News Clips

Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause, says that since the beginning of the pandemic, voting by mail or absentee has become significantly more popular. In response, some states expanded access to mail in voting. "What we also saw in 2020 was the demonization of vote by mail," Albert says. "This really affected state legislatures during the 2021 sessions. So, even though we saw a lot of states expand access, we saw other states restrict access."  She says that includes laws that set new limits on drop boxes, new ID requirements, as well as tighter deadlines for turning in a mail ballot. Albert says that even if the percentage of mail ballots that are thrown out remains relatively small, there were still hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. "who tried to have their voices heard but were silenced" when their ballot was tossed out. "We know that elections are getting closer," she said. "And we know that every small policy change actually can make a big difference — and a difference enough to flip an election." Particularly in local races, Albert says, a few rejected ballots could have made a difference in the outcome of an election.

Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, said the bills would also hamper election worker recruitment. “The potential for prosecution if you mess something up, that Ken Paxton just decides is not a mistake but a violation of the law, is going to dissuade voters and also the people who are qualified to do those [election administration] jobs from wanting to do those jobs,” he said.

Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera, executive director of Common Cause Minnesota, said expanding voting access is always a good thing, but added the work needs to be done with precision. "For us, it's not just about the title of the bill, it's not just about the concept of the bill," Belladonna-Carrera explained. "It's about those nooks and crannies that really speak to meaningful maximization of transparency, accountability, rights." Belladonna-Carrera acknowledged moving too quickly can lead to unintended consequences. She feels a single, unforeseen negative effect would be enough for fringe groups to perpetuate false claims of systemic election problems.

Cheri Quickmire, executive director of Common Cause in Connecticut, the elections watchdog organization, said Tuesday she doubts the proposed GOP bills will see much life. "These are not things that ever come out of committees here," Quickmire said. "Consider the time it takes to make anything happen that involves the Constitution. People have the ability to elect their direct representatives and make their point in that way. We at Common Cause are very interested in having as many people as possible participate in our elections, our government, to run for office, and be part of the process."

“House Republicans’ proposal will handcuff the nonpartisan ethics office, making it more difficult to ensure there are consequences for breaking the rules,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, in a news release Monday evening after the House GOP approved its rules package. “As their first legislative act, Congressional Republicans have decided to significantly weaken the independent ethics office. Their actions are a complete failure of leadership.”

Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at the nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause, said Monday the changes would “handcuff” and “significantly weaken” the OCE.