Abuse of Power

Nextdoor in Ohio, reformers are closely monitoring what happens in Michigan. Catherine Turcer, the executive director of the Ohio chapter of Common Cause, a government watchdog group, has been working for decades to get Ohio to adopt a new process for redistricting. Just as they did in Michigan, Republican lawmakers carved up the state in 2011 to give themselves a majority in the state legislature and a 12-4 advantage in the state’s delegation. Over the last few decades, Ohioans repeatedly voted down redistricting reform proposals, including a 2012 effort to create an independent redistricting commission. But in 2015, Turcer and other reformers in the state achieved a breakthrough. Voters approved a constitutional amendment that gave redistricting power for state legislative districts to a seven-person panel of elected officials from both parties. It required the panel to make its decisions in public and set out several criteria the panel must follow, including one that says districts can’t “unduly favor or disfavor a party or incumbents”. “I look back and I felt like pigs were flying around the statehouse,” Turcer said. But this is the first year that the new rules have been in effect and Turcer watched with horror last month as Republicans ignored the new guardrails and drew severely gerrymandered maps anyway. Overriding Democratic objections, the panel adopted a plan that would give Republicans a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature. Even though Republicans have consistently received around 54% of the statewide vote over the last decade, Republicans said they should be entitled to as many as 81% of the seats in the state legislature. Their rationale for that was sketchy – they said they were entitled to such a high vote share because they won 81% of the 16 previous statewide elections.

“This is a good decision, not just for the people, but also we think for the Legislature itself; for real, thoughtful decision making,” said Sandy Ma, the executive director of Common Cause Hawaii, one of the two groups that filed the lawsuit. Bills became law without lawmakers and the public having sufficient opportunity to understand and debate their contents when the Legislature used “gut and replace,” Ma said. The ruling will restore trust in the legislative process because sometimes people think lawmakers have engaged in horse trading when a bill has been gutted and replaced without public discussion, Ma said.

A group of advocacy organizations led by Common Cause has asked Facebook to revisit its policy of allowing Save America to advertise as long as it doesn’t use Trump’s voice, since it was established by Trump days after the 2020 election. Facebook has not yet made clear whether Trump will be able to operate a campaign under the same rules, possibly permitting him to advertise his 2024 effort on the site. “The response we got was we have no answer for you at the moment,” said Yosef Getachew, the director of Media and Democracy Program at Common Cause, of his conversations with the company. Facebook’s spokeswoman did not comment on the company’s discussions with Common Cause.

Raleigh, N.C. (Oct. 29, 2021) — Civil rights groups filed a state lawsuit today challenging the North Carolina Legislature’s process for drawing new N.C. House and Senate voting maps. The suit would block proposed state legislative districts for failing to consider race during the initial stages of the map-making process in ways that could have devastating impacts on the representation of Black North Carolinians in violation of established state and federal law.  The Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) brought the case on behalf of the North Carolina NAACP, Common Cause, and individual voters, alongside pro bono counsel with the law firm Hogan Lovells. The case, NC NAACP vs. Berger, was filed in Wake County Superior Court, North Carolina.

“With his signature today, Governor Abbott continues the shameful five-decade-long tradition of ramming through extremely gerrymandered maps in an undemocratic process,” Anthony Gutierrez, Common Cause Texas executive director, said in a news release. “These racially and partisan gerrymandered maps deny every voter in Texas from having an equal say in the issues we care about most, like a stronger economy, better schools, and affordable healthcare.”

“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.