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Common Cause

@CommonCause

Apr 14

Prison gerrymandering is the practice of state and local governments counting incarcerated persons as residents of the prison instead of their home districts. That may sound like a harmless bureaucratic decision, but it has serious consequences for our democracy. [ a thread 🧵]

Prison gerrymandering artificially inflates the vote strength of rural places with prisons while deflating areas without prisons — because most people in prison can’t vote*.

*48 states prohibit people with felony convictions from voting while they are incarcerated.

Prisons are often located in rural areas, but the majority of the prison population ordinarily resides in more urban and suburban areas. When incarcerated people are counted in rural districts, power and resources are shifted away from urban and suburban areas.

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Common Cause

@CommonCause

Mar 6, 2020

❗ THREAD ❗

This week marks the one year anniversary of the U.S. House passing #HR1 - the #ForThePeople Act. This landmark legislation is the biggest political reform package proposed in Congress since Watergate and would improve our democracy for ALL Americans.

@SenateGOP

The #ForThePeople Act deals with ethics, campaign finance, voting rights, and gerrymandering.

While Mitch McConnell & the @SenateGOP have refused to even bring the bill up for a hearing or vote, states across the country are already implementing many of the reforms in #HR1.

One of the key reforms in #HR1 is a new small donor-focused public campaign finance system that gives everyday people a bigger voice in politics and limits the power of special interests. These types of programs have passed & worked in states & localities across the country.

Read 14 tweets

Common Cause

@CommonCause

Sep 17, 2019

The House already approved $600 million to update and secure our elections—now we need the Senate to take action and #SecureOurVote.

Here's why (THREAD):

Russia targeted election systems in all 50 states in 2016. Evidence suggests that no votes or registration data were changed—but that hackers were in position to do so.

We cannot afford to take that chance again.

Source: nytimes.com/2019/07/25/us/…

@BrennanCenter

121 election officials in 31 states have said they need to upgrade their voting machines to run a secure and accurate election in 2020.

Only 1/3 of them said they had the funding to do so.

Source (@BrennanCenter): brennancenter.org/analysis/votin…

Read 7 tweets

Common Cause

@CommonCause

Apr 10, 2019

Last month, the US House passed #HR1, the #ForThePeople Act, which is the boldest piece of democracy reform legislation in decades.

Several key parts of the bill have already been tried and tested at the state & local level. Here is a look at 10 of them: commoncause.org/resource/the-f…

Citizen-funded elections have been passed across the country at both a statewide and municipal level. These laws have been proven to break down barriers for who can run for office and ensure candidates spend more time with everyday voters rather than raising money from big donors

Since #SCOTUS's wrongly decided Citizens United decision, many states have taken action to strengthen campaign finance disclosure laws to protect our right to know who is trying to influence our votes and elections. These new laws have often been passed with bipartisan support.

Read 12 tweets

Common Cause

@CommonCause

Apr 25, 2018

Mick Mulvaney's comments show the corruption and problem of pay-to-play politics, but voters already understand this problem. Americans feel it every day when we know our needs are not being prioritized like lobbyists' wants.

Voters need proven solutions, so here are a few:

/1

We need to improve our disclosure laws to ensure everyone knows who is spending money to influence our elected officials. There should be no such thing as a "secret money" or "dark money" group. We have a right to see all money being raised & spent in elections.

/2

We need to move to a campaign finance system that empowers small donors. States like Connecticut & Maine (and many cities and counties across the US) have successful campaign public financing programs that match small dollar contributions with public funds.

/3

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Common Cause

@CommonCause

Apr 7, 2018

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This is a lie. Legal scholars from across the political spectrum have warned about the dangers of an Article V convention and said that there is no constitutional rules to limit it or prevent a runaway convention.

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by @wolfpachq view original on Twitter

David Super of Georgetown Law: thehill.com/opinion/campai…

Richard Boldt of the University of Maryland Law School: baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o…

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