Media Center

A Syracuse Post-Standard editorial criticized New York state’s Board of Elections for using “independent” in the official ballot language describing a proposed commission to redraw legislative lines after each census.

The Cap Times of Wisconsin published an editorial urging state legislature candidates to take Common Cause Wisconsin’s pledge to support unbiased redistricting. Common Cause Wisconsin is publishing a list of candidates who voice their support for a redistricting proposal that would take the partisan politics out of the process for drawing legislative boundaries.

The New York State Board of Elections approved language on August 1 that describes a November ballot measure as creating an “independent” commission on legislative redistricting. Common Cause New York criticized the language as confusing and misleading because the leadership and appointees of the legislature would make appointments to the proposed commission that will then draw the legislators’ districts.

A federal judge ordered Florida officials today to redraw the state's congressional districts in time for the 2014 election.

According to a study by the Center for the Study of the American Electorate, there have been record low turnouts in many state primaries.

Partisan politicians are building obstacles to bar blacks and other ethnic minorities from voting. This is hardly new -- historical policies like poll taxes and literacy tests were race neutral but disproportionately targeted Blacks, much like today’s anti-voter laws.