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Voting & Elections 09.9.2022

Salon: Election officials preparing for worst-case scenarios: Violence around the midterms

Threats have become so commonplace that election clerks consider it a part of their job, said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. "These election administrators keep saying that they report things to law enforcement or local DAs and nothing happens, like nobody's being prosecuted," Gutierrez said. Common Cause, which does election protection work, is also looking at potential ways to hold people who attack election workers accountable. What has complicated that task, Gutierrez and others say, is that numerous people in leadership positions keep casting doubt on the way elections are administered. For an elected state official to embrace that narrative, Gutierrez said, "really perpetuates this feeling that the people running our elections are doing something wrong, or trying to rig the elections. Just naturally, that's going to create an environment where you're asking for some kind of violence to happen."

Voting & Elections 09.8.2022

WHYY: Delaware’s first ‘election protection’ program launches ahead of state’s primary vote

Common Cause of Delaware executive director Claire Snyder-Hall says the poll monitors will be in place in Wilmington, Dover, Lewes, and Rehoboth Beach. “One of the reasons we’re happy to have the election protection field program on the ground this year is because a lot of the voting laws have changed recently,” Snyder-Hall said. Changes include an expansion of early voting, vote by mail, same-day registration, and no registration deadlines. “Consequently, we expect that some voters might be confused by all those changes, and we are here to help,” she said, adding that volunteers will be able to ensure everyone can exercise their freedom to vote. “Several years ago when I voted, it was voting in Rehoboth. I was told that I had to show a driver’s license to vote,” said Synder-Hall. “And that’s actually not Delaware law.”

Voting & Elections 09.8.2022

Associated Press: Support of false election claims runs deep in 2022 GOP field

“I don’t want to give them more power than they actually have to undermine us and our faith in the election process,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for expanded voter access. “We have a huge infrastructure with thousands of election officials and checks and balance. In places where there are bad intentions to harm voters, we are all working to ensure those don’t happen.”

Voting & Elections 09.8.2022

Tallahassee Democrat: How did your Florida lawmaker score in the Democracy Scorecard by Common Cause?

“Officeholders are deciding on matters that present a choice between a fundamental belief in democracy or authoritarian rule; between you and me having power in our vote and voice, or others taking that way from us,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause in a prepared statement with the Scorecard’s release.  See the full results at https://democracyscorecard.org.

Voting & Elections 09.7.2022

Boston Globe: R.I. Board of Elections calls for new protocols after ballot problems

John M. Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, attended Wednesday’s meeting and tweeted, “Big takeaway for me is that there was no process in place that could have caught these mistakes. It’s a new technology implementation, which is hard, but there is a lot we could have learned from other states that have had them for years.” Marion and Steven Brown, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, noted that the printed ballots voters received after using the touchscreen are in English, even if the voter opted to vote in Spanish. “Not only does this obviously undercut the point of having a bilingual voting process in the first place, it is in clear violation of the federal law that requires this Spanish language option in Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Woonsocket,” they wrote.

Santa Fe Reporter: NM Judge Bars Insurrectionist Couy Griffin From Public Office

Common Cause New Mexico, which filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs, hailed Mathew’s decision for having far-reaching consequences. “Judge Mathew’s decision is a signal to elected officials everywhere who want to snub their noses at the constitution, foment mob violence and disobey the law,” said Mario Jimenez, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, in a statement. “Our elected officials—and candidates—must obey the law. They are not above it. That’s the very essence of democracy, and this ruling affirms it.”

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