News Clips

“Normally we get 6,000 volunteers. This time, so far we have upwards of 40,000 volunteers,” said Sylvia Albert, who is the director of voting and elections with Common Cause. “It shows real interest and desire by the American people to ensure a free, fair and safe election.”

Jesse Littlewood, vice president for campaigns at Common Cause, called the effort by the secretaries of state a “remarkable” attempt to “strong-arm Facebook.” “It’s troubling to see those overseeing elections try to stop what appears to be a successful project to register voters,” he said.

"There is no telling how many that could be but it may be tens of thousands of ballots will come in late and not be counted even if they were mailed and postmarked before or on Nov. 3," Jay Heck, the Wisconsin executive director of Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to protecting and improving voters' rights and access to the ballot, told ABC News.

"That is an illegal use to send unsolicited phone calls to voters, and especially one that contains deceptive practice that could disenfranchise someone and take away their chance to vote," Jesse Littlewood, vice president of Campaigns at non-partisan Common Cause, said. Michigan's attorney general has filed charges against the creators of the message.

"2020 has been a year like no other because not only have we seen a higher volume of online mis- and disinformation, we have also changed a lot of processes about our society, including the way we administer elections," said Jesse Littlewood, who leads the Stopping Cyber Suppression program for Common Cause. His nonpartisan group has already identified close to 5,000 incidents this year. Littlewood noted that the shift to more mail-in voting because of the pandemic has opened the way for a whole new wave of disinformation.

Americans should have options to vote in a secure and accessible way. One possibility many have raised is making Election Day a national federal holiday. While giving Americans a day devoted to voting is a good idea, it must also be coupled with other election reforms to make sure no one is left out of the political process.