News Clips

"Because lawmakers stubbornly refuse to consider passing redistricting reform, we're left with no choice but to litigate," Common Cause NC Executive Director Bob Phillips said in a release announcing the lawsuit. "Gerrymandering is detrimental to democracy, denying voters a choice and a voice on Election Day."

“It is clear when you put democracy reforms on the ballot, those measures win overwhelmingly,” Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause, said. “From our perspective, we are going to be taking a hard look at where we can move more of these reforms in 2020 and beyond.”

“Today’s ruling is a victory for the voters of Georgia. We are all stronger when every eligible voter is allowed to participate in our elections,” said Sara Henderson, executive director of Common Cause Georgia said in a statement. “This victory helps achieve greater voter confidence in our elections.”

A separate suit by the League of Women Voters and the nonprofit watchdog group Common Cause Florida asks to bar Scott from using “the power of his office in any manner related to Florida’s 2018 Senate race as long as he remains a candidate.” Scott’s “misuse of his official powers in favor of his own candidacy demonstrates the truth of the axiom that no man may be the judge in his own cause,” the lawsuit stated.

Stephen Spaulding, director of strategy at the nonprofit watchdog group Common Cause, said that there is a “real pent-up need for oversight” and that Democrats now have an obligation to do the work that outside organizations have largely been doing over the past two years through actions such as Freedom of Information Act requests. “It’s about following the evidence, asking tough questions,” Spaulding said. “It truly is about accountability. We’ve had two years with one party controlling both houses of Congress and, in some cases, actively undermining investigations. There’s a backlog of answers; at the same time, there has to be a smart and strategic approach.”

“When we talk about holding power accountable, that means no one is above the law,” Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera, executive director of Common Cause Minnesota, told the crowd. “That requires justice to not just be blind, but nonpartisan. We the people are the ultimate power within our democracy.”