Common Cause Blog

Walmart electioneering?

This comes from our intern Jamie McConkey, who will continue to follow this Wal-Mart story

Common Cause's advocacy for fair elections doesn't just focus on public officials and institutions. We'll challenge unfair practices wherever they may occur, so when the Wall Street Journal published an article earlier this month alleging that Wal-Mart had been warning its employees not to vote Democrat, our ears began to prick up.

International Delegation to Monitor Upcoming US Elections

By: Michael Rohrs

On June 16th 2008, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) embarked on a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) to determine if they would undertake an election monitoring effort for the upcoming Presidential Elections in the United States.�� On June 18th the OSCE/ODIHR's "core team of election experts" met with Common Cause's own team of electoral experts, including: Director of International Programs, Lauren Coletta, Vice President of Research, Tova Wang, and Director of the National Campaign for Election Reform, Susannah Goodman.� Based on their preliminary inquiries with Common Cause and other agencies and groups, the OSCE recently made the decision to undertake a limited election observation mission, you can read the full report of their inquiry by clicking here.

The election monitoring team will embark on a month-long travel schedule and span the United States. The effort will include 100 long term observers from OSCE participating states. The report specifically mentions voter registration, voting equipment, provisional ballots, voter identification, absentee voting, vote by mail, unopposed candidacies, allegations of voter suppression, ex-felon voting rights, campaign finance spending, and increased voter turnout as issues that "merit further attention."

The entire election-monitoring practice stems directly from adherence to the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document.� Mentioned several times in the OSCE report, the Copenhagen Document commissions the OSCE member States to uphold the principles of free, fair, and regular democratic elections.�

In keeping with its commitments as an OSCE participating State, the US has regularly invited the OSCE to observe elections for federal office.

Common Cause Weekly Update - June 11, 2008

Common Cause continues its efforts to hold power accountable.

Abuse of Power: Forging the Path to Recovery

Common Cause hosted a distinguished panel on June 10 to discuss the widespread abuse of power engaged in by the current Administration. The Administration has disregarded the rule of law through over-broad assertions of executive power, abuse of signing statements, and policies that arguably flout the Constitution regarding interrogation, detention, and intelligence gathering. The Congress has repeatedly failed to perform its constitutionally mandated oversight duties in each of these areas.

The panelists were charged with examining these disturbing trends and with considering how best to restore the constitutional constraints that have served our country well since its inception.

Should Changes In Presidential Elections be Made Only with Constitutional Amendments?

When I'm out discussing the plan for states to individually enact a plan to elect the president using the national popular vote, sometimes people intuitively feel that this should only be done through a constitutional amendment. While it is clear that legally states are empowered in the constitution to choose whatever method they want to selected their own electors, some argue that states should not use this authority and instead the "proper" way to make any significant changes in presidential law must first go through Congress.

History proves just the opposite, however. Constitutional amendments have come only after states have first changed their own rules for presidential elections. Consider these three examples of women's suffrage, lowering the voting age to 18, and how states choose to allocate their electoral votes.

Did You Know DC Has No Vote in Congress?

What do people who don't live in our nation's capital know about the city?� Not much - a lot of myths and misinformation.� Some don't even realize it is a city with nearly 600,000 residents; or that it wasn't until 1974 that it had a�local elected government - 185 years after the Constitution.� According to�one survey, few Americans know that DC doesn't have voting representation in Congress - more than 80% - but when told about it, they support the vote overwhelmingly.

Here's a quick anecdote from a DC resident visiting Georgia, illustrating the poll's analysis.� Here's what one person said when told about the lack of a vote: "Well, that's just wrong. Shouldn't be like that."

Rob Richie on the Electoral College

On Monday, Rob Richie, Executive Director of Fairvote, spoke about the Electoral College at the National Archives.

He spent most of his time speaking about the failings of the Electoral College. Richie argued that having the Electoral College only allows citizens to vote for their Electoral delegates, and not directly for the presidential candidates, an effect that is not only problematic but fundamentally backwards. Given that 70% of Americans today support popular elections, we ought to be taking measures to ensure that the popular vote is what counts in determining the winning presidential candidate.

Common Cause Weekly Update - May 27, 2008

Read about this past week's efforts by Common Cause. We have another occasion to celebrate: Common Cause is relaunched in the state of Hawaii.

Federal Elections Commission (FEC): Time to Rethink It

CC President Bob Edgar sent a letter on May 21 to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Chair, Senator Dianne Feinstein, to coincide with their meeting to consider the nominations of three candidates to the FEC. He stated that it is time to rethink the FEC. He urged them to take advantage of the opportunity their meeting affords by embarking on a plan to create a new and better designed federal election agency that could enforce the campaign finance laws Congress passes and that would avoid the politicization that has made the current FEC an ineffective and failed agency. CC believes there are models for an FEC that Congress can adopt that will put upholding the nation�s campaign finance laws above party loyalty. One model of other more effective law enforcement agencies, for example, are those agencies headed by a single administrator who is appointed for a fixed term by the President and confirmed by the Senate.