News Clips

In Texas, the leaked video of the Harris County Republican Party’s training, which was published by the voting rights group Common Cause, recalled a similar episode from the 2010 midterm elections. That year, a Tea Party-affiliated group in Houston known as the King Street Patriots sent poll watchers to downtown polling locations. The flood of the mostly white observers into Black neighborhoods caused friction, and resurfaced not-too-distant memories when racial intimidation at the polls was commonplace in the South. The King Street Patriots would eventually evolve into True the Vote, one of the major national organizations now seeking more voting restrictions. Last year, True the Vote joined several lawsuits alleging fraud in the election (all failed) and led countrywide drives to try to recruit more poll watchers.

Kathay Feng, the national redistricting and representation director at Common Cause, a government watchdog group, warned that voting advocates would be closely monitoring for that kind of discrimination. Much of the America’s population growth over the last decade has come from non-white people. “Our top priority is ensuring that states that are adding congressional seats recognize the population growth fueled by communities of color in the upcoming redistricting process,” Feng said in a statement.

Jay Riestenberg with Common Cause, which advocates for more accessible voting, is particularly concerned about conservative “secret donors” funding the push for more restrictive laws.  “Well, the truth is, we’ll never really know because a lot of these groups do not disclose their spending or where their funding comes from,” Riestenberg said. “But I think we’re well in the area of over $100 million on both sides.”

"SB 90 will limit voters' options when they make a choice in the three methods to cast a ballot. It will create hurdles to every step of voting by mail. It will reduce voters' access to ballot drop boxes. It will add to elections officials' workload and add to the need for voter education. It will make it more difficult for the nonpartisan Election Protection volunteer program to assist voters in understanding their rights in the voting process," Sylvia Albert of Common Cause said in a statement released following the House vote. "Nothing about this bill is 'for the people.' It will only make it harder for 'the people' to have our voices heard and our ballots counted," she added.

On Tuesday, a letter was posted to the website Common Cause, the political watchdog group, addressed to host Jimmy Kimmel and the production team of the ABC series. The letter noted that Lindell has been "a leading voice in spreading lies and disinformation regarding the 2020 election results, including producing several videos claiming that the 2020 elections were hacked." Making a case that Lindell should not appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the letter stated: "We believe that having Mr. Lindell on your show will give him a bigger platform to spread his lies and disinformation, and knowingly mislead the public about the integrity of our election systems. To be clear, even joking about his conspiracy theories can lead to the spread of disinformation. In fact, disinformation actors such as Lindell often seek to get their lies and conspiracy theories debunked in national media in order to give their disinformation broader reach. Given the state of our nation and nature of Lindell’s lies, we are asking that you immediately cancel his scheduled appearance."

“It’s critically important that the For the People Act remain big, bold and together,” said Aaron Scherb, the director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, one of several groups working with Democrats on the bill, adding, “People don’t want piecemeal solutions to comprehensive problems.”