News Clips

And even though the court upheld drive-through voting, the confusion over the issue itself could disenfranchise voters, said Anthony Gutierrez – the executive director of Common Cause, a non-partisan organization dedicated to upholding democracy. He added that these challenges to voter accessibility can be successful in turning away new voters, even if the case is ultimately rejected. “It’s super clear they want any new people to not be voting in Texas,” Gutierrez said. “A lot of people don’t understand which IDs they need or what the requirements are for vote-by-mail or curbside, it can just be confusing enough that they opt out and decide it seems like a lot of trouble.”

Karen Hobert Flynn, the president of Common Cause, told reporters on Monday: "We need to let our election officials do their job and count every vote because that is what democracies are supposed to do."

As business leaders learned in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, keeping a low profile during periods of social and political controversy is not an option in today's fast-moving, information-hungry environment. Standing together, business and civil society can send a strong message that we won't tolerate any false claims about our elections or any attempt to manipulate results and overturn the will of voters. It's inspiring to see tens of millions of Americans sending in their mail ballots, standing in line to vote and taking active steps to participate in our democracy. We owe them a free and fair election, with every vote counted and all results respected. That's our mission in the coming days. The more people, organizations and businesses who join us, the greater our voice will be — not only on Election Day but in the crucial days to follow.

“We are confident we’ll see record turnout here by the end of the election night,” said Quentin Turner, who runs the voter protection operation in Michigan for Common Cause, a nonpartisan group. “We are a little above 50 percent of our 2016 total in early votes alone. Many folks in Michigan want to vote in person; it’s an important tradition here.”

“Make sure, regardless what happens with litigation, that your vote is counted,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, which called for Barrett to recuse herself from any potential election litigation. “To me, it seems a clear voter-suppression tactic and an effort to invalidate ballots” that a party does not think are for them. “I would hope the court would see that as an obvious power grab, but the reality is, we don’t know what the court would do,” Albert said.

Jay Heck, director of the voter-rights group Common Cause in Wisconsin, said fear of the virus is a huge issue heading into Election Day because coronavirus cases are spiking to an average of 4,500 new diagnoses a day in the state. President Trump’s campaigning there has drawn large crowds recently. “Trump and Pence have been coming continually, and their rallies are all not requiring people to wear masks,” he said. “[People might say,] Hey, if it’s okay to go see the president and vice president and not wear a mask, why should I have to wear one if I’m going to vote? That’s caused a lot of concern.”