“Its most immediate impact is that it adds to cynicism among voters,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York. “The more money that floods into our system, the more people feel like their interests aren’t heard.”

Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, said she was “horrified” Hochul was contemplating hiring a litigator, adding that it would be “a brutal attack on a democratically elected institution.”

“We’ve seen this movie before. We know how it ends. Skip to appointment of special master who is familiar with New York immediately and stop wasting New Yorkers time and money with a useless bipartisan commission that defaults to the Legislature,” Susan Lerner, executive director of the good government group Common Cause New York, said in a statement.

“The current maps are often pointed to, ‘Oh, look how terrible they are.’ But they are drafted to give specific communities a fair chance to choose their own representatives,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, an advocacy group which opposed the new map. She noted that a special master appointed by a federal court had drawn the previous congressional map, and said that he had taken these demographic factors into account. ...

“People do not live, work and play in neat lines and boxes....

A Syracuse Post-Standard editorial criticized New York state’s Board of Elections for using “independent” in the official ballot language describing a proposed commission to redraw legislative lines after each census.

“This is a problem for New Yorkers who will confront a ballot that does not reflect the reality of the field, and may end up throwing away their vote on a candidate who is not running for office,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/NY. “It’s simply unfair and wrong to present the voters with a false choice.”

Kathay Feng, national redistricting director for Common Cause, said once voting maps hit the courts, it becomes more difficult for citizens to weigh in on the process. Speaking at a redistricting seminar, she noted the best way to influence the process was through a ballot.

"In some states where you have judicial elections, or there's a way to influence the judges that are chosen, it's making sure that there is a tremendous amount of voter education," Feng urged.

“With his signature today, Governor Abbott continues the shameful five-decade-long tradition of ramming through extremely gerrymandered maps in an undemocratic process,” Anthony Gutierrez, Common Cause Texas executive director, said in a news release. “These racially and partisan gerrymandered maps deny every voter in Texas from having an equal say in the issues we care about most, like a stronger economy, better schools, and affordable healthcare.”

Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause, a nonpartisan, liberal-leaning political advocacy organization, told ABC News that such claims should be expected.

"There will inevitably be claims that the election is rigged because the purveyors of the 'big lie' need these local and state elections in between the major national elections to keep up their momentum; but all of their allegations in the November 2020 election fell flat," Stein said. "There's nothing new under the sun here. And we assume that...

Stephanie Gómez, associated director of Common Cause Texas, said the bill would give partisan poll watchers “unhinged levels of influence over elections” and said the bill would make it harder for all Texans to vote, particularly voters of color and those with disabilities.

Her group also hosted what it called a "honk! for voting rights" protest, encouraging cars to circle the Capitol on Monday morning, hoping for a noisy show of dissent with social distancing baked in.