The Round Table: A YVote Podcast

The Round Table was active this week in honor of the election.  Following on the heels of our conversation with Yasmeen Serhan about international perception of the election, Eliza, Isaiah, and Madeline spoke with Steve Friess, a reporter from Michigan who is the News& Features Editor at Hour Detroit and writes about the election for Newsweek and other national publications. Contested elections aren’t new to Steve: he was a reporter in Palm Beach County during the 2000 election. We explored many of the questions on people’s minds: the unusual nature of this particular election, the challenge of how some states are handling absentee ballots, how far some of the polls seemed to be from how results are actually turning out, and the future of Trumpism beyond Trump’s time in the Presidency. This is an anxious time for many of us across the political spectrum, and we feel fortunate to engage in some civic sense-making with Steve and now with you. Thank you for joining us!

At this week's Round Table, the day after the election, our podcast team split up to get multiple perspectives on the political moment.  Olivia and Inica spoke with Yasmeen Serhan, staff writer from The Atlantic, who has been covering the election and political matters from the UK.  Yasmeen framed the U.S. election is a global moment, with global consequences. The world is looking to the U.S. to see what path it is going to take. The world is watching as the results, and the response to the results, unfold, and will continue to watch.  We hope you appreciate the opportunity to stretch beyond our borders in order to put this election in a broader perspective. Thank you for joining us!

At this week's Round Table, Divya, Inica, Isaiah, Madeline, and Olivia speak with Susan Lerner, the passionate and inspiring Executive Director of Common Cause New York. We discussed voting rights--and wrongs. Our conversation was simultaneously sobering, acknowledging the many problems that are playing out in relation to this year’s election, AND inspiring, celebrating the power of the vote and the heroism on display by the many many millions of people who have committed to not letting the pandemic get in the way of our democratic power.  Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, the next week (and possibly well beyond) is likely to be nerve-wracking.  We’re particularly happy to have you join us for this episode and look forward to working together to make the most of what lies ahead.

At this week's Round Table, Eliza, Inica, Isaiah, Madeline, and Olivia spoke with MaryAnn Makosiej. MaryAnn was a Founding Fellow in our Next Generation Politics' Civic Forums way back in 2017-18. Now, she’s a third-year Biology major at the University of Vermont AND a first-year Master's in Public Health student at the Larner College of Medicine AND the Director of Policy for Kesha Ram, who is running for State Senator in Vermont, among many other things. We had a fascinating conversation about MaryAnn’s trajectory from Civic Fellow to civic superstar, her thoughts about the impact COVID has had on Burlington, VT--and what will be necessary to drive the community forward, and the importance of bringing moral courage to politics. MaryAnn exemplifies the advice she gave us, “don’t limit yourself and don’t label yourself--you can and should explore so many different facets of yourself and the world around you.”  Thank you for joining us!