2022 Midterms: What’s at Stake?

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How are Election Officials Preparing for the Midterms? with Jessica Huseman Oct 18, 2022

Show notes

This episode of the series comes from the Democracy Works podcast, hosted by Jenna Spinelle, Christopher Beem, Michael Berkman, featuring Jessica Huseman.

Think of it as an election administrator vibe check as we head into the midterms. Election officials are the backbone of our democracy, but also increasingly the face of fraud allegations from far-right groups and others who deny the legitimacy of elections that don't go their way.

Many of us watched Georgia election officials Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss testify before the January 6 committee about the threats they faced after becoming caught up in conspiracies about the 2020 election. Our guest this week says that stories like this are more common than many of us realize, and that things like erroneous record requests from election deniers are even more common. On top of that, social media platforms are making it more difficult local election offices to share accurate information with voters.

Guests

Jessica Huseman is the editorial director at Votebeat, a news outlet that does nonpartisan local reporting n elections and voting. She was previously the lead elections reporter for ProPublica, and helped manage the Electionland project for three federal election cycles, sharing information and tips with hundreds of newsrooms across the United States.

Votebeat

Jessica Huseman on Twitter

Power the Polls - poll worker recruitment nationwide

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Democracy Works Podcast

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How Does The U.S. Constitution Hold Us Back? with Melissa Schwartzberg and Joseph Fishkin Oct 13, 2022

Show notes

This episode of the series comes from the Democracy in Danger podcast, hosted by Will Hitchcock & Siva Vaidhyanathan, featuring Melissa Schwartzberg and Joseph Fishkin.

The U.S. Constitution is an 18th-century straitjacket. It’s almost impossible to amend, it gives outsize power to small states, and its meaning is subject to the whims of unelected and increasingly intransigent judges. So what’s new? Well, you might be intrigued to learn on this episode just how America might wrench itself out of that morass, short of trashing the Constitution altogether. With the 2022 midterms on the horizon, our two guests offer up a few ideas — some new, some as old as Athens.

Guests

Melissa Schwartzberg is a political theorist and the Silver Professor of Politics at New York University. Her work focuses on the historical origins of democracy and ancient Greek institutions. She is the author of Counting the Many: The Origins and Limits of Supermajority Rule (2014, Cambridge University Press). Schwartzberg is a frequent contributor to Vox and the Washington Post.

Joseph Fishkin is a professor of law at the University of California–Los Angeles, and a specialist in constitutional law. His new book, with William Forbath, is The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy (2022, Harvard University Press). Earlier in his career, Fishkin clerked for Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. His work has appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review and the Supreme Court Review, among other leading journals. Fishkin also blogs at Balkinization. Follow him on Twitter @joeyfishkin.

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Democracy in Danger Podcast

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How Do Previous Elections Challenge Democracy Now? with Lynn Vavreck Oct 11, 2022

Show notes

Our first episode of the series comes from the Democracy Paradox podcast, hosted by Justin Kempf, featuring Lynn Vavreck, the Marvin Hoffenberg Professor of American Politics and Public Policy at UCLA. She’s a contributor for The Upshot at The New York Times. She recently coauthored (with John Sides and Chris Tausanovitch) The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to American Democracy.
Key Highlights

Introduction - 0:39
Lessons from 2016 - 3:05
Political Calcification - 14:31
Why Did the Democrats Nominate Joe Biden? - 18:51
Forecasting the 2020 Election - 25:52
Implications for American Democracy - 29:39

Key Links

Follow Lynn Vavreck on Twitter @vavreck

Learn more about Lynn Vavreck

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Democracy Paradox Podcast

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Introducing 2022 Midterms: What's at Stake? Sep 05, 2022

Show notes

This series from The Democracy Group podcast network will explore how the 2022 midterms could impact the health and stability of American democracy. We’ll go beyond horse race politics to look at bigger trends in election administration, media, voting rights, and more.

Each episode will come from one of The Democracy Group’s podcasts that focus on democracy, civic engagement, and civil discourse. Our network includes shows from Penn State, the University of Virginia, the Campaign Legal Center, and the Common Ground Committee.