Voting & Elections

The events of January 6 in Washington, D.C., were shocking and appalling. We saw armed rioters, incited by President Trump, storm our center of government and loot the U.S. Capitol — which led to at least five deaths. The violent mob, spurred by conspiracy theories and lies, failed in its attempt to overturn the results of an election — the same election Trump’s own Department of Homeland Security said was, "the most secure in American history.” But this tragic attack on our Capitol should not be understood as just a reaction to the incitement of insurrection of the outgoing president. This horrific event came after years of ignoring structural weaknesses in our Republic. Our democracy was, and continues to be, undermined — and we must immediately fix it.

“We should have standardize rules and that’s what this bill is doing,” said Stephen Spaulding, senior counsel for public policy at the advocacy group Common Cause. “This hopefully would tamp down on all of that chaotic litigation by getting these rules settled and setting a national standard.

As Democrats take power in Washington, if only tenuously, many democracy reform groups see a potential path toward making the American political system work better. In this installment, Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause, answers our questions about 2020 accomplishments and plans for the year ahead. Her organization has long been on the front lines of advocating for democracy reform. Hobert Flynn's responses have been edited for clarity and length.

Minority Leader McConnell’s (R-KY) decision to hold up the Senate’s organizing resolution over the filibuster rule was a trial balloon that failed. Americans voted for change and they expect the new President and the new Congress to address the pressing health, financial, structural racism, climate, and democracy crises facing our nation. McConnell, a fierce architect of obstruction throughout his tenure in Congress, has signaled his plans for the 117th Congress: Delay, deny, and distort the Majority’s right to set the chamber’s agenda at every turn. We have seen this before when McConnell spent six years abusing the filibuster at unprecedented levels during the Obama administration. This cannot be allowed to happen again.

“It’s sort of baffling considering that besides the president, Republicans won up and down the ticket and had record turnout as well,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause. “These are states with Republican election officials and Republican legislatures because these policies have been used by Republican voters that elected those individuals.”

Common Cause in Wisconsin has long opposed this cynical, anti-democratic strategy, and we will be in the forefront of resisting upcoming efforts to restrict voting further. Gov. Tony Evers says he will veto any such measures and oppose voter suppression. Yet the governor’s opposition to this looming threat to democracy isn’t enough. The citizens of Wisconsin need to rise up and make it clear to every member of the Wisconsin Legislature that they should be expanding voting opportunities and making it easier for more Wisconsinites to be able to participate in elections. Citizens need to make it clear that any attempt to restrict election participation will not be tolerated and will be resisted to the full extent that is lawfully possible.