The collapse of transparency in the financing of our elections has, in large part been due to weak laws and even weaker enforcement efforts. Rebuilding transparency in the financing of our elections will require enforcement of the rules currently in effect and new laws where needed. To help voters across the country understand the importance of transparency in our democracy and find effective solutions for rebuilding it, CLC launched StopSecretSpending.org.  

On StopSecretSpending.org voters can learn more about transparency and the First Amendment, solutions to stop secret spending by wealthy special interests and new regulations needed to stop foreign spending on digital ads.  

StopSecretSpending.org lays out: 

• Resources on how to have more transparency in the funding of our elections - The power of wealthy special interest money in our politics threatens our First Amendment right to have our voices heard.  For those looking for a resource on getting more transparency in state and federal elections, the site contains more detailed information on how we can stop secret spending in elections. 

• We need more transparency in elections for more accountability and less corruption. – Wealthy special interests often run elections ads that are deliberately misleading. Voters need to know who is funding these ads so they can weigh their credibility and cast an informed vote. Political ad disclaimers with innocuous sounding names like, “America for Americans,” obscure the true source of the ad’s donors and priorities. States like South Dakota require political ads to include the names of the top five contributors to the advertising’s sponsors, creating an opening for transparency, giving voters information they have a right to know about who is influencing their elections. 
   

• Transparency of sources of funding for our elections and candidates, and how that money is spent, has long been considered central to the free and transparent functioning of our democracy. Eighty-three percent of voters across partisan and demographic lines support publicly disclosing political contributions to organizations. Voters have a right to know who is trying to influence their vote, and who is working to influence our government.  
   

Visit StopSecretSpending.org 

PROVIDENCE, RI – Campaign Legal Center (CLC), the American Civil Liberties Union, and Fried Frank filed a federal lawsuit today challenging Rhode Island’s witness/notary requirements for voting by mail throughout the 2020 elections.

The case was filed on behalf of two voting rights advocacy groups – Common Cause Rhode Island and the League of Women Voters Rhode Island – and three people with disabilities who will have difficulty voting if forced to obtain two witnesses for their mail ballot. One of the plaintiffs is 88 years old and has a severe back condition, and is concerned about the heightened risk of contracting COVID-19 if she is forced to interact with visitors to witness her ballot.

“States need to make reasonable accommodations so voters can cast a ballot without unnecessary risk of contracting COVID-19,” said Jonathan Diaz, legal counsel, voting rights, at Campaign Legal Center (CLC). “There are plenty of safeguards in place to protect the security of Rhode Island elections. Forcing people with disabilities or compromised health, or their family members, to find two witnesses to cast a ballot is unreasonable. The courts need to step in so that voters can participate safely.”

“Removing the witness and notary requirement in the midst of a deadly pandemic is a common-sense solution that protects people’s health and their right to vote,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. 

“No one should have to choose between their health and their right to vote,” said John Marion, executive director at Common Cause Rhode Island. “Unfortunately, during this public health emergency, the witnesses-or-notary requirement forces some voters to make that choice.” 

The lawsuit seeks to block provisions of a state law that requires Rhode Islanders who vote by mail to have two witnesses or a notary sign their ballot envelope, even in the midst of a highly contagious and deadly pandemic. These requirements necessitate face-to-face and hand-to-hand interaction between voters and others who pose a potentially fatal risk to the voters’ health.

As of mid-July, there have been nearly 3.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and nearly 140,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rhode Island has had 17,588 confirmed cases and 985 deaths so far. These figures almost certainly understate the real numbers of COVID-19 victims, given the limitations in testing.

The lawsuit notes that “mail voting represents the best option for most Rhode Island voters to participate safely in the 2020 elections,” but that “the voter-witness interaction required by Rhode Island’s current mail voting procedure constitutes a violation of recommended social distancing and creates a substantial risk of COVID-19 transmission.”

Former state Director of Health Michael Fine submitted an affidavit in support of this position, emphasizing the risks that people particularly susceptible to serious illness or death from COVID-19 will face if they must violate social distancing guidelines in order to vote. 

The suit points out that Rhode Island is in a small minority of states that require witness signatures for mail ballots. According to census data, more than 125,000 householders live alone in Rhode Island, and of those, over 50,000 are 65 years and older and, therefore at particular risk if they catch the disease. Multitudes more live with no more than one other adult and therefore do not have two capable witnesses within their households.

The groups are asking the court to block the state from enforcing the witness/notary requirements while COVID-19 emergency orders are in place and/or community transmission of COVID-19 is occurring, and order it to issue guidance instructing city and county election officials to count otherwise validly cast mail ballots that are missing witness signatures.

CLC suit seeks voting rights restoration for people with felony convictions after state reverses position

NASHVILLE, TN – Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is bringing legal action against Tennessee election officials for their refusal to recognize the voting rights of certain citizens with felony convictions. CLC and local counsel Sherrard, Roe, Voigt, & Harbison, as well as their two individual clients, Ernest Falls and Artie Bledsoe, are urging the court to correct a reversal by the state and allow all people who have had their civil rights restored by the state of their conviction to participate in future elections, as they are eligible to do so under state law. Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins, Secretary of State Tre Hargett, Attorney General William Slattery are named defendants in the lawsuit, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court.

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 restored in the state of conviction. This fact has not been communicated by public officials, however, so many Tennesseans who met that requirement assumed that they were disenfranchised. Late last year, CLC worked to clarify that path and solicited the Elections Division to recognize it in writing. However, Tennessee then abruptly reversed course and is now requiring individuals with out-of-state felony convictions to meet additional burdensome requirements that are erroneous under state law.

“People with felony convictions must have the freedom to vote so they can be full, active participants in our democracy,” said Blair Bowie, legal counsel and Restore Your Vote Manager at Campaign Legal Center (CLC). “Even under the most byzantine voting rights restoration law in the nation, tens of thousands of Tennesseans with past convictions have a pathway back to the ballot box – they just might not know it. Here, we illuminated an open window to rights restoration, and the Elections Division and Attorney General quickly and unlawfully slammed it shut. This case is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure that Tennesseans whom the legislature has deemed fit to vote again actually have a chance to do so.”

Tennessee denies more than 421,000 citizens the right to vote because of felony convictions. This accounts for more than 8.2% of the total voting age population, likely the highest rate of disenfranchisement in the U.S. Of the estimated disenfranchised population, nearly 174,000 are Black, which is more than 21% of the Black voting age population – possibly the highest rate of black disenfranchisement in the U.S.

Public support for rights restoration is strong. 67% of registered voters polled in Tennessee – including 60% of Republicans and 78% of Democrats – favor restoring voting rights to those convicted of a felony who have completed all terms of sentence.

Learn more about CLC’s work to restore voting rights in Tennessee.

Trump Administration action on census violates several laws, including Fourteenth Amendment

WASHINGTON – Today, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum calling for undocumented people to be excluded from being counted toward congressional representation after the 2020 Census. The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires the federal government to reapportion congressional seats by “counting the whole number of persons in each state” every 10 years. Congress also uses the census results to distribute trillions of federal dollars, and state and local governments use the data to redraw voting districts.

“The Trump Administration is sacrificing the accuracy and legitimacy of the 2020 Census for political gain,” said Paul Smith, vice president at Campaign Legal Center (CLC). “This illegal action will be swiftly met with a legal challenge. The census determines how political power is distributed within states, so it must be done right.”

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to help the public understand what led to the government’s decision.

Learn more about CLC’s efforts to protect the integrity of the 2020 Census.