Voting Rights

Today, good government groups led by Common Cause and Demand Progress delivered more than 132,000 unique petition signatures to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee calling on the oversight bodies to investigate and take appropriate action to stop Facebook’s profiteering from voter suppression through demonstrably false political ads run on the social media platform. It is Facebook’s official policy to exempt political ads on its platform from third-party fact-checking. The result has been widespread dissemination of lies, misinformation, and disinformation.

Joanne Antoine, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, said a “hybrid election” with automatically mailed ballots and in-person voting would be the safest option. “We are still in a crisis, and we have no idea what October and November are going to look like,” she said during an online press briefing.

Americans expect and deserve elected representatives who put the interests of their constituents and the health of our democracy first – especially when both are threatened by a pandemic. But instead, the Senate Republicans’ long-overdue COVID-19 relief package undermines the accuracy of the 2020 census, gives corporations the immunity they’ve lobbied for, slashes weekly jobless aid, and short-changes our democracy all in one fell swoop. Senate foot-dragging on this relief package already allowed the eviction moratorium in the CARES Act to expire – likely adding disenfranchisement to the host of life-altering problems faced by thousands of newly-homeless Americans.

“These steps are good but nowhere near good enough,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of the government watchdog group, Common Cause Texas. “Other states are doing so much more while Governor Abbott is doing literally the least he can. We need swift and decisive action from either the Governor or Secretary of State to avoid a complete meltdown at the polls in November.”

Once an American is eligible to vote that right should never be taken away. Washington, DC joins Maine and Vermont in making a stand for the most important and sacred right we share, our right to vote.

Last night, 30+ organizations from the Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD) coalition urged the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules & Administration to include vital funding to bolster state and local elections officials facing unprecedented burdens in holding elections amidst the COVID-19 pandemic amidst massive budget shortfalls. In a letter organized by Common Cause to every member of the Committee yesterday, more than 30 groups emphasized the importance supporting the $3.6 billion in election funding that was included in the House-passed Heroes Act in order to safeguard our elections against multiple threats at home and abroad.