News Clips

Election officials in a rural Georgia county are weighing plans to close all but one polling place ahead of this year's elections, alarming local voting and civil rights groups. CNN's Dianne Gallagher reports and speaks with Common Cause Georgia Executive Director Aunna Dennis.

“We’re not going to give up and take our marbles and go home. We’re going to continue to fight, as we are also fighting at the state level,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, the president of Common Cause. She said that Common Cause would work to educate voters about their rights, recruiting poll monitors, and support groups that are bringing forward litigation. “There are going to be a lot of fronts to fight this battle at the state level, but in many ways it’s going to be a whack-a-mole,” Flynn said.

It’s a now or never moment for our democracy. With an imminent vote to advance the voting rights legislation facing the U.S. Senate, there’s one truth Mr. Portman and other Republican senators can’t escape: The vote is a choice between voter protection and voter suppression. We hope they stand on the side of the voters and choose to protect and strengthen our freedom to vote in Ohio. No Senate rule like the filibuster should stand in its way.

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 this problem that they have manufactured. It's time for the state of Texas to join the 21st century, and the rest of the country, and provide online voter registration to every eligible voter in Texas."

“As things stand now, about half of those voters are being blocked from having their voices heard,” Stephanie Gomez, the associate director at Common Cause Texas, said in a statement. “If this isn’t fixed, this single provision of SB 1 could block up to a half-million Texans from voting by mail this year.” “In the meantime, we urge all Texans to be your own advocates for your freedom to vote,” added Gomez. “While the politicians in charge are determined to make it as hard as possible to vote, Common Cause Texas is ramping up our Texas-sized election protection to ensure our communities can make their voice heard at the ballot box.”

This country needs to have two or more vibrant political parties contesting elections and trying to win the battle of ideas by persuading voters that their proposals are best. But when one of the major political parties doesn’t really believe in elections and in democracy, then it follows that it can’t possibly win the hearts and minds of citizens at the ballot box because the outcome of free and fair elections doesn’t really matter to them. That sick mindset will eventually destroy that party. If it ceases to believe in elections, then it will cease to be able to win them. The great majority of Wisconsinites and Americans will never adopt that cynical and destructive vision. It’s up to Republicans to dramatically change direction and to again work to strengthen democracy instead of trying to destroy it.