News Clips

“For too long public dialogue about redistricting has focused almost exclusively on the partisan horse race,” said Dan Vicuña, national redistricting director for Common Cause, one of the organizations in the coalition. “It’s undeniable that manipulation of voting districts for political advantage is a direct threat to the health of our democracy. However, that threat doesn’t derive from which party is up or down at a given moment. It derives from the slicing and dicing of communities into districts in ways that make it impossible for their residents to have an effective voice in Congress, state legislatures and local government.”

Ann Webb, the policy director of government watchdog group Common Cause North Carolina, said “an agency that is designed to protect the interests of the public spending, state funds should be operated in such a way that it reflects the public interest in its structure — not simply the interest of a couple of very powerful individuals.” “Democracy requires transparency,” Webb said. Webb, with Common Cause, said it’s “really important to look at the holistic picture. All the ways that the legislature has been grabbing power for itself.” She said Gov Ops is just the latest example. Webb said that Common Cause is “always concerned with balance of power, and checks and balances disrupted, and that’s not only the balance of power among the three branches of government but also the ability of the people to oversee what their government is doing.”

The coalition hub, which included the national Common Cause and the National Congress of American Indians, talked to over 2,000 people involved in the redistricting process in all 50 states. Dan Vicuña, director of redistricting and representation for Common Cause, a voting-rights nonprofit headquartered in Washington, D.C., said in an interview those compiling the report put less focus on partisan conflicts and court cases and more on “whether public input was implemented in the maps.” He said while the coalition hub did study court cases, it did not take them into account when finalizing the report card’s grades. New Mexico is one of at least 15 states still involved with litigation stemming from redistricting efforts, Vicuña wrote in an email.

“This redistricting cycle in Ohio provided a textbook example of the lengths elected officials will go to prioritize partisanship over fair representation for the public,” the report by Common Cause stated, adding that Republican lawmakers and redistricting commission members showed a “complete disregard... for the rule of law in Ohio.”

Gavin Geis, director of Common Cause Nebraska, said a C+ is a fair grade for Nebraska. He said he believes Nebraska’s maps ended up pretty good, yet the redistricting process had issues with public access, transparency and politicization. Besides three public hearings across the state on the proposed maps, Geis said, it was difficult to get committee members to engage with public input. He said lawmakers largely ignored suggested maps proposed by community organizations. “Citizens’ work on this is why we had good maps,” said Geis, who contributed to the Nebraska aspect of the CHARGE report. The national Common Cause organization is one of groups involved with the coalition. Many of the states scoring better than Nebraska have independent groups that conduct or aid the redistricting process. Geis said the proper way to redraw political districts is to do so without elected officials, who have a clear stake in the outcome. Redistricting power won’t be something lawmakers give up willingly, Geis said, so a citizen-led ballot initiative would be the way to change Nebraska’s system. Such an initiative was attempted in 2020 but didn’t make it to the ballot — something Geis attributes to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We examine the flood of disinformation about the war in Israel on Twitter or X since Elon Musk allows anyone to buy Blue-Check accounts previously restricted to journalists, politicians and business and world leaders which fake journalists can now use to spread outrageous lies that can be monetized depending on the millions they deceive. Joining us is Emma Steiner, the Information Accountability Project Manager at Common Cause where she leads efforts to protect voters from disinformation related to voting rights and democracy, and to help defend against lies that undermine the integrity of our elections.