Emma Steiner, the information accountability project manager at Common Cause, told HuffPost that Musk’s monetization program, combined with his new system for receiving “verified” badges, had encouraged misleading information.

“The new verification system means that it’s almost impossible to discern real news from fake news on the platform now, especially since people are posting specifically to gain revenue for engagement,” Steiner said. “That creates some really perverse incentives for breaking news events.”

Common Cause Florida, der Florida-Ableger der NAACP und Fair Districts Now klagen auf die Streichung der Karte, auf der ein Bezirk in Nordflorida verzeichnet ist, der vom schwarzen Kongressabgeordneten Al Lawson gehalten wird.

Am ersten Prozesstag beschuldigte Anwalt Greg Baker, der den Kläger vertritt, DeSantis, er habe „immer wieder darauf gedrängt“, die umstrittene Kongressaufteilung zu unterstützen, die der Republikanischen Partei Floridas bei den Zwischenwahlen im vergangenen Jahr vier Sitze im Repräsentantenhaus einbrachte.

„Er untermauerte seine Argumentation durch schikanöse Soundbites“, sagte Baker …

Jonathan Mehta Stein, Geschäftsführer von California Common Cause, meinte, das Risiko eines außer Kontrolle geratenen Parteitags sei zu groß, weil es nur sehr wenige geltende Regeln gebe.

"Wir haben keine Ahnung, wer versucht, die Mitglieder des Verfassungskonvents zu beeinflussen", betonte Stein. "Welche Lobbyarbeit würde hinter den Kulissen stattfinden? Wären öffentliche Aufzeichnungen erforderlich? Wären Transparenzanforderungen erforderlich? Wir haben einfach keine Ahnung."

There is no viable alternative to ERIC. Other states have tried, but to no avail; for example, the Interstate Crosscheck System, a program started in Kansas, had a 99% error rate. It was found to eliminate about 200 registrations used to cast legitimate votes for every one duplicate voter registration. As explained by the Louisiana Illuminator, “Replicating what ERIC built would be a major technical, scientific, administrative and political challenge, even for a state committed to making it work.”

Alyssa Canty, director of youth programs for Common Cause, said young people are often beginning to see the effects of civic policy.

"When they're 16- or 17-year-olds, they are starting their first part-time jobs," Canty pointed out. "So they now have income, so they're purchasing things, so they are paying sales tax, but they have no say in what happens to those tax dollars."

Canty sees late high school as a good time to engage young people.

"Usually around 16, 17 years old, that junior, senior...

"The Alabama legislature's defiance of a clear mandate from the Supreme Court to discriminate against Black voters is so brazen, a delaying tactic seems to be the only explanation that makes any sense," says Dan Vicuna, director of redistricting and representation at the advocacy group Common Cause.

"I think it's not going to sit well with the Supreme Court," he says.

Emma Steiner, information accountability project manager with the non-partisan group Common Cause, said disinformation can often be hard to spot.

"A lot of times people fall for disinformation," said Steiner, "because it seems to confirm something they already believe and that's where people get tripped up."

Steiner recommended that people always refer to official sources for voting information - including Secretary of States' offices or local election boards.

"Disinformation spreaders and...

Susan Lerner, executive director of the good government group Common Cause New York, said politicians should not hold fundraisers without declaring their intentions.

"Common Cause/NY believes that candidates must explicitly announce what office they are running for when asking donors for money - and not build up a war chest for an unknown position," she said in a statement. "New York law must change so that candidates are only able to raise money once they've announced their campaign for an intended office."

When I was in the Supreme Court last December listening to oral arguments in Moore v. Harper, I was struck by Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s questions in this case that put the future of American democracy’s checks and balances at risk.

Barrett doubted that the “independent state legislature theory” should give state legislatures absolute power to write laws for federal elections without facing state judicial review. And Barrett probed repeatedly about when, if at all, the Supreme Court should intervene in state court...

Sean McMorris, a member of government transparency nonprofit California Common Cause, said he’s unsure whether the city needs to eliminate the cap at all.

“I know that San Jose is being proactive, but it is not clear to me that the SCOTUS ruling, which pertained to federal campaign finance law and post-election fundraising, would necessarily apply to all local campaign finance laws pertaining to candidate loans or that a city cannot narrowly tailor such a law to avoid running afoul of the SCOTUS ruling,” he wrote in an...