Voter Rights

Organization Launches Election 

Protection Program for Midterms

    

    UNITED STATES -- (COMMON CAUSE) -- 10/5/26 -- Common Cause is launching its 2026 Election Protection program, the nation’s largest nonpartisan voter protection effort, mobilizing thousands of trained volunteers and experts across the country to help voters navigate the voting process and cast their ballots with confidence.

    Common Cause has co-led the Election Protection Coalition for more than two decades. Through the program, it works year-round and during elections to provide voters with trusted, nonpartisan information; help them understand their voting options; identify and resolve problems at polling places; and respond to attempts to interfere with Americans’ freedom to vote.

    The 2026 election comes as President Trump continues efforts to interfere with election administration, restrict access to voting by mail, and sow confusion about how Americans can cast their ballots. These unprecedented challenges make Election Protection essential to protecting access to the ballot.

    “The freedom to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, but far too many Americans continue to face deliberate barriers, confusion, and attempts to silence their voices,” said Virginia Kase Solomón, President and CEO of Common Cause. “Our nonpartisan Election Protection program is built to meet this moment, ensuring that every eligible voter — regardless of their zip code, party, or background — has the trusted support they need to make their voice heard with confidence. With thousands of trained volunteers on the ground and answering calls across the country, Common Cause is here to safeguard access to the ballot box, resolve voting issues in real time, and ensure that ‘We the People’ shape the future of our communities.”

    As part of its 2026 Election Protection work, Common Cause will: 

• Deploy thousands of trained, nonpartisan volunteers to assist voters and monitor polling places in communities across the country; 
• Work with legal experts staffing the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline to provide voters with trusted, nonpartisan help throughout the voting process; 
• Monitor and respond to election misinformation and disinformation; 
• Work directly with election officials to identify and resolve problems affecting voters in real time; and Provide voters with reliable information about registration, voting options, deadlines, and their rights at the polls.

    Voters who have questions or encounter problems while voting can call or text the nonpartisan Election Protection hotline: 

• ENGLISH: 866-OUR-VOTE / 866-687-8683 
• SPANISH: 888-VE-Y-VOTA / 888-839-8682 
• ASIAN LANGUAGES: 888-API-VOTE / 888-274-8683 
• ARABIC: 844-YALLA-US / 844-925-5287

    The hotline connects voters with trained experts who can answer questions, provide accurate voting information, and help address problems that could prevent an eligible voter from casting their ballot.

    Voters can visit 866OurVote.org for additional nonpartisan voting information and resources.

    To learn more about Common Cause’s Election Protection work across the country, click here.

Litigation

AU Lawsuit Forced So-Called 

Religious Liberty Commission 

to Release Documents to the Public

    New York – (AU) -- 8/1/26 -- A federal judge dismissed a challenge July 27 brought against the Trump administration’s so-called “Religious Liberty” Commission by a multifaith coalition that challenged the unlawful creation and operation of the biased body.

    Earlier this year, Interfaith Alliance, Muslims For Progressive Values, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Hindus For Human Rights united to file a lawsuit challenging the unlawful creation of the so-called “Religious Liberty” Commission. The lawsuit highlights violations of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), including the unbalanced and biased viewpoints assembled for the panel and the unlawfully secretive refusal to disclose public documents and information related to the Commission’s work.

    The coalition is represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Democracy Forward in the matter.

    The order dismissing the case comes on the heels of a significant victory in the matter for the coalition. In a major milestone on April 28, government disclosures in the lawsuit revealed many of the documents the unlawful and secretive commission had been hiding from the public. In a late-night filing just before a court deadline, the government notified the court that it had finally publicly posted many of the Religious Liberty Commission’s transcripts, meeting minutes, witness testimonies, run of show, hearing summaries, and hearing recommendations. Those documents are available here.

    The long overdue publication of these documents was a resounding concession by the government and a significant victory for the coalition that demonstrated the necessity of challenging the administration’s unlawful actions.

    Today’s order ends the case for now in the district court, after crucial documents have been released. In addition, after plaintiffs filed suit, the commission agreed to make a draft report available for public comment and hold a public meeting to respond to issues raised by interested parties and members of the public. These actions increase transparency and give the public an opportunity to be heard.
Religious Liberty Commission does not promote true religious freedom

    In response to the ruling, the coalition issued the following joint statement:

    “Even before this decision, our litigation helped uncover the information the Trump-Vance administration attempted to hide from the public about this biased and unlawful body. Religious liberty and pluralism are foundational American values, and we remain committed to fighting for a democracy that does not promote a single religious belief and ignores others. We are grateful that this case achieved a major goal by forcing greater transparency, and we will continue our work.”

    The case was Interfaith Alliance et al. v. Trump et al. and the legal team on this case included Jenny Samuels from Americans United and Anna Deffebach, Robin Thurston, and Ayesha Khan from Democracy Forward.

    Read the original complaint here.

*Perryman also serves as a member of the Board of Interfaith Alliance.

Politics and Culture

Christian Nationalism 

and the Rationalization 

of Discrimination and Violence

Four Perspectives on the Dangers

6/19/2025

Center for American Progress

Christian Nationalism Is ‘Single Biggest Threat’ to America’s Religious Freedom - Center for American Progress

See: An Interview With Amanda Tyler of the Baptist Joint Committee

    

    Religious liberty is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, yet the meaning of this core American value has been debated throughout the nation’s history. Today, conflicts most often arise from Christian nationalism, the anti-democratic notion that America is a nation by and for Christians alone. At its core, this idea threatens the principle of the separation of church and state and undermines the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. It also leads to discrimination, and at times violence, against religious minorities and the nonreligious.

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Doubter's Parish

How the Religious Right Gets It Wrong and What to Do About It

By Martin Thielen

See: Doubter's Parish

    Today, many (although not all) religious right Christians believe Jesus dislikes LGBTQ persons, immigrants, liberals, elites, science, welfare, MSNBC, wokeness, critical race theory, Joe Biden, non-Christians, and Democrats. On the other side of the ledger, they believe Jesus loves America, churchgoers, capitalism, the military, conservatives, Fox News, guns, MAGA Republicans, aggressive masculinity, and Donald Trump. The fact that the life, teachings, and example of Jesus challenge these assumptions doesn’t deter religious right Christianity one iota.

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Lutheran Confessions

Why Conservative Christians Hate Compassion

By Clint Schnekloth

See: Lutheran Confessions

    In recent years, conservative Christian voices have been on a tear, decrying compassion as a threat to traditional Christian values. The argument is that compassion—especially when it extends to marginalized groups—gives progressive Christians leverage to dismantle conservative moral teachings. . . . At the root of this backlash lies something far simpler than theological analysis: homophobia.

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Christians Against Christian Nationalism

Statement from Christians Against Christian Nationalism

See: Statement

    As Christians, our faith teaches us everyone is created in God’s image and commands us to love one another. As Americans, we value our system of government and the good that can be accomplished in our constitutional democracy. Today, we are concerned about a persistent threat to both our religious communities and our democracy — Christian nationalism.

    Christian nationalism seeks to merge Christian and American identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian. It often overlaps with and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation. We reject this damaging political ideology and invite our fellow Christians to join us in opposing this threat to our faith and to our nation.

Analysis

The Echoes of McCarthyism: 

What Should Allies and Friends 

of America Do?

 

By Dr Shannon Brincat and Dr Gail Crimmins

Original date of publication 3/31/2025
Australian Institute of International Affairs

        -----------------

    The revival of McCarthy-era repression under Donald Trump’s second term raises profound ethical and political questions for America’s global allies. Australia must navigate these tensions carefully, protecting its democracy while rethinking its role as an independent ally.

    The Western world is in disarray, watching as the US leads the charge against fundamental pillars of liberal global order. The resurgence of political witch hunts under President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14151, which dismantles Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and pressures institutions to survey and report colleagues, echoes McCarthy-era repression. Teachers report on students for deportation by ICE squads. Protesters are threatened with exposure at immigration rallies, and pro-Palestine supporters—even US citizens—are arrested and deported. Like the Red Scare of the 1950s, the climate in the US fosters ideological persecution, forcing individuals to choose between complicity and defiance. This active pressuring of civil institutions of higher education, of corporations, and even law firms, to comply with Trump’s executive decisions calls into question basic minority protections and whether they continue to operate in the US system. Moreover, the actions of the president in ignoring court orders, calling for a stay on such executive actions to permit judicial review, shows that the separation of powers is being actively ruptured. When this is combined with the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) cuts, the dismantling of the US Department of Education, or the defunding of USAID, we are seeing the real-time erosion of the civic arms of the American state.

    As our closest and most powerful ally, this places Australia within a very difficult position as such internal policies create a normative and ethical rift between the two countries on the grounds of their commitment to liberalism and liberal international order. How can Australia remain both a viable liberal democracy, a friend to the US, and a “good international citizen”?

Trump’s second term: a revival of McCarthy-era tactics

    Upon re-entering office in January 2025, President Trump swiftly enacted executive orders targeting DEI initiatives across federal agencies. Executive Order 14151 not only dismantled existing DEI structures but also required agencies to compile lists of employees involved in such initiatives. Further intensifying this approach, Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity prohibits private organisations from implementing DEI frameworks in federally contracted jobs. This move effectively extends the administration’s anti-DEI stance into the private sector, pressuring companies to abandon diversity-focused programs or risk losing federal contracts.

    This modern-day witch hunt stifles essential discourses on anything outside the ambit of executive power, with devastating effects on freedom of thought and speech. These strategies bear a striking resemblance to the McCarthy era’s oppressive tactics. During the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy spearheaded a campaign to root out alleged communists within the United States, leading to widespread fear, blacklisting, and the suppression of dissent. Individuals were coerced into naming associates, and mere accusations could result in career devastation.

    It is significant to note at this point that “Roy Cohn, whose name is still “synonymous with the rise of McCarthyism and its dark political arts,” was once Trump’s personal lawyer, and likely influenced his approach to power, confrontation, and relentless undermining of institutions.

    During the McCarthy era, many individuals refused to testify against their peers or participate in blacklisting, demonstrating the power of solidarity. Organisations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) historically played pivotal roles in challenging unconstitutional actions. Perhaps most important in the contemporary context are forms of civil non-compliance. Some corporations like Costco have maintained their commitment to diversity programs and many in the higher education community and individual academics have voiced opposition to executive interference. Today, at least twelve of  Trump’s executive orders are being legally challenged—but under the weight of Unitary Executive theory even this role is being challenged, with Vice President J. D. Vance claiming that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”

What can Australia do?

    What can an outside but “friendly” force do? Here, Australia may be able to play some role towards normalisation in a world order rocked by instability in its core.

    Australia is currently wrestling with its own deep ontological insecurities in the wake of Trump appearing to not even know what AUKUS is and the potential that Trump will renege on the agreement. It has been questioned whether the US can or would even be willing to supply the Virginia class submarines at all. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has lamented that the imposition of tariffs go against “the spirit of friendship” usually found between the two countries. Australia is also reeling from America’s aggressive treatment of its close allies like Canada, its aggressive territorial claims made on allies like Denmark, and most of all, the betrayal of its Ukrainian allies during wartime. Australia’s confidence in its most powerful ally is at an all-time low.

    Every crisis is, however, an opportunity. On the one hand, Australia now has the necessity to enact its own independent foreign policy and re-engage—on its own terms—with the region it has for too long neglected. Taking a reflexive foreign policy stance is crucial for such a realignment; that is, we must consider how our actions and policies might be perceived and reacted to by other actors on the international stage. For example, we must take greater account of the concerns voiced by Indonesia and Malaysia that AUKUS engenders their insecurity. Similarly, we must recognise that our recent self-undermining of key principles of international law means that while Australia may have a “self-perception” as a country committed to a rules-based international order, others may not share this view.

    As part of this process, Australia must look inward, fortifying its own democratic practices as an exemplar of liberal values so that it behaves as, and is seen to behave as, a good international citizen. Without such consistency, any credibility will be lost. There are a number of active measures that would have immediate effect. Enhancing democratic processes by empowering the Australian Electoral Commission to reduce Gerrymandering and tightening regulations on donations to political parties, investing in protections against disinformation through a federal integrity commission, and legislating robust whistle-blower protection laws, would cost very little.

    At the same time, Australia could, in closed diplomatic forums, advocate for the US to return to multilateral forums internationally and reaffirm human rights and democratic practices domestically. Publicly, Australia should offer strong condemnation of any democratic backsliding such as voter suppression, deportation, and unchecked executive expansion, while supporting pro-democracy groups across civil society.

Civic power in illiberal times

    While diplomacy and statecraft matter, democratic resilience depends on active, informed, and engaged publics, not just governments. Democracy holds when people stay informed, engaged, and vocal. Universities, unions, and civil organisations help anchor liberal values through civic education, academic freedom, and truth-telling. Universities Australia champion active citizenship, while the Scholars at Risk network supports persecuted academics across more than 18 Australian institutions, and independent outlets continue to fight for press freedom, reminding us why public interest journalism matters.

    Community-led initiatives also build resilience. Programs like YMCA Youth Parliament foster political literacy and civic confidence in the next generation.

    Backing these efforts is how Australia strengthens its democratic core. Civil society holds the line—and helps shape a future that resists fear and values freedom.

    In these ways, Australia can future-proof its democracy by rooting out corruption, countering foreign influence, and investing in civic trust—while remaining a critical but clear-eyed ally to the US. Australia could play the role of good international citizen as a resilient democracy that doesn’t just follow Washington’s lead but helps steer the world toward stability. To riff on the saying attributed to Gough Whitlam, “a truly independent Australia would be a better ally to the US than a satellite.”

    Dr Shannon K. Brincat is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast. His website with research and publications can be found at https://www.shannonbrincat.com/. Dr Gail Crimmins is an Associate Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Her research interests include gender, equity, diversity and inclusion and academic publications found here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dQyfeLkAAAAJ&hl=en

This article is published under a Creative Commons License and was republished with permission.

We The People

Supporters of Democracy Make Their

 Voices Heard in Edwardsville

 

By Steve Rensberry
Commentary

     

 

    EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- 2/16/25 -- I am proud to have exercised my First Amendment Rights at a local pro-democracy action group protest on Feb. 14 in Edwardsville, along with many other local residents. This is no time to be silent. 

 

    Lining the sidewalk near the library downtown, pro-democracy demonstrators held up signs for more than an hour, in a highly visible area. Many motorists were honking their car horns in support.

    This is what democracy is all about, and what the freedoms outlined in the Consitution are all about, and what having a backbone and the courage to fight for what's right is all about. 

   

    If you're not angry at the cruel and unnecessary "reforms" the current administraton is forcing upon us, illegally so, affecting disabled people, veterans and good people all over the country, you're not paying attention. 

 

   More protests are planned accross the country, and locally, on (Not My) Presidents Day.

 

 

 

 

Human Rights

The President Was Elected 

To Serve the People, Not The 

Other Way Around  

 Essential Values For A Leader: Truth, Honesty, Empathy

By Steve Rensberry 

-------------------------

    RP News – 1/20/2025 – The euphoria that supporters of the new administration most likely feel is going to be short lived. Salvation is here, they can feel it. The bad guys have been held at bay, and justice – meaning they get more money and freedom for things they value, and everyone else gets less – is just around the corner. Euphoria is blinding though, talk is cheap, and the unintended consequences are unpredictable. There's also a word called NO, not to mention a long list of other measures and resistance efforts that people and authoritarian governments have never successfully curtailed, and never will, including this one.

 

    The president was elected to serve the people, not the other way around.

 

    Forward thinking Americans may have lost a battle last November but the war is a long way from over. For more than two centuries the United States has been a nation of laws, with a legal system built on established precedent and respect for the rule of law. Not all of those laws have been right or good, but the principle has generally held. Not so much anymore, given the make-up of what has become an untouchable Supreme Court, which make the future more uncertain and our lives more at risk. Mobster rule, tradition-makes-right, authoritarian words in books wrongly deemed holy and sacred – all seem more and more to be prioritized over reason, over mountains of facts acquired over centuries even. How can that last?

    What is sacred when authoritarians and ideologues are in the driver’s seat? Greed, selfishness, money, exclusion, hatred of immigrants, to name just a few things. In religion-speak, greed and selfishness are easily justified as “prioritizing one’s family, church, and country,” extreme wealth and material riches as “blessings,” and discriminating against people who have different lifestyles than yours, though legal, as “exericising one's religious freedom." Flat out ignoring contrary evidence and rational arguments is deemed courageous or justified if the person has decided “in their heart” or believes “by faith” that something is true. The reasoning process and all the associated facts and elements with it get short circuited.

 

    Most of us assume we need to learn more to understand more, but there's also a great many who seem to think they know all the truth they need to know before they even crack open a book or conduct an experiment. They just know, intuitive, instinctively, via a revelation to them personally or implanted in them at birth, and if you don’t believe them, you’re the stupid one.

    Ruthlessness in business, no breaks given to the persecuted or downtrodden, a minimal social safety net lest any one person cheat -- all are virtues rather than vices to a certain kind of group and individual, the kind that does not feel what other people feel; nor, if they do, care about those feelings; or at least imagine it acutely enough to feel sadness at other people’s pain.

    The People's March in D.C. on Jan. 18, 2025, and at other locations around the county in support of democracy and the protection for people's civil and human rights, was an inspiring show of force and a civil and Constitutional act of joyful resistance. Don’t give up. Things will change and those of us who are committed to it will make it happen, sooner or later.

    The current individual in the White House would not be president if not for a corrupt legal system and corrupt representatives who have failed to hold him accountable, purposefully delaying proceedings until it was too late. If the system is rigged against anyone, it's rigged against the people. 

 

Photos by S. Rensberry (taken on Jan. 18, 2025, Washington D.C.)

Democracy

Watchdog Group Releases 

2024 Democracy Scorecard

Members With Perfect Scores Up 15% From 2022

    Washington — 10/9/2024 - Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog, recently released its 2024 “Democracy Scorecard,” recording every member of Congress’ support for voting rights, Supreme Court ethics, and other reforms.  

    “Our 2024 Democracy Scorecard shows a surge of support in Congress for reforms that strengthen the right to vote, take back the Supreme Court, and break big money’s grip on our politics,” said , Common Cause President & CEO Virginia Kase Solomón said. “The number of members of Congress with perfect scores increased more than 100 percent from 2020, with 58 members in our 2020 Scorecard to 117 in this year’s Scorecard. As we see the wealthy and well-connected try to influence our politics and our very livelihoods, we must demand our leaders deliver on the people’s pro-democracy agenda.”   

    Since 2016, Common Cause has tracked support and co-sponsorship of democracy related legislation. This year’s scorecard includes ten legislative items in the U.S. Senate and 13 in U.S. House, including the Freedom to Vote Act, John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, and more.  

    “The 2024 Democracy Scorecard empowers voters with information to hold their leaders in Washington accountable for a government that works for all,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at Common Cause. “Six of Washington’s members of Congress earned a perfect score or near perfect score for their support for pro-democracy legislation. With this year’s pivotal election, we must drive these key reforms to the top of the agenda so everyone is afforded an accountable government, no matter what state we call home.” 

    Washington members of Congress with perfect or near perfect scores:  

• Senator Patty Murray: 10/10 

• Representative Suzan DelBene: 13/13 

• Representative Pramila Jayapal: 13/13 

• Representative Adam Smith: 13/13 

• Representative Marilyn Strickland: 13/13 

• Representative Derek Kilmer: 12/13 

    Washington members of Congress with low scores 

• Representative Cathy Rodgers: 0/13 

• Representative Dan Newhouse: 2/13 

    Common Cause is a nonpartisan organization and does not endorse or oppose candidates for elected office.

To view the 2024 Democracy Scorecard, click here. 

Recommended Resources

 

The Authoritarian Playbook

Source: Protect Democracy

    (Protect Democracy) - 6/15/2022 - Before the 1990s, authoritarian leaders bent on upending democracy typically came to power forcefully and swiftly, often by means of a military coup d’etat. The moment democracy ceased to exist could be time-stamped and reported on with a block headline.

    Yet for at least the last thirty years, the threats to democracy have evolved. Today, democracy more often dies gradually, as the institutional, legal, and political constraints on authoritarian leaders are chipped away, one by one. This has happened – or is happening – in, among others, Russia, Venezuela, Hungary, the Philippines, Poland, Nicaragua, India, Turkey — and the United States. . . .   

 

    By using “salami tactics,” slicing away at democracy a sliver at a time, modern authoritarians still cement themselves in power, but they do so incrementally and gradually. Sometimes their actions are deliberate and calculated, but sometimes they are opportunistic, myopic, or even bumbling. There is no longer a singular bright line that countries cross between democracy and authoritarianism. But the outcome is still the same . . .  see full store HERE

 

 

Wake Up to the Growing Dangers of Christian Nationalism

 Source: Freedom From Religion Foundation, by Co-president Annie Lauie Gayler

     (FFRF) - 2/12/2024 - Almost 20 years ago, the Freedom From Religion Foundation inaugurated a campaign “to wake up the nation to the growing dangers of theocracy.” We ran commercials using that terminology over Air America Radio, recited by talents like Rachel Maddow and Ron Reagan, published a “Theocracy Watch” column in Freethought Today and included a special segment called “Theocracy Watch” when we first launched Freethought Radio in 2006.

     Among the few individuals calling attention back then to that particular iteration of Christian nationalism under George W. Bush was Michelle Goldberg, who wrote an early-bird warning, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, in 2006. When we invited Michelle Goldberg to address our national convention that year, she explained about Christian nationalism: “Their idea from the beginning has been to undermine the Enlightenment.”  . . . .  see full store HERE

 

 

The Darvo Strategy - Deny, Attack, Reverse

Source: The Guardian, by Sidney Blumenthal

     

   (Guardian/Exerpt) - 2/1/2024 -  Time after time, with predictable regularity, never missing a beat, Donald Trump proclaims his innocence. He always denies that he has done anything wrong. The charge does not matter. He is blameless. But this is only the beginning of the pattern. Then, he attacks his accusers, or anyone involved in bringing him to account, usually of committing the identical offense of which he stands accused. But it is not enough for him to lash out. Then, he declares himself to be the victim . . . . Trump’s pattern is textbook manipulation – literally. It has a precise name given to it after decades of academic research. Jennifer Freyd, now professor emerita of psychology at the University of Oregon, developed the theory over her career studying sexual assault, trauma and institutional betrayal. She named the process by which the perpetrator seeks to avoid accountability Darvo – a strategy with the elements of denial, attack, and reversal of victim and offender..  . . see full story HERE

Civil Rights

ACLU Warns Against Bills Attacking

Kansans’ Right to Vote

    TOPEKA, KAN. – (ACLU) - 2/20/2024 - As state lawmakers consider multiple election-related bills, the ACLU of Kansas is warning against each bill’s negative impact on Kansas voters, but also against the collective anti-democratic theme of the package of bills that all seek to make it harder for Kansans to register, cast a ballot, and have their vote count.

    “Democracy is not a partisan matter – it’s the very foundation that ensures each Kansas voter can have a voice in the laws and policies affecting their lives,” said Micah Kubic, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kansas. “The election process is the single most meaningful way for Kansans to hold their elected officials accountable – so it’s particularly disturbing to see some of those same elected officials leverage their power to undermine that fundamental process of accountability. Democracy is strongest when more people participate, and these bills are designed to make fewer people participate."

 

     The currently seven pending bills in the Kansas legislature seek to limit early in-person voting, place additional restrictions on mail-in ballots, and more.

    “These bills are reminiscent of the attacks on Kansans’ voting rights during the era of then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach,” Kubic said. “We somberly remind our legislators that those attacks have been rejected time after time – rejected by Kansans, rejected by courts, and rejected by common sense. When Mr. Kobach pushed through attacks on our democracy, it resulted in lengthy, costly, and significant losses for Mr. Kobach. Those unconstitutional laws were struck down on behalf of Kansas voters, and any new unconstitutional attacks on our democracy will be, too.”

    ACLU of Kansas Policy Director Rashane Hamby said: “It may be tempting for lawmakers to get lost in the details, but they shouldn’t lose sight of what the big picture is for the Kansans they serve and that Kansas still remains in the bottom of the country for voter turnout. Every last one of these bills is about creating barriers and making it even harder for Kansans to vote, especially elderly voters, those who are in rural communities, or voters with disabilities. We know that Kansans as a whole trust our election process and the officials who administer it, but many lawmakers continue to politicize our fundamental right to vote and lean on misinformation to justify it.”

Elections in America

 GOP’s Full-Throated Nativism 

Fails to Resonate Beyond 

the MAGA Base

    Washington, DC – (America's Voice) - Nov. 13, 2022 - An array of voices are highlighting one takeaway from the 2022 midterms – once again, most voters rejected Republicans’ relentless anti-immigrant attacks and larger extremism. As in past recent cycles, the GOP fear-mongering and nativism failed to resonate beyond the MAGA base as Americans voted against leading peddlers of ugly nativism and expressed renewed support for common sense solutions at odds with Republicans’ ugliness. Among the voices and examples:

• Greg Sargent of Washington Post: GOP assumptions on border and immigration again “proved wrong”: As part of his larger analysis titled, “5 big GOP narratives just went down in flames,” Greg Sargent of the Washington Post notes, “Invasion language did little for Republicans,” writing that “Republicans have long enjoyed a presumption of a major advantage on this issue, but aside from Trump’s 2016 victory, it keeps failing to deliver … GOP confidence that President Biden’s ‘disastrous open border’ would spark major electoral repudiation, giving Republicans space to hyper-radicalize their base around the issue, has proved wrong.”
• Paul Waldman of Washington Post: “Arizona Democrats chalk up their big night to GOP focus on immigration.” Waldman writes: “Though Republicans wouldn’t use those terms, immigration was clearly the beginning and end of their strategy in Arizona this year. If you went to any GOP campaign event in Arizona lately, you would have heard a litany of horrors about the border as candidates Kari Lake and Blake Masters painted a nightmarish picture of murder and mayhem pouring into American communities, courtesy of a quasi-conspiracy involving the Chinese Communist Party, Mexican drug cartels and President Biden himself seeking to flood the country with fentanyl and criminal aliens … In Arizona as elsewhere, through victory and defeat, Republicans’ faith in the electoral power of the immigration issue has been unwavering. And all indications are that whatever else happens between now and 2024, that isn’t going to change.”
• “Hatemongering isn’t a sustainable political strategy.” Los Angeles Times columnist Jean Guerrero, who wrote a biography of leading nativist Stephen Miller, responded to Miller’s attempted spin that Republicans didn’t make anti-immigration attacks enough of their focus by noting: “Except this is literally all the GOP ran on. Hatemongering isn’t a sustainable political strategy.”
• “While votes are still being counted, it’s clear Stephen Miller’s racist political ads were a flop” from Gabe Ortiz at Daily Kos: Ortiz writes, “Miller had been assuring his racist base that a “red wave” was in store for Republicans, doing his part by launching massively offensive ads in more than a dozen states that sobbed about supposed “anti-white bigotry” and pushed violent anti-immigrant imagery … But this week, voters largely rejected this bigoted agenda … ‘Stephen Miller predicted that Republicans’ nativism would help usher in a ‘red tsunami,’ but his tens of millions of dollars’ worth of overt racism and nativism fell flat in 2022—just as his similar election predictions about the power of GOP nativism failed in past cycles,’ said Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice. ‘The strategy of trying to mobilize the MAGA base around extreme Trumpian grievances and anti-immigrant fear-mongering fell flat.’”

    Indeed, as America’s Voice tracked, the Stephen Miller-affiliated “Citizens for Sanity” spent over $51 million in TV ads across 16 states in the midterms’ homestretch with some of the year’s most vile nativist, racist and transphobic ads (as seen during World Series) – just part of the GOP’s relentless focus on nativism and 3,200 different paid communications on anti-immigrant themes highlighted by the America’s Voice’s ad tracking project.

    Following is a statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director for America’s Voice:

    “Nativism has become the beating heart of the Republican Party and the throughline from Trump’s descent down the escalator in 2015 to MAGA extremists taking control of the GOP to the current perilous moment facing our democracy. And once again, the political potency of GOP full-throated nativism failed to resonate beyond the Republican base and may have been part of a larger backlash among many voters against MAGA candidates.

    "One clear takeaway from this election is that the GOP’s massive investment in nativist attacks failed to deliver, which is an especially striking fact given an election environment that overwhelmingly favored Republicans and that the issue was a top message priority GOP-wide. The vast majority of Americans reject the GOP’s radicalism and scare tactics on immigration and recognize that immigrants are a source of strength for the nation. Now, we need policies that meet the vast majority of the country where it actually is – in favor of common sense solutions that address the uncertain futures of Dreamers, TPS holders, and farm workers and in support of bipartisan reforms that will modernize and actually address immigration reform in a real way.”

U.S. Elections

Social Media and the 

Midterm 2022 Elections

Anticipating Online Threats to Democratic Legitimacy

    Washington, D.C. — (CAP) - Nov. 5, 2022 - As social media companies continue to allow attacks on American democracy to proliferate on their platforms, a new issue brief from the Center for American Progress reveals the top threats to democratic legitimacy facing social media platforms and explains how these companies must confront them.

    “Online platforms are not the sole cause of this democratic crisis,” said Adam Conner, CAP’s vice president of Technology Policy and co-author of the brief. “But companies’ continued refusal to make the fundamental changes required to stop their tools from becoming platforms for hate and election subversion make them complicit in these assaults on our democracy.”

    Over the past few years, there has been an extraordinary informational assault on the legitimacy of U.S. elections fueled by the spread of baseless claims of fraud. Despite continuous calls for product changes, social media platforms continue to abdicate their responsibility to prevent these attacks.

    The new issue brief identifies the three most significant threats to democratic legitimacy that social media platforms must address: 1) election subversion theater, 2) online harassment and intimidation of election workers, and 3) post-election informational chaos.

    “Many candidates and elected officials now promote baseless claims of fraud in order to create the impression that there were instances of fraud or election insecurities, even when there were not,” said Ashleigh Maciolek, research associate for Structural Reform and Governance at CAP and co-author of the brief. “Online platforms need to be aware of this election subversion theater and take steps to prevent their platforms from being used to delegitimize elections.”

    Anticipating that these informational threats will continue to undermine U.S. democracy, fuel violence, and sow chaos, CAP and its partners issued a clear set of demands to major social media companies ahead of the midterm elections to protect the freedom to vote and fairness of elections. Unfortunately, many of these demands have been ignored. The three informational threats identified by CAP remain major threats to the legitimacy of our elections, including:

• Election subversion theater: Social media companies continue to allow election denialism and baseless claims of fraud to spread on their platforms, providing a platform for perceptive assaults on the legitimacy of the U.S. election process.
• Online harassment and intimidation of election workers: Online disinformation and violent rhetoric have made the election process seem untrustworthy, implicating election workers who are simply carrying out their vital jobs to protect U.S. elections.
• Post-election informational chaos: Between the time that the public casts their ballots and elected officials are sworn into office, social media companies must double down on countering baseless claims of fraud, declarations of a “stolen” or “rigged” election, and other election conspiracy theories.

    Recognizing these online threats, CAP again recommends that social media companies take serious, proactive steps to prevent informational assaults on U.S. democracy to proliferate online. Among other recommendations, these steps include:

• Employing viral circuit breakers to ensure that the spread of false election information or delegitimization is not immediately damaging
• Proactively monitoring for—and expeditiously removing—attempts to create conspiracy theories about election workers
• Prohibiting advertisements that promote the “big lie,” delegitimize the election, or otherwise declare elections stolen or rigged

    It is critically important for social media companies to address these ongoing threats now, as CAP expects the 2022 midterms to see the same flood of informational assaults as in 2020. These will only get worse as the 2024 election gets closer.

    Read the issue brief: “Social Media and the 2022 Midterm Elections: Anticipating Online Threats to Democratic Legitimacy” by Erin Simpson, Adam Conner, and Ashleigh Maciolek

    For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at shananel@americanprogress.org.

Law and Democracy

Common Cause Scorecard 

Charts Lawmaker Support 

for Pro-Democracy Bills

    Washington D.C. - (Common Cause) - 9/6/2022 - As the January 6 Select Committee is reportedly set to hold more hearings this month, and less than two years since January 6, Common Cause is releasing its 2022 Democracy Scorecard, which tracks the positions of every Member of Congress on issues vital to the health of our democracy during the 117 Congress. Throughout this Congress, members of the House and Senate were notified that various votes on key democracy issues – including many related to January 6^th and its aftermath – would be counted in the Scorecard, which will be distributed to our 1.5 million members, as well as to state and national media.

    “Americans expect and deserve legislation to strengthen and protect our democracy so that our nation can live up to its ideals – especially in the wake of January 6. At Common Cause we keep close track of what members of Congress have done on these issues. Our Democracy Scorecard lets constituents know where their representatives stand,” said Common Cause president Karen Hobert Flynn. “At the very start of the 117th Congress, Members were besieged in the U.S. Capitol by a violent, armed, insurrectionist mob intent on overturning the 2020 presidential election. Members of Congress were then faced with a series of choices in the months following to take steps that would strengthen democracy. Too many Members chose fealty to former-President Trump over the oath of office they swore to protect the nation.”

    “As we face unprecedented attacks on our democracy, protecting and strengthening our freedom to vote are paramount,” said Aaron Scherb, Common Cause’s senior director of legislative affairs. “After we witnessed the former president try to overturn our votes in a free election, it’s imperative for Congress to establish fair national voting standards, despite continued filibusters by Senate Republicans. Congress would be wise to take heed of the voting rights bills, and the wave of other popular pro-democracy reforms, that are being passed at the state and local level while Republicans in Congress blockade them at the federal level. This Scorecard is a resource for all constituents to evaluate which members of Congress are working to strengthen our freedom to vote and which ones are trying to make it harder for Americans to vote.

    Some highlights and trends from the 2022 Democracy Scorecard include:

• Most of the included bills would’ve become law if the legislative filibuster didn’t exist, as many of them have majority support in Congress

• 101 members of Congress had a perfect score on this year’s Scorecard, a more than 70% increase over the number of members who had perfect scores (58) in 2020

• California has the highest number of members of Congress (19) with perfect scores

• Vermont is the only state with every member of its delegation (3) earning a perfect score

• 7 states have both U.S. Senators earning a perfect score: Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, and Vermont

    A subset of votes and bills in this year’s Scorecard include:

Votes

• Impeachment and conviction of former President Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection

• For the People Act

• DC Statehood

• Independent commission to investigate the January 6th insurrection and a resolution creating the January 6th Select Committee

• John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act

• Steve Bannon criminal contempt resolution

• Protecting Our Democracy Act

• Mark Meadows criminal contempt resolution

• Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act

Bills to cosponsor

• DISCLOSE Act

• Supreme Court Ethics Act

• Frank Harrison, Elizabeth Peratrovich, and Miguel Trujillo Native American Voting Rights Act

• Democracy for All Amendment

    The Scorecard does not ‘rate’ candidates. Instead, it spotlights the votes and co-sponsors of legislation that would protect our elections, elevate the voices of all Americans in politics and government, make voting more accessible, end racial and partisan gerrymandering so that every American has a fair chance to elect representatives of their choice, and promote high ethical standards for elected and appointed officials.

    Common Cause previously issued Democracy Scorecards in 2016, 2018, and 2020 based on the votes and cosponsorship of between 15-18 key democracy reform bills.

     To view the full 2022 Democracy Scorecard, click here.