Voting Rights

The partisan intent of the citizenship question is clear and Commerce v. New York presents a new opportunity for the Supreme Court, with newly appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh, to show that it is above partisanship. This case, coupled this term with Rucho v. Common Cause and Lamone v. Benisek, the challenges to North Carolina’s and Maryland’s outrageous partisan gerrymanders, will give the court ample opportunity to show that it truly not a partisan branch of government.

David Vance, the National Media Strategist at government watchdog organization Common Cause, told Newsweek that the Husted decision had enabled state legislatures to use purges of rolls to suppress voters. "In greenlighting Ohio’s voter roll purges, the Husted ruling has inspired a variety of methods to remove voters from the polls for partisan gain," he said. "The Arizona bill is just the latest example of voter suppression tactics stemming from the Husted decision. It appears to be nothing more than another attempt by politicians to dictate who will vote and who won’t for their own advantage. We should be looking for ways to get more Americans to vote, not making it more difficult for those that do vote to cast their ballots."

The “For the People Act” offers common sense solutions to problems Americans are demanding that their elected officials solve. These pro-democracy reforms are tested and proven to be effective on the state and local level where citizens, tired of waiting for Washington to act, worked to enact these reforms. Citizen action has moved elected officials in many states and municipalities and citizens have also taken matters into their own hands and passed ballot initiatives. As we outlined in our Democracy on the Ballot report, more than 90% of the pro-democracy reform initiatives passed in each of the last two cycles.

Today, Common Cause urged every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote “yes” on the For the People Act (H.R. 1) when it goes to a floor vote on Friday. The letter notes that Common Cause plans to key-vote final passage of H.R. 1, as well as the motion-to-recommit (MTR), in our Democracy Scorecard, which we send to our 1.2 million members. The bill contains the most comprehensive set of democracy reforms to be introduced in Congress since the post-Watergate reforms were passed in the 1970s. The letter emphasizes that our democracy faces a crisis not seen since the Watergate era.