Reflective Democracy

Catherine Turcer, of Common Cause Ohio, argued Huffman is attempting to “play games” with the Ohio Constitution. “It is inappropriate to cherry-pick an election in August which is likely to have poor voter turnout,” Turcer argued. “For more than 100 years, Ohioans have had the right to come together, gather enough signatures, and place a proposal on the ballot.” “Citizen-led ballot measures aren’t overused,” she added. “We haven’t had one on the ballot since 2018. It’s unnecessary to make the process more complicated and it’s disrespectful of voters.”

On Thursday, October 27 at 1 p.m. EST, Common Cause and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice will hold a media briefing to discuss the legal arguments and strategy behind the fight to defend our democracy in Moore v. Harper.

“Oregon generally embraces a positive voting environment,” said Kate Titus, executive director of Common Cause Oregon. “All of these little changes around the edges help.” Titus said the state could revisit further expanding its automatic voter registration system to allow registration to occur through other state agencies in the coming years.

“I don’t think we’re immune to these attempts to degrade our really great system and to make voting more difficult,” said Cameron Hill, associate director of Common Cause Colorado. ... Hill said a goal of Colorado Common Cause, criminal justice reform organizations and other voting rights groups in the next year or two is legislative action or a ballot initiative to fully restore the voting rights of people serving prison sentences for felonies. If successful, Colorado would join only Maine, Vermont and Washington, D.C., in allowing any resident citizen over age 18 to vote regardless of criminal convictions or incarceration. “It’s possible. There’s an appetite,” Hill said. “We have some pretty progressive lawmakers and we’re on track to get several more.”