News Clips

“Greg Abbott either didn’t read this bill closely enough to understand what it really does or is deliberately working to make it harder for Texans with disabilities to vote,” Katya Ehresman, the voting rights manager for Common Cause Texas, said in a statement.

To date, those consequences are “essentially a slap on the wrist,” Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at nonprofit government watchdog Common Cause, told Raw Story earlier this month.

Julia Vaughn is the executive director of Common Cause Indiana — a lobbying organization focused on voting rights and election issues. She said the current map does not properly or equitably represent residents within its districts. “People in the overpopulated district have less voting strength in city elections than the people in the underpopulated districts,” Vaughn said. “So what our lawsuit seeks to do is simply ensure that all voters in Anderson have the same say in their local elections.” Vaughn said this upholds the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. She explained that making Anderson more equitable for voters would mean one person to one vote, and not bearing the weight of overpopulated or underpopulated districts. The deadline for redistricting under state law was Dec. 31, 2022. Vaughn said there is very little oversight of the redistricting process, which means it’s often up to outside organizations to hold the government accountable in redistricting situations. “So, unfortunately, outside of litigation, no, there’s very little oversight of this and it’s really easy for local governments to get away with just punting on this fundamental responsibility that they have to their voters,” Vaughn said.

"The fact that the trial is taking place in the state Senate means there is going to be politics involved," said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, a nonpartisan organization focused on government accountability. "Texans still should expect fairness and impartiality and you’re not going to get that if you have senators with conflicts serving as jurors." The financial connection to Patrick could be an especially significant red flag, given Patrick’s position in the process, said Gutierrez. “His role is so much bigger,” Gutierrez said. “Any appearance of a conflict is probably more serious because he’s the one presumably presiding over this trial." “You wouldn’t want the judge in a trial to be someone who has a financial relationship with the defendant, and that seems to be the case here,” Gutierrez said.

The refusal of the state’s most prominent business organization to discuss the ramifications of a constitutional change it’s supporting adds another undemocratic layer to an initiative that already has many, said Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, which opposes State Issue 1. She said the Chamber and its members will sink lots of corporate money into the fight to cut voters’ power, but it doesn’t want to be open with them. “One of the challenges with corporate donations and business organizations is that the money does the talking,” Turcer said. “It gets spent on elections, but we don’t hear directly from the people behind it. And we should expect to hear that because at the end of the day, a corporation doesn’t get to vote. At the end of the day, a corporation is an artificial entity. (Behind them are) human beings making decisions and we should understand what is happening. Or at least the press should have an opportunity to ask questions.” The position the Chamber is taking in favor of State Issue 1 is out of step with four former governors of both parties, five former Ohio attorneys general, and more than 240 organizations — such as Turcer’s — who are adamantly opposed to the measure because they believe it would effectively lock Ohio voters out of their state Constitution.

“I don’t think it’s going to stop Republicans from drawing racist maps,” Aunna Dennis, executive director of the voting rights group Common Cause, told CNN. “But I think that this empowers those of us pushing back and fighting that.”