News Clips

An election watchdog believes the boards of elections in New York have acted in an "appropriate, measured way" to ensure proper counting of primary ballots. "It takes time to get it right,"Susan Lerner of Common Cause New York said.

Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause, said the census affects the fair distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal funding annually for “critical resources like food assistance, medical supplies for COVID-19 recovery, youth programs, and affordable housing.” “This memorandum by President Trump is a blatant attempt to skew how electoral districts are drawn, instill fear and chaos in immigrant communities, and send a message to his white supremacist base,” she said.

"It is a shocking day: The only thing that is clear to me is that pay-to-play is rampant in Ohio," said Catherine Turcer of the government watchdog group, Common Cause Ohio. "Utility money is the grease of the machine of the Statehouse."

“We don’t believe that Gov. Hogan is acting in the best interest of Maryland voters,” said Joanne Antoine, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, noting that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that voters consider alternatives to casting ballots in person.

Beth Rotman, national director of the government watchdog group Common Cause’s ethics and money in politics project, said the forms should be disclosed in a way that average voters are able to see, and online data is quickly accessible and searchable. “The public should have timely access to complete, searchable statements of their lawmakers’ financial disclosure statements so the public can evaluate any potential conflicts or red flags in real time,” Rotman said. “In many cases, delayed disclosure will equate to non-disclosure if the public lacks access to the information when they are evaluating whether their representatives appear to be acting in the best interest of their members — those every day Americans they represent — or their own pocket.”

“On the positive side, the judges ruled that expired photo student IDs can be used as proof of identity to vote,” said Jay Heck, the executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, who called the state's rules among the most restrictive in the country.