The racial impact of the maps is sweeping. The government accountability watchdog group Common Cause said a quarter of the 36 state legislative seats held by African Americans, all Democrats, would be likely to flip Republican. The district containing the seat that a Black congressman, Representative G.K. Butterfield, has occupied since 1992 also lost much of its Black constituency, and he chose to retire at the end of this term.

Paul S. Ryan, the vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, a watchdog group, called the indictment “good news for democracy and small donors,” adding that Mr. Tunstall was perhaps the best known of the fund-raising operatives taking advantage of donors in this way.

“This should send a sign to potential scam artists that the Department of Justice is watching,” Mr. Ryan said.
Mr. Ryan said he expected that a superseding indictment would eventually cover Mr. Tunstall’s past four years of activity....

Jennifer Parenti, Northern Colorado organizer for Colorado Common Cause, said, “Communities of color make up about 30% of the state’s population overall. But unfortunately, this proposed congressional map does not reflect that diversity. It, rather, splits our communities of color across multiple districts, while seemingly prioritizing municipal boundaries and protecting incumbents.”

“In what world does it make sense to appoint someone who took an active role to discredit the will of voters?” said Stephanie Gomez, associate director of Common Cause Texas.

The appointment brought immediate criticism from Democrats and voting groups. “The timing of this announcement is clearly intended to subvert our democratic process in a way that allows Greg Abbott’s completely unsuitable nominee to oversee our 2022 elections without having to face confirmation hearings,” said Stephanie Gómez, the Texas associate director for Common Cause.

The 2020 Census demonstrated what most have long known – we are a nation that is growing increasingly diverse. But for too long, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American/Pacific Islander, and other communities of color driving our growth have been sidelined in our democracy. While it’s more common to hear about voter suppression laws and gerrymandered district maps, one lesser-known evil is prison gerrymandering. Thankfully, there is still time in this redistricting cycle to change this harmful practice in the current redistricting cycle.

Stephen Spaulding, senior counsel for public policy at the non-partisan government watchdog organization Common Cause, said lawmakers in such competitive districts face heightened scrutiny from party members and donors to hold on to their seat.

"When the balance of power hangs on a handful of seats, you will see resources shifted and prioritized for those particular members in swing districts," Spaulding said.

"A candidate can face a number of pressures, but ultimately, it is up to the candidate to run the...

Some of us believe the filibuster should be eliminated; others think reforms like a return to the "talking filibuster" can work, so long as there is a path to up-or-down votes on important legislation.

The Freedom to Vote Act, a compromise measure recently introduced by Sen. Joe Manchin, is a fitting vehicle to usher in a new era of transparency and accountability.

“For 20 years I’ve been looking at the issue through the other end of the telescope, at ‘dark money’ nonprofits trying to hide that they’re influencing politics,” Paul S. Ryan, general counsel for campaign finance watchdog Common Cause, said. “This is the opposite—these PACs appear to be trying to pass themselves off as nonprofits and trying to hide that by spending on the political end. It raises the same concern, though, because in both cases they mislead the government about the use of contributions. And that’s where these...

Since the 2020 election season, the disinformation tracking network for Common Cause –  a grassroots group that promotes democracy – has noted and documented a dangerous trend as social media giants Facebook and Twitter appear to have dropped the ball on their commitments to police election disinformation. This week on Capitol Hill, former Facebook product manager and whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed the extent to which her former employer fails in its commitment to prevent the spread of disinformation about...