News Clips

“It’s extremely unfortunate, but I think it’s become increasingly clear that Democrats may have to go it alone,” said Aaron Scherb, director of legislative affairs for the nonpartisan Common Cause, a nonprofit group that has advocated for both the For the People Act and the legislation named for Lewis. 

“Anyone who wants to go testify, read the bill, they’re going to have 24-36 hours to do it,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, a group working to defeat the legislation. “It definitely feels like a complete subversion of democracy to try and get their voter suppression bill passed.”

"It might be more palatable and that might just be with the way they've learned to sell themselves, but it really is coming from the same place," said Sylvia Albert, the director of voting and elections for the good-government group Common Cause.

“[T]his was not a campaign finance disclosure case, and campaign finance laws remain constitutional and vitally important despite the Court’s decision today,” Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn said in a statement Thursday.

In North Carolina, a Democratic governor can successfully veto Republican bills that unnecessarily restrict voting or add partisanship to election supervision. Voting rights groups led by Common Cause have won a landmark court battle to make partisan gerrymandering illegal in North Carolina. Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, said of those who would hinder democracy to hold onto their power, “There’s going to be a ferocious battle if they try anything that is going to damage the integrity of elections or make voting harder.” In that prediction is the enduring meaning of Independence Day. It is not only about a war for democratic freedom fought and won, but a reminder that once attained that victory must be sustained with fresh resolve by every generation of Americans.

“Nobody’s free until everyone is free,” civil rights hero Fannie Lou Hamer said. She is right. That’s why on this Fourth of July, it’s time that we, as Americans, hold ourselves up to the values we claim in our founding documents: that all people are created equal and that “We the People” are responsible for building a more perfect union, based on justice, tranquility and liberty. It’s time we build an inclusive democracy, where everyone has a voice, can exercise their freedom to vote, and is able to participate in our democracy.