In a trend taking hold around the country, Rhode Island voters are increasingly turning to vote-by-mail as a safe method of casting their ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighty-three percent of Rhode Islanders exercised their right to vote by mail ballot in the June 2020 presidential primary.

In a victory for voting rights, the state of...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and joint fundraising committee on July 28, 2020. The campaign and its committee violated the law by laundering nearly $170 million in campaign spending through firms headed by Trump’s former campaign manager...

Former Members of Congress (FMC) hosted a virtual panel “Voting Amidst a Pandemic,” with Campaign Legal Center (CLC) President Trevor Potter as the moderator and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) as the panelists. The panel focused on the challenges of absentee voting, ways to address those challenges, and how to safeguard the...

By Tony Dechario, a CLC 2020 summer intern, and Austin Graham, legal counsel for CLC's state & local reform program

In poll after poll, Americans across partisan and demographic lines consistently support transparency in the democratic process, in recognition of the critical role that disclosure plays in shining light on the political influence of...

As New York voters increasingly rely on the state’s absentee voting system to cast their ballots during COVID-19, more New York voters will be at risk of disenfranchisement because the state erroneously rejects their ballot for issues that have nothing to do with their eligibility.

In the 2018 general election, state election officials discarded...

Voters have a right to know which wealthy special interests are spending big money to secretly influence our vote and our government to rig the political system in their favor. We need to know if our elected officials might be tempted to serve their wealthy donors instead of listening to our voices on the issues that matter most to our long-term...

States need to make reasonable accommodations so voters can cast a ballot without unnecessary risk of contracting COVID-19. But far too often, they don’t make these changes voluntarily, so advocacy groups have to take states to court.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a federal lawsuit on July 23, 2020 challenging Rhode Island’s witness/notary...

Everyone must be able to vote to fully participate in our democracy, yet the state of Tennessee recently decided to make it harder for some of its citizens to exercise their right to vote.

Since 1981, under Tennessee law, a person convicted of a felony in another state is eligible to register to vote in Tennessee if their civil rights have been...

President Donald Trump signed a memorandum calling for undocumented people to be excluded from being counted toward congressional representation after the 2020 Census on July 21, 2020. This move is a deliberate attempt at political gain at the expense of the accuracy and legitimacy of the census.

The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution...

I am writing this piece to pay tribute to John Lewis, a man I first met nearly 40 years ago.

Much has already been eloquently written about this great American hero. How he was a strong symbol of what it means to be an American, and how he taught us to march on toward a more just country, even when the struggle seemed too hard and we felt too...

It is with great sadness that Campaign Legal Center (CLC) mourns the passing of two key civil rights leaders and voting rights pioneers, Rep. John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian. Their work fighting to right the wrongs of racial segregation and voter suppression during the civil rights movement were part of the catalyst to pass the Voting Rights Act of...

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn an appeals court order that will prevent nearly a million Floridians from registering and voting in the August 2020 primary election. The Supreme Court stood by and let a lower court prevent otherwise eligible voters from participating in Florida’s primary election simply because they can’t afford to pay...

Texas law currently denies all voters under the age of 65 the ability to vote by mail without an excuse. As a result, Texas’ absentee ballot eligibility rules violate the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides that “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be...

As Americans across the country continue to struggle during the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration is extending financial relief to oil companies that drill on public lands. Among those oil leases that have received aid, hundreds are owned by political megadonors or have close ties to senior Interior...

Hundreds of thousands of Florida voters, represented by Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and partners, are taking the fight for voting rights restoration to the U.S. Supreme Court.

With the deadline to register to vote in Florida’s August 2020 primary election coming up, CLC filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court...

Attorney General Bill Barr has been busy following the President’s lead in spreading unfounded claims of potential widespread fraud in absentee voting. As an election lawyer for previous Republican presidential candidates, I know these claims are baseless and harmful to our democracy. The Attorney General’s partisan role-playing and his false...

The power of special interest money in our politics threatens our First Amendment right to have our voices heard. It is not only drowning out the voices of everyday Americans, it is also impacting voter confidence and trust in government and elected officials — the foundations of a healthy democracy.

Voters overwhelming believe that our campaign...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and partners filed a lawsuit today urging a federal court to change New York State’s flawed absentee ballot verification requirements in time for the 2020 General Election.

New York has consistently had one of the highest absentee ballot rejection rates in the country. In the 2018 General Election, state election...

A recent piece by the Associated Press (AP) revealed that even though President Trump has criticized voting by mail, more than half a dozen of his closest advisers have repeatedly mailed in their own ballots – including Vice President Mike Pence who still lists the governor’s residence in Indiana as his official residence three years after moving...

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) sent a letter urging Senators to include an additional $3.6 billion in the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act for crucial funding, administered with specific requirements, for the states to ensure our election infrastructure is strong for the 2020 general elections.

In the face of the...

A federal judge has dismissed two lawsuits against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on July 6, 2020, decisively ending the legal attack on the voter-approved constitutional amendment that established the Michigan’s Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Benson can now move forward with preparations for implementing the commission...