusha held a virtual event where she and her co-intern shared their research findings. When asked, Anusha said that she wanted to intern at Common Cause because she hopes to see the growing threats to democracy in Illinois addressed.

We're working so hard across the country, we could write you a novel instead of a newsletter. So instead, here are a few more quick headlines we don't want you to miss: 

• Georgia 🍑: Trump was indicted (again), this time along with 17 co-conspirators, for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
• Massachusetts ☘️: A newly signed law will make phone calls free for folks incarcerated in state prisons and jails.
• Wisconsin 🧀: We joined an amicus brief to defend a UW-La Crosse student’s rights after she was prohibited from voting from her school address.
• National 🦅: Last week, the Supreme Court ruled the federal government is allowed to implement restrictions on the sale of “ghost guns.” Read our 2022 report on more ways we can take on the gun violence epidemic in the U.S. here.

This month, Ohioans defeated Issue 1, a measure that would’ve raised the threshold to pass any future changes to the Ohio Constitution from 50%+1 to 60%. But with hard work from Ohioans of all ages, parties, and backgrounds across the state, democracy prevailed. This is a huge win for the Buckeye State! 🙌 

Congrats! You made it to the end. Now kick back, relax, and enjoy a nice girl dinner. 🧀

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