News Clips

Watchdog groups argue Trump’s handling of the hiring process is more evidence that lawmakers and future presidents must institute rules to limit the reach of military contractors and other special interests. “Given the hundreds of conflicts of interest flouting the rule of law in the Trump administration, certainly these issues have gotten that much more attention and are that much more salient now than they were four years ago,” said Aaron Scherb, the director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, a nonpartisan good-government group.

However, even in states with open carry laws and no restrictions on guns at locations that host polling, such as churches and schools, prohibitions on guns prevail, according to Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania. "There are valid concerns now," Almeida added, "but we must let voters know about them without involuntarily discouraging them from coming to the polls." "We will have more than 1,000 volunteers at polling stations for questions, and to be eyes and ears on the ground and have voters' backs," Almeida said. "We make sure voters have a good experience."

Rural voters may be more vulnerable to harassment because “issues can pop up and they’re not going to be as documented,” said Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, who said she is monitoring efforts by groups in north and south Georgia to recruit potentially armed “concerned citizens” to watch the polls. ... Some voting rights advocates add a note of caution, however. Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, wants voters to be aware of the issue and know to notify poll workers if they feel intimidated, but she worries they may feel discouraged to vote if they fear widespread intimidation or violence. “We have to make sure that as we’re drawing attention to a problem that we’re not contributing to the problem,” she said. Almeida’s team recruited 2,000 poll monitors in the Keystone State and has run worst-case scenarios for months, focusing efforts on protecting individual voters at as many polling locations as possible.

The Globe asked a top campaign finance expert to weigh in on the Kennedy campaign's disclosure. "The rule is clear: You cannot spend general election funds prior to the primary," said Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, a campaign watchdog group. "Our contribution limits are intended to safeguard against corruption or even the appearance of corruption. They're intended to prevent wealthy individuals from having undue influence over candidates and officeholders," said Ryan. Ryan said in the 20 years he's spent watching money in politics, he can't recall an instance of a high-profile candidate such as Kennedy committing this sort of campaign finance violation. And he said improperly spending $1.5 million is "significant" considering it accounts for close to 10 percent of the $15.6 million the Kennedy campaign spent through September, according to the latest federal filings.

PAM FESSLER, BYLINE: Dana Abelson spent hours this week calling voters in Florida whose ballots are about to be rejected. DANA ABELSON: Hi. Is Chandramani there? This is Dana. I'm a nonpartisan volunteer with Common Cause. And I was just calling because it seems like your mail-in ballot might have had a problem with the signature.

“There are always problems with every human system, but the good news is that there’s ample time to fix them and voters have plenty of options,” Common Cause New York Executive Director Susan Lerner said. “The most important thing is to make a plan to vote now, and then have a back-up plan in case you need it.”