News Clips

Common Cause Rhode Island Executive Director John Marion Jr. credited the board's decision to dig deeper on the Matos signatures and to do it in public. "The board made that decision in the right way – after publicly debating the tradeoffs they face," Marion wrote. "We won’t know how to fix this signature process moving forward unless we know the scope of the problem now."

“It’s this ‘Don’t tread on me’ moment where voters are being activated,” says Catherine Turcer, the executive director of Common Cause Ohio, a good-government advocacy group that helped lead the effort to defeat the amendment. “Voters don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the Ohio constitution. They probably don’t spend a ton of time thinking about voting rights,” Turcer told me. But, she said, “the attempt to dilute voter power so that it would impact a vote on reproductive rights made it really concrete, and that was important.” Republicans in Ohio, and in other states where similar ballot measures have flopped, are now confronting the limits of their power and the point at which voters will rebel. Their critics, however, are doubtful that Republicans will shift their strategy. “It’s unlikely that they will stop right away,” Turcer said. “It will take a number of defeats before they’re likely to understand that voters do not want to be taken advantage of.”

The executive director of Common Cause Ohio, Catherine Turcer, noted that the 1912 constitutional convention that birthed the current amendment provisions sought to check a corrupt and unaccountable government. Now, in the wake of perhaps the biggest corruption scandal in state government history — the racketeering conviction of the former House speaker Larry L. Householder for accepting $60 million in bribes — “the State Legislature should choose to actually make changes that create greater transparency and greater accountability,” Ms. Turcer said. “But they’re not. Instead, they’re playing around with the rules.”

John M. Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, said the busy debate schedule will give candidates lots of chances to secure chunks of support in what is expected to be a low-turnout special election. The primary is Sept. 5, and the special election is Nov. 7. “The candidates are trying to put together small slices of the electorate into a winning coalition,” Marion said. “And whether it’s debating this week around issues of war and peace or debating last week about issues of racial equality, they are speaking to different parts of the electorate that care deeply about different issues. There might be a chance for them to stand out.” ... Another benefit will come from how debates can shape news coverage, Marion said. Without candidate forums, media coverage tends to focus on polling and the “horse race,” or on press releases and news conferences where candidates are trying to get a message out on their own terms, he said. “In debates, candidates are held accountable for their message by both the moderators and their opponents,” he said, “so the coverage is often more substantive.”

Proponents of the new threshold are “willing to change the rules because they don’t trust voters,” said Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, a nonprofit group focused on strengthening democratic institutions.

"Today is another day of Michigan values holding strong against lies about our elections," Quentin Turner, program director at Common Cause Michigan, said in a statement. "For years, Michiganders of all parties have continued to resoundingly reject lies and conspiracy theories about our election." "Mr. DePerno, Ms. Rendon, and their team's alleged actions do not reflect the voices of millions who believe in fair, accessible elections and upholding the will of the people," Turner added. "We are convinced that the upcoming case against DePerno and Rendon will result in accountability and show, once again, that Michigan is a state that believes in protecting the rights of its citizens."