News Clips

In our democracy, we deserve to have political debates based in truth, but as we saw in the 2020 election, Americans are increasingly dealt a deluge of disinformation that comes at them in all forms: online, television ads, and from politicians and our elected officials themselves. If we are going to have a real democracy that is truly of, by, and for the people, then we need solutions and accountability to combat the growing cancer of disinformation. We can start with a bill moving through Congress right now: the For the People Act.

"This bill is anti-democratic, anti-voter, and once again, demonstrates how far current leadership is willing to go to protect their own partisan interests," the nonpartisan government watchdog group Common Cause Texas said.

Unlike Delaware’s restrictions, Rhode Island’s voter-ID law can’t be described as antiquated: The statute is just 10 years old and won adoption under a Democratic majority with support from powerful Black elected leaders. “It was bizarro,” said John Marion, the executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, the state affiliate of the national government-watchdog group. “Ten years later, I still don’t know how it happened.”

The state could become “the canary in the coal mine” when it comes to using nondecennial census data that way, said Jay Young, the executive director of Common Cause Illinois. Young and others say that route is rife with potential legal challenges. It also undercuts the investment the state made financially and in outreach to underserved communities to get a good census count. Change Illinois, Common Cause and other groups nationwide have pushed legislatures to engage the public in the redistricting process.

“It’s very difficult to see how a Manhattan D.A. candidate can accept really large and numerous donations from people who are involved in industries who could easily be the subject of that office’s attention,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a government reform group.

The review was prompted by a complaint filed by advocacy group Common Cause NC with the State Board of Elections. “We filed our complaint with the State Board of Elections in light of a fundraising scheme allegedly perpetrated by Mr. DeJoy that has the appearance of illicitly bypassing North Carolina’s campaign finance limits,” Bob Phillips of Common Cause said in an email statement Monday. “We have full confidence that the State Board of Elections will conduct a thorough investigation into these serious allegations against Mr. DeJoy, and we look forward to learning the results of that investigation when it is concluded,” the statement said.