House watchers suggest that the 116th Congress might also have a chance at denting public corruption. House Resolution 1, the first bill introduced this year, is a sweeping proposal aimed at money in politics, voting reforms and ethics. Those issues have broad bipartisan support in many states and localities, according to Aaron Scherb, legislative affairs director at government watchdog Common Cause. “I think a lot of the reforms at the national level will help advance the ball for when there is a more favorable political climate after...

For campaign finance watchdogs, its just the latest example of the "charade" of the "purported non-candidacy," as Paul S. Ryan of Common Cause has put it, where people whom we all know are running for president avoid admitting to set their own timeline for an announcement, regardless of the what the rules say.

“I think the background definitely changes with a flip of the House. There is going to be more oversight, probably some attempts to draw up legislation,” said former FCC commissioner Michael Copps, now an adviser to watchdog group Common Cause.

"That is not the vindication that Kid Rock or his lawyers would perhaps like the public to believe. There was no vindication here," said Paul S. Ryan, the vice president for policy and litigation at Common Cause. "A lot of people considered Donald Trump’s campaign to be celebrity parody in its early stages, and the Republicans don't acknowledge that in any way," Ryan added. "It's just a very weak basis for them not to pursue enforcement here."

“It's a charade played by candidates,” said campaign finance expert Paul S. Ryan of the good government group Common Cause. “Their lawyers have told them, 'Keep your mouth shut, because if you don’t, there are legal ramifications. But the FEC will let us get away with it if you just stay quiet.'”

"I think we're a seeing a groundswell of public interest in government, including how campaigns are funded, even how we draw our (legislative and congressional district) lines," says Elena Nunez, director of state operations and ballot measure strategies for Common Cause and one of the authors of the report. "I think that some of it is a reaction to the hyper-polarization" in the country now, Nunez adds. "People are paying attention to not just the game, but the rules of the game. We are seeing a shift, and some great opportunities to increase...

"This shows there appears to be a gap in the law – a presidential candidate like Donald Trump could be blasting out these campaign commercial-like videos to millions of views, but viewers would not have real-time information about who is paying for them," Steven Spaulding of government watchdog group Common Cause told ABC News.  "So, we might start seeing a new trend of political campaigns blasting out videos to millions of viewers and voters will not have information to know who is paying for it to better evaluate the message," Spaulding...

“There are two concerns with email voting," in which ballots and voter identification information are typically attached as a PDF or JPEG. "One—the ballots can be intercepted and undetectably altered or deleted. This hack was performed at DEF CON in August. And it’s something academics have long known," Susannah Goodman of Common Cause an one of the authors of the report, told Newsweek. "Second—emailed ballots can be easily spoofed in a spear phishing attack designed to put malware on a county election official’s computer.”

“Anyone who registered to vote using this tool needs to go online to verify whether or not you’re registered,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. “Just to be safe, submit another registration by mail. The process doesn’t take long.”

"The FCC's actions also hurt state and local government abilities to negotiate any public interest obligations like buildout requirements or anti-redlining provisions," Michael Copps, a former Democratic FCC commissioner and Common Cause special adviser, said in a statement. "This gives wireless companies even more of an ability to only deploy 5G to the richest parts of a city, leaving low-income areas unserved." The order, Copps argues, is just "a corporate welfare plan that only widens the digital divide."