News Clips

Unlike Delaware’s restrictions, Rhode Island’s voter-ID law can’t be described as antiquated: The statute is just 10 years old and won adoption under a Democratic majority with support from powerful Black elected leaders. “It was bizarro,” said John Marion, the executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, the state affiliate of the national government-watchdog group. “Ten years later, I still don’t know how it happened.”

The state could become “the canary in the coal mine” when it comes to using nondecennial census data that way, said Jay Young, the executive director of Common Cause Illinois. Young and others say that route is rife with potential legal challenges. It also undercuts the investment the state made financially and in outreach to underserved communities to get a good census count. Change Illinois, Common Cause and other groups nationwide have pushed legislatures to engage the public in the redistricting process.

“It’s very difficult to see how a Manhattan D.A. candidate can accept really large and numerous donations from people who are involved in industries who could easily be the subject of that office’s attention,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a government reform group.

The review was prompted by a complaint filed by advocacy group Common Cause NC with the State Board of Elections. “We filed our complaint with the State Board of Elections in light of a fundraising scheme allegedly perpetrated by Mr. DeJoy that has the appearance of illicitly bypassing North Carolina’s campaign finance limits,” Bob Phillips of Common Cause said in an email statement Monday. “We have full confidence that the State Board of Elections will conduct a thorough investigation into these serious allegations against Mr. DeJoy, and we look forward to learning the results of that investigation when it is concluded,” the statement said.

By and large, bills to expand mail-in voting and voter registration are passing in states that have Democratic legislative majorities and Democratic governors, said Sylvia Albert, the national voting and elections director for Common Cause, a national nonprofit that favors expanded voting options and has joined a lawsuit seeking to overturn Georgia’s new restrictions.

Common Cause Texas said the presentation, which is dated March 10, was circulated online by the Harris County Republican Party. “The impetus for releasing right now is there are some bills in the legislature that seek to empower poll watchers in some really scary ways, and also at the same time, take away the power of the presiding judge at the poll site from being able to remove a disruptive poll watcher,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. The group blurred out the Republican official's name from his presentation for his privacy.