State Accountability: Voting Rights Should Rank Supreme

In Wisconsin, Voting Rights Should Rank Supreme

When American Oversight announced the expansion of our State Accountability Project to Wisconsin and New Hampshire last month, it was a response to threats against our shared democratic values. With the coronavirus continuing to impact primary elections, and access to ballots being curtailed by ideological, partisan forces, American Oversight is working to protect the right to vote — and to expose those who seek to restrict it.

Looking ahead, free and fair elections are in danger.

This week, voters in Wisconsin faced a terrible choice as the state was forced to go ahead with its primary election on Tuesday, despite the obvious public health danger posed by coronavirus. As one justice on the Wisconsin state supreme court wrote in a dissenting opinion, voters were essentially told: “Endanger your safety and potentially your life by voting or give up your right to vote by heeding the recent and urgent warnings about the fast-growing pandemic.”

Voting is the most fundamental tool we have to hold our leaders accountable — but what happened in Wisconsin was an extreme and shameful example of a pattern we’ve seen across the country as right-wing, partisan interests have sought to use every possible opportunity to prevent Americans from exercising our right to vote.

American Oversight has been advocating for transparency in systems replete with corruption, where partisan political power supplants public interest. When the president looks at elections as personal competitions, partisan election commissions enact policies to suppress participation, and conservative courts put procedure ahead of public safety, we all lose.

We are fighting against ongoing voter suppression efforts across the country — and we’re also investigating attempts to exploit the coronavirus outbreak to keep Americans from the polls. In the past month, we’ve sent new public records requests to multiple states, including:

Florida: Public records request to Florida governor’s office seeking emails with federal officials related to the coronavirus emergency.

New Hampshire: Open records request asking for the governor’s communications with groups known to be working to restrict voting rights and promote partisan redistricting, including the American Legislative Exchange Council and the National Republican Redistricting Trust.

Texas: Public information request to the Office of the Governor of Texas seeking sent communications key terms related to the state’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic and Executive Order GA-09 banning medical procedures not deemed “medically necessary.”

Wisconsin: Public records request to Wisconsin Elections Commission asking for communications between commissioner Dean Knudson and state Republican party.

Help Promote Voting Rights

We’re committed to following the evidence wherever it leads, and we welcome your suggestions for investigations or partners in your state. You can share tips or suggestions by email to [email protected]. You can help us to share the news on Facebook or Twitter by following @weareoversight.

If you are able, please consider a tax-deductible contribution to support our state accountability work and fight voter suppresion in 2020.

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The American people have a right to a transparent and ethical government. We're holding the Trump administration accountable—because Congress won't.

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