{"id":1992,"date":"2025-07-03T10:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/connecticut\/?post_type=press&#038;p=1992"},"modified":"2025-07-03T10:01:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:01:02","slug":"connecticut-director-to-retire-after-strengthening-voting-rights","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/connecticut\/press\/connecticut-director-to-retire-after-strengthening-voting-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecticut Director to Retire After Strengthening Voting Rights"},"template":"","class_list":["post-1992","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"National government watchdog, Common Cause, announced the retirement of Cheri Quickmire, who led the Connecticut office for 18 years. ","featured_image":"","press_type":145,"authors":"","related_issues":false,"related_work":false,"location":9},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">Cheri Quickmire led fight for State VRA and early voting<\/span><\/i><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:2,&quot;335551620&quot;:2}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\r\n<span data-contrast=\"none\">National government watchdog, Common Cause, announced the retirement of Cheri Quickmire, who led the Connecticut office for 18 years. Quickmire\u2019s retirement comes after defeating attempts to advance a wholesale rewrite of the U.S. Constitution and diminish the state\u2019s campaign finance authority in the last legislative session.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cHolding power accountable has been an extraordinary journey,\u201d said <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Quickmire<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. \u201cWe won as we rolled back efforts by legislators to take away the independence of the State Elections Enforcement Commission that holds accountable candidates who participate in the nationally renowned Citizens\u2019 Election Program.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">Earlier this year, Connecticut lawmakers sought to undermine the state\u2019s nationally renowned campaign finance system. Common Cause successfully led the advocacy effort to establish the Citizens' Election Program in 2005 which shifted power to the people over big money donors and special interests. The program was widely popular across partisan lines after a series of major conflicts of interest led to high-profile scandals for public officials. In 2020, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/CT_SmallDonorDollar_Report_WEB.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">a report found<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> the program to be a national model with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ctmirror.org\/2020\/09\/14\/new-study-cts-citizens-elections-program-has-become-a-national-model-for-clean-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">85% of candidates participating<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> in the program.\u00a0 <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cCheri <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">has been a steadfast champion for democracy, and the policies she\u2019s championed will have a long-lasting impact beyond her tenure,\u201d said <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Common Cause Vice President of States Heather Ferguson<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. \u201cFrom holding our leaders in Washington accountable to making the ballot box more accessible with early voting, Cheri\u2019s work has strengthened the voice of the people for years to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">In 2023, Quickmire led Common Cause\u2019s major voting rights victory in Connecticut, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/connecticut\/press\/a-win-for-connecticuts-democracy-early-voting-voting-rights-act-passed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">passing the state level Voting Rights Act.<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> With the bill\u2019s passage, the state earned some of the strongest voter protections in the country while other states stripped away those protections.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">In 2022, Quickmire and a statewide coalition of voting rights advocates led the successful campaign to bring early voting to Connecticut via ballot measure. After the passage, the state legislature passed a law officially bringing it as an option to voters. Prior to the passage, Connecticut was one of four states that did not allow early voting.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">Common Cause will continue its advocacy in the state and will begin hiring in the near future.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_work","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_work":{"heading":"Work","manually_curate":false,"work":null}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Connecticut Director to Retire After Strengthening Voting Rights - Common Cause Connecticut<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"National government watchdog, Common Cause, announced the retirement of Cheri Quickmire, who led the Connecticut office for 18 years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/connecticut\/press\/connecticut-director-to-retire-after-strengthening-voting-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Connecticut Director to Retire After Strengthening Voting Rights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"National government watchdog, Common Cause, announced the retirement of Cheri Quickmire, who led the Connecticut office for 18 years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/connecticut\/press\/connecticut-director-to-retire-after-strengthening-voting-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Connecticut\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-03T14:01:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/connecticut\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-670622124-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1710\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/connecticut\/press\/connecticut-director-to-retire-after-strengthening-voting-rights\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/connecticut\/press\/connecticut-director-to-retire-after-strengthening-voting-rights\/\",\"name\":\"Connecticut Director to Retire After Strengthening Voting Rights - 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