News Clips

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 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.”

Viki Harrison, director of constitutional convention programs at Common Cause, said her organization supports efforts to curb gun violence, but she said calling a convention “could put all of our civil rights up for grabs.” “A constitutional convention is not the way to go and could actually make reducing gun violence worse at the end of the day because gun interests could re-write the constitution,” she told The Washington Times. “With no rules in place, and many convention proponents advocating for the same number of delegates per state, gun control would not be the topic taken up at a convention.”

Voting rights groups say that does not mean voting is easy, and they have been responding to the restrictions with fresh strategies. In Georgia, for instance, Common Cause set up mobile printing stations across the state so voters could comply with new voter registration rules that require an ink signature on a printed form. “It’s only through the work of all these communities and groups on the ground that voters have access,” said Sylvia Albert, the group’s national director of voting and elections. “But doing this post-Shelby, courts are not recognizing the true damage those laws have had.”

“It’s an attempt to fool voters into giving away their power,” said Mia Lewis of Common Cause Ohio, a pro-democracy group that opposes the amendment.