It’s no wonder New Mexico hasn’t raised the excise tax on alcohol over the past 40 years. A report from citizens’ interest group Common Cause New Mexico lays out just why legislators are so reluctant to tax alcohol, both as a means of raising revenue and to reduce drinking. Called “Still Under the Influence,” the report successfully — as it intends — “connects the dots” from contributions to policy outcome.

In 2023 alone, liquor lobbyists spent $74,968 on entertaining and wining and dining legislators,...

A former Republican Colorado secretary of state, Mary Estill Buchanan, joined advocacy group Colorado Common Cause in an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs’ case, telling the court that “this country and its institutions are at a crossroads.”

“(Trump) allowed a lust for power to supersede his own Oath of Office and over two centuries of American political precedent. Mr. Trump has sought at every turn to inject chaos into our country’s electoral system in the upcoming 2024 presidential election,” the brief said....

Led by Common Cause New York, the group contends the state Board of Elections erred in August when it certified for use the ExpressVote XL, a touch screen machine.

The machine allows voters to mark a ballot electronically instead of on paper and ... displays selections on a summary card. Advocates said that's not enough to verify ballots independently, as required by state law.

In their lawsuit, the advocates said: "As a voter cannot read a bar code, the voter's ballot is not certifiable. No voter can verify...

Buchanan joined the advocacy group Colorado Common Cause in making that argument in a brief they submitted as part of a case over whether Trump should be disqualified under a Civil War-era provision of the 14th Amendment.

“This country and its institutions are at a crossroads,” the brief says. “Either the plain mandates of our Constitution will be honored and enforced in the face of partisan outcry (thus preserving the rule of law in America) or they will be subverted to avoid that same partisan outcry (eroding the rule of...

Skoufis on Monday held a news conference attended by government reform advocates, including Susan Lerner of Common Cause.

Lerner said the state holds so many elections on various dates throughout the year — including village elections in March, school budgets in May, and primaries in June — that voters can become confused and weary.

“New York state, there's a concept called voter fatigue,” Lerner said. “And unfortunately, we are fatiguing our voters.”

"The two ends of that district have nothing in common," Ann Webb, policy director at Common Cause North Carolina, argued at the time, referring specifically to Senate District 2. "They are far from one another; they have different communities, and they should not be gerrymandered into a district together."

We join Delaware Common Cause and the Delaware Coalition for Open Government in calling on Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long to release an audit of her campaign finances — even though she is not required to do so by Delaware Law.

Claire Snyder-Hall, Common Cause Delaware’s executive Director, joined Flaherty in asking Hall-Long’s campaign to disclose the audit.

“The audit confirms the campaign’s claim there is no wrongdoing, so sharing that would go a long way to rebuilding public trust,” Snyder-Hall said.

“We know it does create another impediment for people trying to get to the polls,” said Ann Webb, policy director at Common Cause North Carolina, a group that has sued to stop gerrymandering and new restrictions on voting.

Webb said the voter ID requirement is part an effort by Republican lawmakers to narrow access to voting. “We like to say, ‘In 2023 there will be voter ID. In 2024, there will be more,’” Webb said.

Though many North Carolinians may have already experienced their first brush with the state's new voter ID laws during this year's municipal election cycle, there are still some questions residents may have about the new requirements.

Host Jeff Tiberii sat down with Tyler Daye, policy and civic engagement manager for Common Cause North Carolina to discuss a host of issues, including which IDs are valid, whether or not an expired driver's license can be used at the polls and how to obtain a valid ID for free.

Jenny Guzman, program director for Common Cause Arizona, says the AIRC can be a lot stronger and more independent.

"The way the current Arizona redistricting commission works is in order to appoint commissioners, the first few have to be appointed by the Arizona state party leaders. That can make things a little tricky," she explained.

Guzman said that meant fewer "guardrails" to ensure all races were properly represented in the redistricting process. She says this negatively impacted Arizona.