Media Center

Washington, D.C. — August 22, 2020. Today the House of Representatives passed the Delivering for America Act, H.R. 8015 to halt changes to U.S. Postal Service operations and provide $25 billion in emergency funding during the COVID-19 pandemic. Common Cause’s President, Karen Hobert Flynn released the following statement: “We applaud the House of Representatives for standing up for the millions of Americans who rely on the U.S. Postal Service every day and passing the Delivering for America Act, H.R. 8015 to reverse changes to operations and provide $25 billion in funding during the pandemic. With tens of millions of Americans expected to vote by mail this year, it is appalling that the Trump administration would try to suppress our vote by hampering the USPS. Many communities and groups greatly depend on the USPS: seniors and people with disabilities for their social security benefits and prescription medications; rural and Native communities who lack other affordable delivery options; Americans who lack Internet connectivity; workers for their paychecks; veterans for medicines and VA benefits; and small businesses to ship their products to customers.”

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and its pro bono counsel, Arnold & Porter LLP, filed suit this evening in federal court for the District of Maryland on behalf of the National Urban League, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters U.S. against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the United States Postal Service, challenging actions intended to disrupt the 2020 election by making it more difficult for mail ballots to be delivered on time.

Today, good government groups led by Common Cause and Demand Progress delivered more than 132,000 unique petition signatures to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee calling on the oversight bodies to investigate and take appropriate action to stop Facebook’s profiteering from voter suppression through demonstrably false political ads run on the social media platform. It is Facebook’s official policy to exempt political ads on its platform from third-party fact-checking. The result has been widespread dissemination of lies, misinformation, and disinformation.

Americans expect and deserve elected representatives who put the interests of their constituents and the health of our democracy first – especially when both are threatened by a pandemic. But instead, the Senate Republicans’ long-overdue COVID-19 relief package undermines the accuracy of the 2020 census, gives corporations the immunity they’ve lobbied for, slashes weekly jobless aid, and short-changes our democracy all in one fell swoop. Senate foot-dragging on this relief package already allowed the eviction moratorium in the CARES Act to expire – likely adding disenfranchisement to the host of life-altering problems faced by thousands of newly-homeless Americans.

Last night, 30+ organizations from the Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD) coalition urged the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules & Administration to include vital funding to bolster state and local elections officials facing unprecedented burdens in holding elections amidst the COVID-19 pandemic amidst massive budget shortfalls. In a letter organized by Common Cause to every member of the Committee yesterday, more than 30 groups emphasized the importance supporting the $3.6 billion in election funding that was included in the House-passed Heroes Act in order to safeguard our elections against multiple threats at home and abroad.

Today’s primary election went remarkably smoothly for most who made it to the polls but certainly not for all. And we don’t know how many never made it to the polls in the first place in an election where many counties – including those encompassing Louisville and Lexington – had only one polling location for voters. Too many Kentuckians never received the mail-in ballots they requested. As a result, many older voters and other citizens at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 had to choose between risking their safety or giving up their right to vote.