Media Center

While the $250 million in election security spending approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee today is a step in the right direction, that amount still falls far short of the funding and assistance required by state and local election officials facing ongoing attacks from hostile foreign powers. The amendment that Sen. McConnell voiced support for is virtually identical to one he and nearly all Senate Republicans voted against a year ago. In that time, millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Common Cause supporters have contacted Senate Republican offices encouraging them to support additional election security funding. The House-passed $600 million in election security funding is much closer to what states need to update their voting machines and replace outdated equipment vulnerable to hacking. As the appropriations process proceeds, we encourage Congress to advance solutions that fully address the magnitude of threats our democracy faces.

Today, Common Cause, Verified Voting, and The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law released a report on Rhode Island’s pilot program to identify the most effective methods to implement the risk-limiting audits (RLA) required by the state for the 2020 election. The three organizations were part of a working group that helped the state design and run the pilots earlier this year.

Today, the Select Committee on Intelligence in the United States Senate released its long-awaited report on Russian interference into the 2016 elections in the wake of former special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s warnings yesterday that threats to the nation’s election infrastructure are serious and ongoing. Common Cause hailed the report itself as well as the bipartisan and effective work of the Committee as it addressed the critical and growing threat to our democracy.

Today, Common Cause is launching a new effort to ensure voters’ right to know where presidential candidates stand on practical solutions to the challenges facing our democracy. The Our Democracy 2020 campaign will focus getting every presidential candidate in the Democratic and Republican primaries to respond to a 17-question survey and inject the high priority conversation on the need for democracy reform in the presidential campaign. 

Common Cause is tracking which members of Congress have read, or not read, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian attacks on the 2016 presidential election. The new easily searchable “Will Congress Act?” website (willcongressact.org) allows people to see whether their Members have read the report and contact them to ask that they read it if they have not. 

Common Cause and the National Vote At Home Institute recommend that all states, at a minimum, adopt same-day voter registration, offer early voting and eliminate strict photo ID requirements so that voters have sufficient and secure options to cast a ballot on or before Election Day.