News Clips

Emma Steiner, Information Accountability Project manager at the watchdog group Common Cause, said the Albert plays a role in a broader far-right conspiracy theory about “the role of connection to the internet at polling places.” “It’s all part of this broader narrative that election workers are conspiring against voters, and that voting machines cannot be trusted,” Steiner noted. In actuality, the sensors are passive devices that listen for known intrusions on a county’s internet network, said Susannah Goodman, director of election security at Common Cause. “Elections weren’t declared critical infrastructure until 2017. To us, Albert sensors were a step in the right direction. They won’t stop an attack from happening, but they’ll tell you that bad actors are circling,” Goodman said, likening the sensor to an alarm system. “I thought it was too passive when I first heard about it.” While watchdogs like Goodman describe the Albert as a useful tool for monitoring and sharing threats, conspiracy theories caught the ear of Republicans in Ferry County, where the GOP chair authored a memo casting suspicion on the devices, the CIS, and a CIS co-founder’s work for Democratic presidential administrations.

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, according to the Common Cause report. These are not campaign contributions. These are just dollars to grease the gears of government, and liquor lobbyists ensure there is plenty of grease. Their force showed during the 2023 session, when yet another attempt to increase the excise tax on liquor failed. It’s past time to act, with what has always been a crisis in New Mexico growing more acute. The Common Cause New Mexico report is clear: “Between 2019 and 2021, the state’s alcohol-related death rate increased by 31 percent.”

Dede Feldman, former Democratic state Senator and advocate with Common Cause New Mexico, said on New Mexico in Focus that the current process is inherently partisan. “The Legislature is always going to fall into the trap of having the majority party draw the map that they like to maximize their influence,” she said.

"We're pleased to see Governor Whitmer sign this long overdue ethics reform into law—but ultimately, the law falls short of voters' expectations," said Quentin Turner, director of Common Cause Michigan, an organization seeking to promote greater government accountability. "Despite overwhelming, bi-partisan support for greater transparency from our elected officials, lawmakers weakened the law to shield themselves from public scrutiny."

Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, pointed to the change in support of the Iowa model by Republican lawmakers. "The short answer is that very few Republicans and certainly not Tusler ever supported any version of the Iowa model legislation before Sept. 11, 2023 -- the date Robin Vos announced his plan," Heck told PolitiFact Wisconsin. Common Cause is a nonpartisan national group with state chapters devoted to fighting for reforms to gerrymandering, political spending and other issues.

Ahead of the election, officials can avoid some of the chaos that fraud-chasing poll watchers created in 2020 by setting clear rules and educating the public about the way tabulation processes, such as signature verification, normally work, said Suzanne Almeida, who leads political violence prevention and response work at the non-partisan Common Cause.