Press Release

Today’s sentencing of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen speaks to the seriousness of the crimes committed which is why we filed complaints alleging these violations earlier this year. Our complaint also alleged that then-candidate Donald Trump violated campaign finance laws and DOJ filings at Cohen’s sentencing identify a co-conspirator, “Individual-1”, who is clearly none other than now Trump. Despite the Republican apologists in Congress making light of Trump’s involvement, these are serious crimes with significant penalties associated with them as Cohen’s sentence reflects. These laws are in place to protect the integrity of our elections and they must be enforced. No American is above the law, not even the President.

If William Barr is to be confirmed as Attorney General of the United States , he must make a public commitment not to interfere in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Today, Common Cause called on the Senate Rules and Administration Committee to fully staff the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and hold up-or-down floor votes on the two pending EAC nominees before the end of year. In a letter Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO), Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and the full Committee, Common Cause emphasizes the vital roll the EAC plays in advising the patchwork of state and local officials who oversee our elections.

Congress is finally listening to the growing demands for reform from the American people. That H.R. 1 will be a sweeping set of pro-democracy reforms is an encouraging sign that the new Congress has its priorities in line with the will of the people. On Election Day, voters from coast-to-coast sent a clear message that we are ready for bold, comprehensive democracy reforms. Tired of the status quo, Americans passed nearly two dozen ballot initiatives across the nation ranging from redistricting reforms, ethics, same day and automatic voter registration to citizen-funded elections measures to ensure that the people have a voice in their democracy. These passed in red states, blue states, and purple states alike with strong support from Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

Today a judge in Florida denied Rick Scott’s senatorial campaign’s request to prevent timely-cast ballots from being counted in Broward County. That came after a judge allowed the League of Women Voters of Florida and Common Cause Florida to enter a lawsuit for the purpose of ensuring that every eligible ballot cast is fairly counted.

Election Protection discovered Facebook and Twitter posts doxxing south Florida election officials. The posts target Brenda Snipes, the Supervisor of Elections of Broward County, and Susan Bucher, the Supervisor of Elections of Palm Beach County. Both are women of color. The posts disclose the officials’ names, addresses, phone numbers, photos, and photos of their homes. Election Protection immediately reported this content to Facebook and Twitter, who promptly removed it from their sites. Election Protection also notified Ms. Snipes and Ms. Bucher directly and reported this incident to the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice.