“The winner is chosen in the primary and the primary draws, for lack of a better way of saying it, the most extreme and emotional voters,” said Bob Phillips, who leads the redistricting reform group Common Cause NC.

He said he’s heard state legislators on both sides of the aisle complain that their party’s leaders instruct them not to even mingle with the other side when they’re in Raleigh, let alone vote with them.

“We’ve seen it in Raleigh and seen it in Washington,” he said. “Folks that come...

“The governor of Florida does not have control over all Florida police departments or the FBI,” Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, told VICE News when DeSantis first announced his plans. “And by proposing this integrity unit, it seems like that’s what he wants: a personal, political goon squad.”

The Paid Jailer report suggests that industry donations to sheriffs are not only likely damaging to justice and democracy but also incredibly common. Construction companies contribute tens of thousands of dollars and then go on to build bigger jails. Legal firms fund races and end up representing the sheriff’s office in misconduct cases. Our research uncovered more than $6 million in contributions from donors with potential ethical conflicts. More than 40 percent of contributions to sheriffs we studied came from conflicted donors whose...

Constitutional amendments – which must be passed in identical form in two legislative sessions before being presented to voters on a ballot – should be used sparingly. And they certainly should not be used to let one branch of government sidestep the checks and balances of the other branches.

But Pennsylvania legislators are now using the amendment process to take power from other branches of government and increase their own influence.

The fight for voting rights goes on, even though every Senate Republican, joined by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), tried to shut it down on January 19. They refused to adjust a Senate rule best known for obstructing civil rights legislation. The filibuster rule – requiring 60 votes to advance most legislation if any senator objects – has been modified or waived more than 160 times in recent decades. Just in December, an exception was granted for legislation dealing with the debt ceiling, with the support of...

Common Cause의 주정부 운영 이사인 비키 해리슨은 수년에 걸쳐 양당의 극단적 집단이 주 협의회를 소집할 것을 요구해 왔지만, 그녀의 조직은 이 모임이 강력한 특수이익 집단의 영향을 쉽게 받을 수 있다며 반대 의사를 밝혔다.

"누가 대회에 갈 사람을 선택할 것인가?" 해리슨은 궁금해했다. "우리는 외부의 특수이익단체, 거액 기부자들이 선거에 얼마나 큰 영향력을 행사하는지 이미 알고 있는데, 왜 이게 다를 것이라고 생각할까?"

지지자들은...

“The governor of Florida does not have control over all Florida police departments or the FBI. And by proposing this integrity unit, it seems like that’s what he wants: personal, political goon squad,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause.

“A police force under the authority of a political individual becomes a political army. That’s similar to, I don’t know, Russia?” Albert said. “In America, we have separation of powers. We have politicians, we have police, we have the judiciary....

“Texas has the weakest, most corruption-prone campaign finance system in the country,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. “It is striking that our top law enforcement official can’t manage to meet our extremely low disclosure requirements.”

It’s important for voters to know who is donating to a candidate, Gutierrez said, especially in a state where there’s no cap on contributions.

“We really can’t make decisions about whether a public official is acting in our best...

The issue has drawn the ire of voting rights groups like Common Cause and the League of Women Voters who have for years pushed the state to move to allow online voter registration. Texas is one of eight states that does not offer it. The League depends on the state's paper copies to provide new citizens with the forms in their welcome packets at naturalization ... ceremonies.

"This is a problem that's easily solvable," said Common Cause executive director Anthony Gutierrez. "We ask that the state immediately take steps to fix...

정부 감시 단체인 코먼 코즈(Common Cause)의 부사장인 폴 S. 라이언은 이러한 기부는 기업이 정부 관리에게 접근하는 데 도움이 될 수 있다고 말했습니다.

"특권 세력이 정부와 거래하면서 공무원들의 계약 체결이나 기타 정부 결정에 큰 기여를 할 수 있다면, 이는 우려스러운 일입니다."라고 그는 말했다. "일반 미국인들은 그런 영향력을 살 수 없습니다."