News Clips

Suzanne Almeida, the interim executive director for Common Cause Pennsylvania, a voting rights organization, told ABC that for officials in Pennsylvania, "this was never going to be an easy election." "Pennsylvania in 2020 was always going to be crazy. It's a swing state in the presidential election year. And then on top of that, in 2019 we passed historic voting reform that gave us vote-by-mail for the first time, and changed the voter registration deadline closer to election day," Almeida said.

Bob Phillips, executive director of the group Common Cause NC, said in a news release Friday that the bill is “a positive step” but could still use some additional provisions. “We applaud members on both sides of the aisle for this bipartisan effort,” he said. “As the bill makes its way through each legislative chamber, we urge lawmakers to be responsive to suggestions from election experts and the public.”

Lobbyists in Nebraska raked in more cash than ever last year and more people joined their ranks to try to influence public officials, according to a new report. Lobbyists collected $19.4 million in gross earnings in 2019, according to Common Cause Nebraska. The government watchdog group said the total is a record, up from $17.8 million in 2018. Jack Gould, the group’s issues chairman, said lobbyists are getting more involved in campaign

The Trump campaign is obfuscating its spending thanks to a loophole that the FEC has failed to close. Unlike payments to credit card companies, which must be itemized by individual vendor, payments to consultants who then outsource the work do not have to be broken out, said Paul Ryan, a campaign finance lawyer with Common Cause. “The lack of transparency to the public is a problem,” he said.

However, Common Cause Pennsylvania is claiming the lawsuit is a “political ploy” designed “to remove specific voters from the voter rolls.” “Our job with Common Cause is to make sure this doesn't turn into a democracy crisis with people who should be able to show up and vote on Election Day being removed,” Suzanne Almedia, the interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, told Fox News. “This is about the process that an eligible voter would go through if they're purged from the rolls mistakenly."

Democrats and voting rights groups contend they simply want to protect the voting rights of all citizens, and note that repeated studies have found no widespread fraud and no partisan benefit to expanded voting. “It’s an uninformed political calculation that certain elected Republican officials are making,” said Aaron Scherb of Common Cause.