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Voting & Elections 03.3.2022

USA Today: Texas primary tidbits: Greg Abbott, Beto O'Rourke, Donald Trump, party in-fighting

"We saw vote-by-mail applications and ballots rejected at unprecedented rates, poll sites opening late or not opening at all due to election worker shortages, and widespread technology issues," said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. Calling for federal action, Gutierrez said it won't get any easier for Texas or other states: "These issues we’re seeing today will be far bigger problems in November when we have exponentially more people showing up to the polls."

CNN: Is the Supreme Court ready to upend the power of state courts in disputes over federal elections?

"The elimination of state autonomy is inconsistent with the historical practice and the intent of the Election Clause and invites the risk that federal courts will wrongly interpret state law -- a significant risk given the difficulty federal courts have in mastering 50 different States' laws," Allison Riggs, a lawyer for Common Cause, argued in court papers. She said to accept the Republicans' argument "that partisan gerrymandering claims are immune from state constitutional scrutiny by state courts would require this Court to overrule a century of precedent." "It would lead to an unprecedented upheaval of current election law and foreclose any legal relief for voters from extreme legislation, which state courts already found to be undemocratic," Riggs said in an interview.

Santa Fe New Mexican: Sen. Ivey-Soto faces inquiry on harassment claim

"The current process right now will not even inform the public that anything is happening one way or the other," Heather Ferguson, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico. She said the process is "completely behind closed doors and out of public view. That does not instill trust in the public in the process itself." Nor will it encourage others who may have similar complaints against lawmakers to come forward, Ferguson added.

Money & Influence 03.2.2022

Daily Beast: How the Hell Is Trump 43-0 vs. Campaign Finance Watchdogs?

Paul S. Ryan, vice president of litigation at good government group Common Cause, was on the receiving end of a number of those decisions, and did not mince words. “Trump is a walking playbook for how to violate campaign finance laws and get away with it,” Ryan told The Daily Beast, noting that several cases hit close to home, including the Daniels payment, “complaints related to his soft money group America First Policies, his involvement with now-disgraced Cambridge Analytica, his solicitation of foreign campaign assistance and more.” Because his organization filed those complaints, he said, seeing Trump walk “really stings.” Ryan added that Common Cause wasn’t alone, noting that the Trump campaign skated on complaints from the Campaign Legal Center, End Citizens United, Democracy 21 and other watchdogs.

Voting & Elections 03.1.2022

TIME: Texas Primary Unfolds as Advocates Sound the Alarm About Mail Ballot Rejections

Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause, describes provisions like the Texas one and accompanying voting restrictions as “death by a thousand cuts.” “When you put so many restrictions on the election that a certain percentage of people can’t vote or don’t have votes counted then the election is no longer a reflection of the will of the people,” Albert says.

Voting & Elections 02.26.2022

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Unlike Texas, new voter ID rules in Georgia didn’t cause surge in rejections

Voters should prepare in advance if they want to cast an absentee ballot this year, said Aunna Dennis, executive director for Common Cause Georgia, a government accountability organization. “Start the process early to be as prepared as possible so you don’t have to face hurdles that may come,” Dennis said. “We don’t know just yet what the impact is going to be until we actually have the primary.”

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