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Salon: Experts warn Supreme Court supporting 'dangerous' GOP legal theory could destroy US democracy

Speaking of the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court hearing of Moore v. Harper during a Monday webinar co-hosted by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Kathay Feng, national redistricting director at Common Cause, said that "the date has yet to be set, but what we do know is the question at issue: Whether state legislatures should be given absolute and supreme power to create voting laws and redistricting maps for congressional elections." Feng blasted what she called the GOP's "down and dirty" map rigging as "illegal and unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders with devastating consequences for voters, particularly Black voters, and their ability to elect candidates of their choice." "The danger is not just that partisan political leaders will be able to draw lines without any kind of checks, but also that we the people will no longer have a representative government," she asserted. "Our government will be of, by, and for the politicians, not regular people."

Voting & Elections 09.9.2022

Salon: Election officials preparing for worst-case scenarios: Violence around the midterms

Threats have become so commonplace that election clerks consider it a part of their job, said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. "These election administrators keep saying that they report things to law enforcement or local DAs and nothing happens, like nobody's being prosecuted," Gutierrez said. Common Cause, which does election protection work, is also looking at potential ways to hold people who attack election workers accountable. What has complicated that task, Gutierrez and others say, is that numerous people in leadership positions keep casting doubt on the way elections are administered. For an elected state official to embrace that narrative, Gutierrez said, "really perpetuates this feeling that the people running our elections are doing something wrong, or trying to rig the elections. Just naturally, that's going to create an environment where you're asking for some kind of violence to happen."

Voting & Elections 09.8.2022

Associated Press: Support of false election claims runs deep in 2022 GOP field

“I don’t want to give them more power than they actually have to undermine us and our faith in the election process,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for expanded voter access. “We have a huge infrastructure with thousands of election officials and checks and balance. In places where there are bad intentions to harm voters, we are all working to ensure those don’t happen.”

Voting & Elections 09.8.2022

Tallahassee Democrat: How did your Florida lawmaker score in the Democracy Scorecard by Common Cause?

“Officeholders are deciding on matters that present a choice between a fundamental belief in democracy or authoritarian rule; between you and me having power in our vote and voice, or others taking that way from us,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause in a prepared statement with the Scorecard’s release.  See the full results at https://democracyscorecard.org.

Santa Fe Reporter: NM Judge Bars Insurrectionist Couy Griffin From Public Office

Common Cause New Mexico, which filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs, hailed Mathew’s decision for having far-reaching consequences. “Judge Mathew’s decision is a signal to elected officials everywhere who want to snub their noses at the constitution, foment mob violence and disobey the law,” said Mario Jimenez, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, in a statement. “Our elected officials—and candidates—must obey the law. They are not above it. That’s the very essence of democracy, and this ruling affirms it.”

The 19th News: What makes state legislatures uniquely prone to alleged harassment

Heather Ferguson, the state director of Common Cause in New Mexico — a progressive voting rights and elections reform organization — spoke with investigators in the Ayana complaint. Ivey-Soto once referred to Ferguson and her co-director as “hips and lips,” and has publicly admitted to doing so. Ferguson said what concerns her the most is knowing that experiences like hers are happening around the country.  “In varying degrees, this is something that occurs in different statehouses based on the level of transparency on harassment, the tolerance level for harassment,” Ferguson said.  She calls the bullying and harassment of men lawmakers toward women  the “worst kept open secret.” In a state like New Mexico, where the political sphere is “extremely small,” Ferguson said coming forward with a complaint of harassment meant risking “having every bill you touch destroyed thereafter.”  “We are frustrated because we have a personal, vested interest in creating a safe work environment,” Ferguson said. “Our statehouse is supposed to be the people’s house. The public should feel safe there. I shouldn’t have to instruct my staff to not go into a senator’s office or be alone for fear of being harassed or bullied.”

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