Reflective Democracy

"We want voters to trust the government and that boils down to a voter in any community being able to understand what is happening in their own community," said Pedro Hernandez, a policy director at California Common Cause, which cosponsored the bill. "In order for California to build trust, it has to be a multiracial and multilingual democracy, which means prioritizing and centering in language access," said Hernandez at Common Cause. Common Cause was one of a dozen organizations that participated in the California Language Access Workgroup launched in 2021. 

The federal protections of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act are critically important for Congress to pass at a moment in our history when the freedom to vote is under attack in our nation. A bedrock of our democracy, the freedom to vote has been under sustained assault since the 2020 election with dozens of anti-voter laws passed in states all across the country to make it harder for Americans – particularly in Black and brown communities - to have a say in choosing their elected leaders.

For the past four years, Common Cause New Mexico, and several community groups, have been exploring the possibility of upgrading New Mexico’s legislative branch to meet today’s challenges with adequate staff, longer sessions and salaries for our unpaid legislators.

"Moving local elections to even years will boost turnout, reduce voter fatigue, and minimize stressors on the local boards of elections,'' said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York.