I have now listened to two of the episodes in this series. I think they are well done. As a former social studies teacher, I really like the first one. It provides an excellent analysis of what we teach about Nixon/Kennedy and the complications of the 2000 election. This is one I would assign my students.
I will say the second election episode was equally good. I think it is a better compliment to some of what we get from the A Braver Way Podcast. It really dives in on how the rhetoric and media coverage of the furor over elections helped to whip a narrative where no one trusts the polls.
I always find the rhetoric around our elections, and "interference", really disheartening. I am an election judge in my precinct. Because of this I know, probably better than most, how the process works, how individuals cast votes, when they get counted, how they are counted, and how secure they are.
In the future I think it would be good to start to see media organization speak to something that is really unique to America, that no one really talks about. Outside the US most ballots are single issue, meaning most ballots have one candidate or initiative per ballot. That is so different from our ballots in the US. For most primaries the ballots are 2 pages, and general elections can be 5-6 pages long with multiple candidates, offices, amendments, and laws. We have an overabundance of democracy, and it makes it so much harder to count, both by hand or machine, exactly how many votes have been allotted to a candidate, issue, or office. This is something that you start to address with the chads, but I know this is an important issue as candidates, this year, talk about how quickly other countries turn over their election results.
Finally, I look forward to the final chapter of this series. One thing that I think people do not realize, and I always find missing from any conversation around elections is the geography of our country. We have such different processes in each state, and sometimes even each district. Part of the problem is people do not trust the processes in states whose processes they do not understand. I have lived/voted/volunteered at the polls in different states, so I know how radically different it can be. The disparity between how elections are run across America creates a lot of the problems-people just do not understand place. Unfortunately, this remains the untold invisible thread of the "Stole the Election" story.
Thank you for listening so intently and for the nice words about the episodes. Your point about how the process in each state differs so much is well taken. Last weekend I had a conversation with a poll watcher that was in Wayne County in Michigan for the 2020 election. He had quite the story to tell about his experience during that election, but what struck me was how confusing the process was and how a long history in Wayne county of voters not trusting their election system contributed to their suspicion that something fraudulent had happened with ballot counting ... even as the courts found no evidence of fraud.
Thanks again RHG. The final part of the series will be out next week!
I have now listened to two of the episodes in this series. I think they are well done. As a former social studies teacher, I really like the first one. It provides an excellent analysis of what we teach about Nixon/Kennedy and the complications of the 2000 election. This is one I would assign my students.
I will say the second election episode was equally good. I think it is a better compliment to some of what we get from the A Braver Way Podcast. It really dives in on how the rhetoric and media coverage of the furor over elections helped to whip a narrative where no one trusts the polls.
I always find the rhetoric around our elections, and "interference", really disheartening. I am an election judge in my precinct. Because of this I know, probably better than most, how the process works, how individuals cast votes, when they get counted, how they are counted, and how secure they are.
In the future I think it would be good to start to see media organization speak to something that is really unique to America, that no one really talks about. Outside the US most ballots are single issue, meaning most ballots have one candidate or initiative per ballot. That is so different from our ballots in the US. For most primaries the ballots are 2 pages, and general elections can be 5-6 pages long with multiple candidates, offices, amendments, and laws. We have an overabundance of democracy, and it makes it so much harder to count, both by hand or machine, exactly how many votes have been allotted to a candidate, issue, or office. This is something that you start to address with the chads, but I know this is an important issue as candidates, this year, talk about how quickly other countries turn over their election results.
Finally, I look forward to the final chapter of this series. One thing that I think people do not realize, and I always find missing from any conversation around elections is the geography of our country. We have such different processes in each state, and sometimes even each district. Part of the problem is people do not trust the processes in states whose processes they do not understand. I have lived/voted/volunteered at the polls in different states, so I know how radically different it can be. The disparity between how elections are run across America creates a lot of the problems-people just do not understand place. Unfortunately, this remains the untold invisible thread of the "Stole the Election" story.
Thank you for listening so intently and for the nice words about the episodes. Your point about how the process in each state differs so much is well taken. Last weekend I had a conversation with a poll watcher that was in Wayne County in Michigan for the 2020 election. He had quite the story to tell about his experience during that election, but what struck me was how confusing the process was and how a long history in Wayne county of voters not trusting their election system contributed to their suspicion that something fraudulent had happened with ballot counting ... even as the courts found no evidence of fraud.
Thanks again RHG. The final part of the series will be out next week!