Voting & Elections

Elias has also been scrutinized by watchdog groups for his work on campaign finance issues, including his role in convincing the Federal Election Commission to loosen restrictions on congressional lawmakers engaging with Super PACs. “He is not a big fan of restrictions on money in politics,” says Paul S. Ryan, Vice President of Policy and Litigation at the non-partisan accountability group Common Cause. “He has done a very good job as an attorney of fighting for the ability of political parties to raise and spend money however they choose.”

Anthony Gutierrez, the executive director of the Texas chapter of Common Cause, a government watchdog group, said those statements were significant and could help sway lawmakers, including Dade Phelan, the speaker of the Texas house of representatives. Gutierrez has been involved in fights over voting rights for over a decade and said he could not recall another instance where there was the kind of broad opposition to the bills that exists now. “A lot of us are thinking that Texas is the next Georgia, but I think the big difference is all these prominent voices weighing in are coming in much earlier,” he said.

“It’s absolutely the case that his legacy lives on here,” said Stephen Spaulding, senior counsel for public policy at Common Cause, a nonpartisan nonprofit backing the For the People Act. “I just remember it being a very iterative process by which they worked very closely with outside groups to craft the most robust bill,” Spaulding, who was involved in the roundtable discussions, said. “Mr. Lewis was very involved in the details, as was his staff.”

“I think it’s somewhat irresponsible of them to come out after a law has passed,” said Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, a voting rights group. “There’s still opportunity for some things to change. We are obviously going to court. We filed a case with our coalition partners and other legal teams to really combat this. So we still need that added pressure from corporations in Georgia to take this stand against these suppressive tactics.”

Stephanie Gómez, the associate director of the advocacy group Common Cause Texas, said in a video conference with reporters that the two bills were “weaponizing legislation to codify widespread voter intimidation.” “If you want to know which state is going to be the next Georgia,” she said, “it’s Texas.”

Aaron Scherb, director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, and Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, talked about state election laws and recent changes to Georgia’s voting laws.