Voting is a fundamental right — but for many Americans with disabilities, accessing the ballot can still present real challenges. This week, Brooke sits down with former Cobb County, Georgia Elections Director Tate Fall to explore how accessibility shapes election administration. From ADA compliance at polling places to ensuring voters with physical and intellectual disabilities can confidently cast their ballots, Tate shares practical insights from her experience working at the local, state, and national levels, including how election officials can better prepare ahed of Election Day.

Stick around until the end where Tate shares an exciting update about a new series highlighting the voices of election administrators across the country.

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Welcome back to Keepers of our Republic, a new weekly podcast from Keep Our Republic that takes listeners inside the institutions at the heart of American democracy. Every week, Keepers of Our Republic features thoughtful conversations with election administrators and retired federal judges. We explore how elections are really run, discuss why an independent judiciary is essential to a strong republic, and separate fact from fiction in a fast-changing world. Learn more about Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit, at our website, https://keepourrepublic.org 

Wisconsin is one of the nation’s leaders in voter turnout — but how do its elections actually work? This week, Ari sits down with Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe to discuss how the state administers elections through nearly 2,000 local election officials. They talk about Wisconsin’s unique bipartisan commission system, the challenges of training clerks across the state, and some of the most persistent myths about election administration. Along the way, Wolfe explains how local officials and volunteers keep elections running smoothly, even during snowstorms and power outages.

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Welcome back to Keepers of our Republic, a new weekly podcast from Keep Our Republic that takes listeners inside the institutions at the heart of American democracy. Every week, Keepers of Our Republic features thoughtful conversations with election administrators and retired federal judges. We explore how elections are really run, discuss why an independent judiciary is essential to a strong republic, and separate fact from fiction in a fast-changing world. Learn more about Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit, at our website, https://keepourrepublic.org 

The Supreme Court has issued a major ruling in the Trump tariffs case — but what does it actually mean? This week, Brooke sits down with former federal judges Philip Pro and Liam O’Grady to break down Learning Resources v. Trump in nonpartisan terms. They explain the constitutional issues at stake, how the decision reflects checks and balances at work, why Justice's Gorsuch and Barrett's position might not be the controversial surprise the media would have you believe, and why supporting an independent judicary is essential to our democracy. 

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Welcome back to Keepers of our Republic, a new weekly podcast from Keep Our Republic that takes listeners inside the institutions at the heart of American democracy. Every week, Keepers of Our Republic features thoughtful conversations with election administrators and retired federal judges. We explore how elections are really run, discuss why an independent judiciary is essential to a strong republic, and separate fact from fiction in a fast-changing world. Learn more about Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit, at our website, https://keepourrepublic.org 

Shorewood, Wisconsin is bucking the trends: 90% of registered voters show up to vote in elections, and Village Clerk Toya Harrell has more volunteers than she knows what to do with. What's the secret to Shorewood's civic engagement? This week Brooke chats with Toya Harrell to discuss an unexpected career in public service, voting in Wisconsin, and a family legacy of protecting free and fair elections reaching back to Ms. Rosa Parks herself.
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Welcome back to Keepers of our Republic, a new weekly podcast from Keep Our Republic that takes listeners inside the institutions at the heart of American democracy. Every week, Keepers of Our Republic features thoughtful conversations with election administrators and retired federal judges. We explore how elections are really run, discuss why an independent judiciary is essential to a strong republic, and separate fact from fiction in a fast-changing world. Learn more about Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit, at our website, https://keepourrepublic.org 

As Wisconsin continues to play a pivotal role in national elections, Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys offers a local perspective on what keeps the state’s decentralized election system strong. As we honor Black History Month on Keepers of Our Republic, Celestine joins Ari to reflect on more than two decades of public service, including her historic election as Green Bay’s first African American city council member. Together they discuss how community bonds and local leadership sustain confidence in our democratic institutions, changes and unique rules in Wisconsin's elections and where you can, surprisingly, still visit an amusement park for less than a dollar. 
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Welcome back to Keepers of our Republic, a new weekly podcast from Keep Our Republic that takes listeners inside the institutions at the heart of American democracy. Every week, Keepers of Our Republic features thoughtful conversations with election administrators and retired federal judges. We explore how elections are really run, discuss why an independent judiciary is essential to a strong republic, and separate fact from fiction in a fast-changing world. Learn more about Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit, at our website, https://keepourrepublic.org 

As partisan politics take center stage in the federal judiciary confirmation process, this week's guest, Retired Federal Judge Lee Yeakel, United States District for the Western District of Texas, talks us through the Senate confirmation process from an insider's perspective. Judge Yeakel and Keeper's host Brooke Bergen discuss the effects of injecting partisanship into the judiciary and why neutrality is necessary for an effective legal system.

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Welcome back to Keepers of our Republic, a new weekly podcast from Keep Our Republic that takes listeners inside the institutions at the heart of American democracy. Every week, Keepers of Our Republic features thoughtful conversations with election administrators and retired federal judges. We explore how elections are really run, discuss why an independent judiciary is essential to a strong republic, and separate fact from fiction in a fast-changing world. Learn more about Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit, at our website, https://keepourrepublic.org 

As Georgia's elections have come under increased scrutiny and national attention in recent years, Bartow County’s Election Supervisor Joseph Kirk has weathered the storm. This week on Keepers of Our Republic, Executive Director Ari Mittleman sits down with Joseph Kirk, current President of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials. Ari and Joseph discuss the many recent, and possible future changes to Georgia's elections, and the work of maintaining trust and transparency in elections, and educating and training election workers across the state. 

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Welcome back to Keepers of our Republic, a new weekly podcast from Keep Our Republic that takes listeners inside the institutions at the heart of American democracy. Every week, Keepers of Our Republic features thoughtful conversations with election administrators and retired federal judges. We explore how elections are really run, discuss why an independent judiciary is essential to a strong republic, and separate fact from fiction in a fast-changing world. Learn more about Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit, at our website, https://keepourrepublic.org 

In the wake of President Trump's executive orders targeting various law firms in 2025, a number of former federal judges, attorneys, and legal scholars rallied to create a new set of legal principles that would affirm the necessity of asserting independence and exercising First Amendment rights in the legal profession. On this week's episode, Judge Shira Schendlin and Professor Pearlstein Director of the Princeton Program in Law and Public Policy discuss the new Principles for the Independence of the Legal Profession, and the recent op-ed in the New York Times, co-authored by Judge Schendlin.

Read and sign the full text of the Principles for the Independence of the Legal Profession, here: https://keepourrepublic.org/what-we-do/initiatives/legal-principles/

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Welcome back to Keepers of our Republic, a new weekly podcast from Keep Our Republic that takes listeners inside the institutions at the heart of American democracy. Every week, Keepers of Our Republic features thoughtful conversations with election administrators and retired federal judges. We explore how elections are really run, discuss why an independent judiciary is essential to a strong republic, and separate fact from fiction in a fast-changing world. Learn more about Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit, at our website, https://keepourrepublic.org "

Welcome back. This week, Brooke sits down with former Judge John Tinder, a former AUSA and Judge of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Tinder and Brooke discuss recent mass resignations at the Department of Justice. The DOJ is the most common litigant in the federal court system. With apparent chaos over staffing shortages, firings, and resignations at the nation's largest prosecutorial body, Judge Tinder discusses the erosion of public trust in our federal systems and the effect it has on judges.
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Welcome back to Keepers of our Republic, a new weekly podcast from Keep Our Republic that takes listeners inside the institutions at the heart of American democracy. Every week, Keepers of Our Republic features thoughtful conversations with election administrators and retired federal judges. We explore how elections are really run, discuss why an independent judiciary is essential to a strong republic, and separate fact from fiction in a fast-changing world. Learn more about Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit, at our website, https://keepourrepublic.org "

This week on Keepers of Our Republic, Brooke sits down with one of Keep our Republic's newest staff members, Kamryn Hoadley, a former elections administrator from Pontiac, Michigan who literally grew up in elections. Kamryn shares childhood memories of working in elections administration with her family before jumping into it as her full time career. Kamryn shares her experiences pulling in volunteers and poll workers from the younger generations, and why experienced volunteers are the bedrock of running elections smoothly and efficiently.

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Welcome back to Keepers of our Republic, a new weekly podcast from Keep Our Republic that takes listeners inside the institutions at the heart of American democracy. Every week, Keepers of Our Republic features thoughtful conversations with election administrators and retired federal judges. We explore how elections are really run, discuss why an independent judiciary is essential to a strong republic, and separate fact from fiction in a fast-changing world. Learn more about Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit, at our website, https://keepourrepublic.org