Press Release
Government Watchdog Supports New Bill to Ban Members of Congress from Trading Stock
Majority of Americans support a stock trading ban
Press
Media Contacts
Katie Scally
Communications Director
kscally@commoncause.org
202-736-5713
Ariana Marmolejo
Communications Strategist
amarmolejo@commoncause.org
Kenny Colston
Regional Communications Strategist (Midwest)
kcolston@commoncause.org
Maya Majikas
Communications Strategist
mmajikas@commoncause.org
Common Cause’s network of national and state democracy reform experts are frequent media commentators. To talk with one of our experts, please reach out to any member of the press team above.
Press Release
SCOTUS Ethics Code a First Step That Congress Must Build On
This afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would adopt a code of ethics. The move follows a series of scandals involving Supreme Court Justices that came to light in recent months. The announcement also comes at a time when the Senate Judiciary Committee has already moved forward legislation to establish an ethics code for the Supreme Court and is scheduled to vote this week on subpoenas for witnesses at the heart of some of the recent scandals.
Press Release
National Voting Rights Organization: Let Election Workers Do Their Job
Today, Common Cause, a national, nonpartisan voting rights organization is urging all Americans to let election workers do their job in response to reports of election offices receiving threatening letters, some laced with fentanyl. The letters were sent to offices in California, Georgia, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington following the November 7 election.
News Clip
Raleigh News & Observer: The first elections with voter ID in NC are done. What was the impact?
“We know it does create another impediment for people trying to get to the polls,” said Ann Webb, policy director at Common Cause North Carolina, a group that has sued to stop gerrymandering and new restrictions on voting.
Webb said the voter ID requirement is part an effort by Republican lawmakers to narrow access to voting. “We like to say, ‘In 2023 there will be voter ID. In 2024, there will be more,’” Webb said.
Webb said the voter ID requirement is part an effort by Republican lawmakers to narrow access to voting. “We like to say, ‘In 2023 there will be voter ID. In 2024, there will be more,’” Webb said.
News Clip
Albuquerque Journal (Op-Ed): Ethics issues likely affected Albuquerque city elections
Restoring public trust in government and elected officials has been the major thrust of Common Cause since its founding in the 1970s, when Watergate and Vietnam led to widespread disbelief that presidents and top officials were telling the truth. Fast forward 50 years, and public trust has declined even further — despite the efforts of many reformers to tighten ethical standards, require transparent campaign reporting, and safeguard elections.
News Clip
PolitiFact: On Nov. 7, 2023, Pennsylvania voting machines were “flipping votes,” which is evidence of “election fraud.”
Five local voting rights advocacy groups, including Common Cause Pennsylvania and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, called the incident "an unfortunate situation caused by human error," but said it did not amount to election fraud.
"This is a programming error that is being weaponized for disinformation purposes," Philip Hensley-Robin, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, told PolitiFact.
"This is a programming error that is being weaponized for disinformation purposes," Philip Hensley-Robin, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, told PolitiFact.
News Clip
The Hill (Op-Ed): Internet voting remains a risky method of casting election ballots
Unfortunately, online voting is not yet a secure method of casting a ballot. The risks are many. Malware on a voter’s personal device could alter a voter’s selections or replace ballot images with fakes. Experts have noted that “Consumer-grade devices with consumer-grade protections are no match for a motivated attacker, particularly if the attacker is a nation-state.” Targeted denial of service attacks could disenfranchise thousands of voters and alter election outcomes. Voter authentication credentials could be stolen. The list...
News Clip
Politico: Inside Mike Johnson’s Ties to a Far-Right Movement to Gut the Constitution
Watchdog groups like the American Constitution Society and Common Cause are sounding the alarm over the real danger of such a convention.
“The worst case scenario is that [an Article V convention] puts all of our cherished constitutional rights and civil rights completely up for grabs,” Stephen Spaulding, vice president of Common Cause, testified at Johnson’s subcommittee hearing last month.
“The worst case scenario is that [an Article V convention] puts all of our cherished constitutional rights and civil rights completely up for grabs,” Stephen Spaulding, vice president of Common Cause, testified at Johnson’s subcommittee hearing last month.
News Clip
PolitiFact: Dispelling a common myth about fentanyl as election workers get letters with traces of the substance
"Election officials are just doing their job — they are not putting their thumb on the scale, they are not in charge of what the results are," said Suzanne Almeida, state operations director at Common Cause, a group advocating for accessible voting. "They are incredibly dedicated public servants, especially in the face of these threats."
Press Release
Senate Judiciary to Issue Subpoenas to Donors Involved in SCOTUS Ethics Scandals
"The Senate Judiciary Committee, faced with stonewalling by those who paid for unreported luxury junkets, must get to the truth by using its subpoena power."
News Clip
Washington Post: Noncitizen voting campaigns elicit different results in liberal Md. suburbs
“We view municipalities as these laboratories of democracy. They’re able to implement a lot of the reforms that we’re working on at a state level,” said Joanne Antoine, executive director of grass-roots voter-advocacy group Common Cause Maryland.
“The more that municipalities pass these reforms, show that young people are capable of voting, the more we can push them elsewhere. … My hope is that we’ll come back to these things again,” she said.
“The more that municipalities pass these reforms, show that young people are capable of voting, the more we can push them elsewhere. … My hope is that we’ll come back to these things again,” she said.
News Clip
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: New Texas law puts Tarrant County Republican primary in ‘jeopardy,’ GOP leader says
Katya Ehresman, the voting rights program manager for Common Cause Texas, stressed that more voting isn’t a problem. Having more polling places in counties that are growing should always be a goal, she said. The real issue that should be addressed is the chronic underfunding of election system, she said.
“The biggest issue is election administration and making sure that we can do that well funded and equitably, and that’s not something that Senate Bill 924 created an issue with,” Ehresman said. “That’s something that...
“The biggest issue is election administration and making sure that we can do that well funded and equitably, and that’s not something that Senate Bill 924 created an issue with,” Ehresman said. “That’s something that...
News Clip
Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer:‘Dozens’ of Ohio State University students say they never got their mail ballots, voting advocates say
Voting-rights advocates said Tuesday that they’ve heard from students, including “dozens” at Ohio State University, who have said they never got the mail ballot they requested for today’s election.
Mia Lewis, associate director of Common Cause Ohio, said they’ve encountered these students as they’ve showed up at polling places this morning on OSU’s campus to try to vote.
Lewis said that other than in college towns, state data doesn’t show an unusually high number of outstanding absentee ballots...
Mia Lewis, associate director of Common Cause Ohio, said they’ve encountered these students as they’ve showed up at polling places this morning on OSU’s campus to try to vote.
Lewis said that other than in college towns, state data doesn’t show an unusually high number of outstanding absentee ballots...
