Voting & Elections

Voters can do their part by updating their voter registration in a timely fashion, said Jenny Guzman, program director of Common Cause Arizona.

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.

"There must be consequences for overturning the will of the voters, both to prevent these schemes from being attempted in the future and to ensure accountability to those responsible for future attempts," added Aly Belknap of Colorado Common Cause.

Aly Belknap with Colorado Common Cause echoed Holman’s concerns, highlighting the pervasiveness of deepfakes and other avenues for spreading “disinformation,” such as fake social media profiles. These issues, she said, combined with declining trust in the media among Americans, pose a threat to the future of fair elections. “The availability of generative AI tools makes it easier than ever to spread false information and propaganda with little resources and at a large scale, leaving voters confused and further questioning what they see or hear,” she said. “We can’t let generative AI go unchecked in political campaigns. In this increasingly complex information ecosystem, it’s critical that citizens have the tools to determine whether an image, video, or audio representation made by a candidate campaign is authentic and truthful.”

That's concerning to Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of Common Cause California, an advocacy group that focuses on fair elections and representation: "Our judges are supposed to be above the fray of politics and totally unbiased in their decision-making," he wrote in an email. "Whether or not that's actually true, it certainly does not help public perception of the judiciary to force our judges to raise special interest dollars, make campaign promises, and so forth." He added that even very engaged voters struggle to find information on these contests.

"Both parties have an obligation to be pushing back against that distrust, that lie, and that misinformation about our elections, and calling for calm and easy elections, where everyone can cast their ballot freely from intimidation," Katya Ehresman, voting rights program manager with Common Cause Texas, said.