Voting & Elections

Turning Point USA’s Arizona troll farm takes a page from the Russian disinformation playbook from the 2016 presidential race and is likely only the tip of the iceberg. The effort is a direct attack on voters and our democracy, and is a reminder that disinformation that suppresses the vote doesn’t just come from Russia or other hostile foreign powers, or in the form of microtargeted ads. The majority of disinformation that we’ve identified through the Stopping Cyber Suppression program throughout this year’s primary elections has been “organic content” -- not ads, but posts exactly like the ones described in The Washington Post.

The 2020 Democracy Scorecard charts the position of every Member of Congress on issues vital to the health of our democracy and shows the Senate is a "legislative graveyard" for democracy reform

The 2020 Democracy Scorecard charts the position of every Member of Congress on issues vital to the health of our democracy and predicts the 116th Congress will be the least productive in history

“I can't imagine anyone will know on election night what's going to happen in Wisconsin,” said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin. Heck added that he doesn’t expect the state Legislature coming back into session to make changes.

"Over the past number of years, there's been significant evidence documented in the Senate Intelligence Committee's bipartisan report and numerous other places, including the 17 intelligence agencies, that Russia infiltrated our elections in the 2016 race and was continuing to do that throughout not only the 2018 elections, but also into the 2020 election," Aaron Scherb, the director of legislative affairs at the government watchdog group Common Cause, told Salon. "And so it's no surprise at all that this new evidence was revealed recently about their involvement in trying to hack the Biden campaign."

If the allegations are true, Mr. DeJoy would be in violation of federal election laws that prohibit so-called straw donations because they are a way of evading transparency requirements and contribution limits that are so crucial to the conduct of fair elections. Other possible violations include prohibited use of corporate money and coercion of employees. There is a five-year federal statute of limitations, but there is no time limit in North Carolina for the prosecution of felonies, including campaign violations. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein (D) said an investigation is warranted and Common Cause North Carolina on Wednesday filed a complaint. Even Mr. Trump, with his high tolerance of wrongdoing by his allies, acknowledged the need for investigation. We urge Congress and North Carolina authorities to act expeditiously in getting to the bottom of this troubling matter.