Voting & Elections

“As this becomes more partisan, each political party is going to go to its corner,” said Sylvia Albert, the director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a leading voting rights advocate. “But there’s a way to find the middle. “We have to get the ball moving now,” she added, “or Wisconsin is going to be what November looks like everywhere.”

“Police violence has historically been used as tool for voter intimidation in America, especially in communities of color,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause. “This is why many states have laws stating police cannot be at polls,” Albert added. “Encouraging law enforcement to monitor polls is another old tactic that partisan operatives are trying to use to stop Americans from exercising their constitutional right to vote.”

“This is a state-by-state decision and we know there is not a one size fits all solution for every state,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause. “With that said, we are encouraging states to act now to ensure that the November election is accessible, fair, and secure for all voters. That includes expanding existing vote by mail systems, but also other options such as early voting.” ... “Since vote by mail is a paper-based system, it cannot be hacked and is a great system for post-election audits to ensure the outcome of the election is correct,” Albert said. 

“I don’t think many people who are aware of what’s going on, and are tuned into politics and government in this state, would say that it’s anything even resembling a democracy,” said Jay Heck, the executive director of the Wisconsin chapter of Common Cause, a government watchdog group. ... “They view this as an opportunity to be able to extend one-party rule in this state for another 10 years,” Heck said. “If they can do that, they can do it in a great many other states as well.”

If state legislatures do not expand mail-in voting soon, legal challenges like the ones that resulted in Wisconsin’s chaotic primary will be waged right up until the presidential election, said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group. “What you saw in Wisconsin would be happening in November,” Albert said.

"Right now we're focusing on making sure that no voter is disenfranchised during this health crisis," Karen Hobert Flynn, president of the nonpartisan pro-democracy group Common Cause, said on a call with reporters.