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In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Derek Bowens, the Elections Director in Durham County, North Carolina.They spoke about crafting narratives to help election administrators share and showcase the need for local investment in elections and about the importance of having election administrators that represent and reflect the voters they serve.
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In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Matthew Fitch. He’s the owner of Merriman River Group, a private election firm that works with organizations such as labor unions and, recently, the Missouri Democratic Party for the presidential preference primary.They spoke about how one manages a private election, including preparation for the ballot box, technology trends, and creating trust with voters.
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In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak to Ben Hovland and Carrie Levine. Ben is the current Vice Chair for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and Carrie is the Story Editor for Votebeat, a “nonprofit news organization committed to reporting the nuanced truth about elections and voting at a time of crisis in America.”They spoke about the current state of federal election funding heading into the 2024 Presidential election cycle and about some of the funding challenges that come from the U.S.’s decentralized system of elections. They also spoke about the important role local election administrators play when it comes educating the public and rebuilding trust.
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In February, High Turnout Wide Margins was invited to do a live recording at the first in-person meeting of the US Alliance for Election Excellence – a nonpartisan collaborative of election administrators and subject matter experts.Hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey spoke with two election administrators that night – Jocelyn Benson, the Michigan Secretary of State, and Pam Anderson, who ran for Colorado Secretary of State and has a long history of working in Colorado elections.
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A House bill on banning classroom instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation in Missouri had its first public hearing on Wednesday.
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In December, host Brianna Lennon went on her first international election observation mission. She traveled to Tunisia in northern Africa to observe their December 17, 2022, Parliamentary election, which comes after a consolidation of power under their current president and a relatively new constitution that he helped craft.She and co-host Eric Fey spoke with Don Bisson, the head of the Tunisia Election Observation Mission for the Carter Center before the observation took place to learn more about his experiences, as well as more about international observation, in general.And then Brianna spoke with Justin Roebuck, the County Clerk of Ottawa County, Michigan, after the observation was completed about some of what they both learned throughout the process.
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Missouri’s Republican lawmakers are working to pass the Save Adolescents from Experimentation, or SAFE Act, which would make it illegal for health care providers to perform gender transition procedures to minors.
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Technology and innovation were a big focus of Missouri Chief Justice Paul C. Wilson’s State of the Judiciary address on Wednesday.
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Back in November, High Turnout Wide Margins hosted a film screening at Ragtag Cinema in Columbia, Missouri. The documentary called ‘No Time to Fail’ follows the work of numerous Rhode Island election administrators during the 2020 Presidential Election as they navigate their day-to-day work, the growing threat of disinformation and mistrust in elections and the global pandemic.After the screening, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey spoke with one of the film’s protagonists, Rob Rock, the Director of Elections for the state of Rhode Island, about his experiences in elections.You can learn more about the documentary at https://www.notimetofailfilm.com/
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The Missouri House of Representatives Elementary and Secondary Education Committee heard their first bill on Wednesday on the proposed Public School Open Enrollment Act.
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Legislation on implementing more transparency between parents and what their children are learning in school has passed in the Missouri House of Representatives and is now in Senate committee hearings.
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After passing in the Missouri House of Representatives last year, the legislation that would create the Parents’ Bill of Rights has made its way to the Senate.