Democracy Optimist

This week on the Eastern Standard series, “Democracy Optimist”:

Taped live before a student audience at the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law, the final installment in this 17-part election year series focuses on key interviews about election integrity and security, voting access, and voter rights. And host Josh Douglas, a research professor of election law and voting rights at UK, fields questions about voting and elections from students in the audience.

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Since the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the law has been steadily diluted by a series of Supreme Court decisions. We take you back to President Lyndon Johnson's appeal for passage of the Act before a joint session of Congress, look at the subsequent actions of the Supreme Court, and offer perspectives from a series of guests on why it's important to vote.

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What is it like to serve in a state legislature, be the Missouri secretary of state, run for U.S. Senate, create a voting rights organization, and flirt with running for president? Our guest, Jason Kander, has seemingly done it all, with a particular focus on improving our election system and expanding the right to vote.

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It’s often been said that election officials were the heroes of the 2020 election. Facing unprecedented attacks on the election system and a global pandemic, they managed to pull off an impressive feat: a secure election with the most voters ever. Election officials are a vital part of the administration of voting. It’s a year-round job as they prepare for upcoming elections, audit previous ones, and make sure everything goes smoothly. In this episode of Democracy Optimist, Josh Douglas' guest is Jennifer Morrell, a former election official and now CEO and Co-Founder of The Elections Group, an organization that helps to support election officials, offering resources and support to better professionalize the role.

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Are American elections secure? Could the voting machines be hacked? Could another country interfere? And what are we doing to prevent cyberattacks on the election system—and to convince the American public that our elections are, in fact, secure? Host Josh Douglas raises these questions and more with Kim Wyman, the former Washington Secretary of State, former Senior Election Security Advisor for the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and current Senior Advisor for the Elections Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

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The traditional view is that blue states are making it easier to vote and red states are making it harder. That’s not entirely true—there are blue states with voter restrictions and red states with pro-voter policies. But shouldn’t the ideal be truly bipartisan voting rules? Is there a way to come together to work on principles on which everyone can agree? And how do we ensure that election professionals are in the room to help make these decisions? Here to discuss these issues is Trey Greyson, former Kentucky Secretary of State and now leader of the Lobbying and Public Policy practice group at the law firm, Frost Brown Todd.

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Many ask why we use the Electoral College to elect the president. It might seem arcane in today’s world. Many say it’s unfair and that we should use a national popular vote, especially after the candidate with the most votes nationwide did not win the presidency in both 2000 and 2016. Joining us to explain the history of the Electoral College is Carolyn Dupont, an Associate Professor of History at Eastern Kentucky University and author of Distorting Democracy: The Forgotten History of the Electoral College—and Why It Matters Today.

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You may be aware of the Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, but did you know that some states have Voting Rights Acts of their own? Seven states have these laws on their books. Find out which ones from Lata Nott, Senior Legal Counsel at the Campaign Legal Center.

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From strict voter ID laws that don’t recognize tribal IDs, to limits on allowing others to deliver their ballots, many Native Americans face voter suppression. Our guest is Jean Schroedel, author of Voting in Indian Country: The View from the Trenches.

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Ranked Choice Voting

In this episode, Josh talks with Rob Richie, co-founder of FairVote, a nonpartisan organization that has promoted Ranked Choice Voting.

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