Common Cause

Campaigns

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  NEW: Trump-approved postmaster general's policies could delay mail-in ballots

  The United States Postal Service offers crucial services for Americans nationwide -- including enabling millions to vote safely from home this year. But if Trump’s new postmaster general gets his way, the agency will become so overburdened that it can no longer reliably provide these services. That means voters' ability to cast an absentee ballot during this pandemic will be limited -- potentially disenfranchising countless Americans in November, or forcing them to risk their health at the polls. Since the Postal Service’s founding, USPS workers have been committed to ensuring that every piece of mail gets delivered in a timely, reliable fashion -- and that the mail is picked up from every address every day, even despite staffing shortages. But DeJoy -- a Trump mega-donor with no previous USPS experience -- just implemented extreme new regulations that will inhibit postal workers’ ability to do their jobs. He is eliminating all overtime, cutting all extra trips, and directly instructing mail carriers to leave mail behind at distribution centers -- if delivering it might extend their hours. This will lead to serious delivery delays of everything from life-saving medications to vote-by-mail ballots and 2020 Census forms. And it’s particularly dangerous as we get closer to Election Day -- when there will be a substantial increase in vote-by-mail usage across the country, straining the Postal Service’s now artificially limited capacity. DeJoy claims these changes will cut costs -- but more likely, they’ll put the already beleaguered agency in even deeper financial peril, while also crushing customers’ confidence in the USPS. Instead, our senators need to step up for the Postal Service and follow the House’s lead in passing crucial funding to save it. Right now, we need a massive outcry directed at DeJoy from everyday Americans who rely on the Postal Service. Add your name today.

  63,522 of 75,000 Signatures

  Created by Common Cause
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  EXPOSED: Secretive group teaching politicians how to rig elections

  ALEC is ramping up its plans to hijack our democracy like never before. It’s time to expose and demand action from every corporation that’s funding these cynical efforts. ALEC has formed a new secret working group focused on “redistricting, ballot measures, and election law.” This task force holds lectures by architects of some of the most notorious gerrymanders and voter suppression schemes of the last decade -- with one main goal: teaching corporate-friendly GOP politicians how to abuse our systems to stay in power. How to rig the census and the redistricting process to keep Republican seats safe. How to stonewall fixes for the broken Electoral College. ALEC and its member corporations know just how unpopular and unethical these efforts are -- which is why there is no mention of the working group on its website. This task force comes on the heels of ALEC’s infamous redistricting workshop, held at its annual meeting last year. Conservative lawmakers, thinkers, donors, and activists were invited -- and were told by panelists to treat redistricting as “political adult blood sport,” trash evidence of wrongdoing before it can be discovered through litigation, and buy off individual Black and Latinx legislators to guarantee them reelection in exchange for overall whiter and more conservative maps. Make no mistake: THAT is what companies like UPS, Pfizer, Anheuser-Busch are endorsing with their financial support for ALEC. And they’re hoping that we don’t notice -- they don’t want to be publicly associated with ALEC’s extreme agenda. But if they hear from thousands of outraged Americans, they may cancel their ALEC membership -- just like we convinced companies like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon to do. Add your name now to become a part of the nationwide outcry.

  589 of 600 Signatures

  Created by Common Cause
• Make the 2020 Census count -- NO citizenship question

  Last week, the Supreme Court announced it would decide whether the Trump administration can add a question about citizenship status to the 2020 Census questionnaire -- which will be sent to every household in the nation next year. The Court’s decision could have serious, lasting consequences. Experts suggest that including such a question would discourage legitimate responses, especially from communities of color -- leading to an inaccurate count. Getting this count right is critical to making sure our government works for everyone. The Census shapes our nation’s democracy, public policy, and funding for an entire decade. It determines everything from congressional districts to local resource allocation -- like school funding, the number of fire houses in our neighborhoods, and highway and road repair budgets. It’s up to us to tell the Supreme Court loud and clear that We the People deserve a fair, unbiased Census in 2020. Let's show that Americans nationwide are ready to make sure that we all count. Add your name to protect the Census and keep a citizenship question off of the questionnaire.

  347 of 400 Signatures

  Created by Common Cause
• Tell the FCC: Break Big Cable's monopoly! #UnlockTheBox

  Big Cable is running a scam that makes millions of Americans pay them money for nothing. And even worse, this racket is locking us out of a more open, diverse, and accessible media. Here's how it works: if you have a cable subscription, then there's probably a rental fee for your set top box snuck into your bill. At $10 or $20 a month, that's an average of $231 per year! This means you end up paying the full cost of the device -- but the rental fee doesn't ever go away. But even more costly is the way Big Cable is stifling innovation and competition by restricting what we are able to access through their devices. The FCC can change this and turn a stagnant element of the electronics landscape into an innovative one that could bring more diversity in programming to our TVs. It's time for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to break up this racket. Right now, the FCC is considering new rules that would let consumers choose freely where they get set top boxes -- instead of shackling them to the cable companies. They're soliciting public comments, so let's make sure they hear loud and clear that it's time to break up this monopoly. Send a message to Chairman Wheeler right now and urge him to #UnlockTheBox!

  84 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Common Cause
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  Honor Rep. John Lewis: Pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act

  America just lost a giant in the fight for civil rights. If our senators want to honor Rep. John Lewis, they must continue his legacy -- by passing the Voting Rights Advancement Act. For six decades, Lewis fought tirelessly to expand and protect the rights of Black voters and other voters of color. And the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 was one of the crown jewels of his lifelong struggle. Under the VRA, states and counties with a history of discrimination had to get federal approval for new voting laws -- which stopped thousands of harmful provisions from taking effect. But the Supreme Court gutted that requirement in 2013, inviting power-hungry politicians to silence voters. Strict voter ID requirements in Texas. Voter roll purges in Georgia. Polling place shutdowns in Arizona and Mississippi. And not even the COVID-19 crisis could put a stop to this blatant voter suppression -- many of the states once subject to preclearance are now refusing to make vote-by-mail more accessible. In December 2019, the House passed the Voting Rights Advancement Act -- a new, updated version of the Voting Rights Act that restores key protections for voters -- as Rep. Lewis himself held the gavel. But the bill has remained untouched on Mitch McConnell’s desk for months, even though the Senate voted unanimously to renew the VRA in 2006. So while McConnell calls Lewis an “American hero” and lauds his pioneering work -- he is also stonewalling the bill that Lewis risked his life for. [1] If you believe that Mitch McConnell and the Senate must pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act, add your name today. As Rep. Lewis said: "We have come too far and made too much progress to stop now." 1) https://twitter.com/senatemajldr/status/1284344881117364225

  843 of 1,000 Signatures

  Created by Common Cause
• 2020 Census: We will be counted

  Donald Trump and his administration are determined to undermine and politicize the 2020 Census with a dangerous question on citizenship status. Last month, the Supreme Court suspended the administration’s ability to add this citizenship question to the survey, rejecting their reason for including it as “contrived” -- but Trump and his team are relentlessly trying to add it anyway. Such a question is estimated to dissuade more than 6.5 million people from filling out the 2020 Census. The Census is constitutionally required to count every person living in the United States. And that mission is at risk -- if the Census doesn’t get proper funding and manpower, or if Trump’s team is successful in coming up with a new way to add an intimidating citizenship question. If either happens, we risk a severe “undercount” -- cutting millions out of political representation and jeopardizing the very foundation of our democracy. The 2020 Census will shape our nation’s government, public policy, and budgets for an entire decade. The data we gather determines everything from congressional district maps to local resource allocation -- like school funding, the number of firehouses in our neighborhoods, and highway and road repair budgets. People of color -- particularly Black and Latinx communities in both urban and rural areas -- are at an especially high risk of being undercounted by an underfunded or unfair Census. This would deprive countless people in the U.S. of resources, political representation, and the right to a democracy that truly represents all of us. We can’t let that happen. Add your name and tell lawmakers in your state to make sure the 2020 Census is conducted fairly and fully funded.

  247 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Common Cause
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  Demand transparency for Trump’s COVID-19 spending

  President Trump and his team are supposed to be distributing crucial COVID-19 relief funds to help everyday Americans through this public health and financial crisis. But instead -- they’re spreading corruption, enriching giant corporations, muzzling the truth, and rewarding their mega-donor allies. That’s right: instead of making sure ordinary Americans are safe, secure, and cared for during this global crisis -- Trump has exploited the situation to create an unaccountable, trillion-dollar slush fund to hand out to private special interests. We’re demanding that Congress respond by passing the CORE Act. This vital legislation would enforce stronger oversight of and accountability for the Trump administration. It’d ensure that the taxpayer dollars allocated for COVID-19 relief don’t serve the wealthy and well-connected -- at the expense of the American people. Specifically, the bill... - Prohibits conflicts of interest: fully vets for potential bias among anyone distributing COVID-19 relief funds -- whether they’re contractors, advisors, or White House staff; - Empowers and protects independent watchdogs: requires that Inspectors General can only be fired for cause -- not as retaliation for doing their jobs; - Protects whistleblowers: strengthens safeguards for those who call out waste, fraud, or abuse in the administration’s spending; - Improves transparency for bailout funds: allows everyone to see where bailout money is going -- to make sure it’s supporting everyday Americans, not major corporations and special interests; - And implements dozens of other provisions to hold Trump and his administration accountable. This is a commonsense bill -- and it may be the only way to end Trump’s war on legitimate, independent oversight. Otherwise, he won’t stop until there isn’t a single White House watchdog left. Add your name to urge Congress to pass the CORE Act -- and demand transparency and accountability for COVID-19 relief spending.

  60 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Common Cause
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  Protect the U.S. Postal Service from Trump

  Trump just picked one of his longtime cronies to serve as the head of the U.S. Postal Service -- an agency he’s been railing against for years and called a “joke” just last month. That’s right: Louis DeJoy is set to become the first postmaster general in two decades who didn’t rise through the agency’s ranks. In fact, DeJoy hasn’t had a single day of experience within the agency. He has, however, given millions of dollars to Trump and the Republican party since 2016. This is just the latest step in Trump’s plan to undermine the USPS. He has already threatened to veto any stimulus bill with Postal Service funding in it -- and he’s trying to impose draconian conditions on USPS workers as a condition for a loan from the Treasury. Now, he’s making sure he has a man on the inside -- someone who can do his bidding for him. The USPS couldn’t be more crucial to the survival of our democracy, especially this year. Many will return their 2020 Census forms by mail, to make sure we get an accurate count of everyone living in the U.S. -- and vote-by-mail programs will be an important way for voters to safely make themselves heard in the 2020 elections. That’s why our representatives can’t let Trump, DeJoy, or anyone else threaten the USPS or our right to vote by mail. Add your name to tell Congress: we need careful oversight of this vital agency.

  419 of 500 Signatures

  Created by Common Cause
• Congress: Override Trump’s veto and REJECT his "national emergency"

  This is a gut check moment for every lawmaker who says they care about the rule of law. When President Trump failed to get his border wall built through the democratic process, he decided to undermine the checks and balances that have protected our nation for centuries -- declaring a phony “national emergency” to pay for it. In response to this brazen attack on the rule of law, the House and the Senate passed a resolution with strong bipartisan support to block the president’s declaration. But as expected, Trump once again put his own interests first -- and used his first presidential veto to dismiss Congress’ bipartisan resolution. Now, it’s up to Congress to override the veto. Our elected officials must put the good of the country before the good of the party and check this power grab by President Trump -- with a 2/3 vote in each house. We cannot let our president blatantly ignore our democratic system to fund his anti-immigrant agenda. Add your name and demand our representatives take a stand for the rule of law.

  18 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Common Cause
• Tell Brian Kemp: Stop Suppressing Georgia Voters!

  53,000 eligible Georgia voters may have their rights taken away -- we need to speak out now. Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp -- who is running for Governor this year -- has crafted yet another partisan voter suppression scheme meant to disenfranchise Black voters in Georgia. He’s already pushed to close rural polling places, and purged legitimate voters from the rolls. Now, he’s blocking 53,000 new voter registrations from being processed, which means robbing 53,000 mostly Black Georgians of their right to vote in the midterm elections . Under Kemp’s needlessly strict “exact match” rule (which most states don’t use), if someone moves or gets married and changes their name, their entire registration can be thrown out. These Georgians followed the rules to do their civic duty -- and Kemp is STILL trying to prevent them from exercising their constitutional right to vote. The right to vote and make our voices heard is fundamental to our democracy. Every eligible voter should have a say in the people and policies that determine the future for their families, community, and country. We’ve already seen how widespread outrage and activism can make real change in Georgia -- like when our efforts forced the local board of elections to keep each and every polling place in Randolph County open, despite threat of shutdowns. Now, we need a nationwide outcry to tell Brian Kemp -- stop suppressing votes, and let every eligible voter have their say.

  129 of 200 Signatures

  Created by Common Cause