Co-hosts Brianna Lennon, county clerk in Boone County, Missouri and Eric Fey, director of elections in St. Louis County, Missouri, talk to subject-matter elections experts and local election administrators to ask the questions that are most meaningful to their work and talk with colleagues about how to best approach issues like voter education, cybersecurity, and integrity.
From the High Turnout Wide Margins team:
High Turnout Wide Margins has officially wrapped a 26-episode second season. The second season won four prestigious awards this year: a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, a National Headliner Award, a Public Media Journalist Association Award, and a Missouri Broadcasters Association Certificate of Merit.
The importance of High Turnout Wide Margins is two-fold. The first, as well as the original goal of the podcast, is to give voice to the actual people running elections at the local level. We have heard from local election administrators throughout the country that this podcast has become a regular listen and the podcast has even been used in the training of election staff throughout the country. Second, HTWM educates and provides valuable insight into the process of elections for everyday voters. While voters may be aware of the electoral college, Congress, etc., this podcast draws back the curtain so that the day-to-day work of election administration can be understood more thoroughly.
Thank you for making Season 3 of HTWM a reality. With your support, a successful Kickstarter campaign and fundraising, High Turnout Wide Margins returns.
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In June, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey, along with Managing Editor Rebecca Smith, traveled to Central and Eastern Europe to learn more about election administration in democracies overseas.In this episode, our hosts are back in Moldova – a small country nestled between Romania and Ukraine that was a part of the former Soviet Union. They spoke with Mariana Novac and Nicolae Panfil with Promo-LEX, an association that organizes domestic observations of elections at all levels, shares with governmental organizations and citizens about how elections have gone, and shares ways they believe processes could be improved – to restore and build trust in the Moldovan democratic process. -
In June, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey, along with Managing Editor Rebecca Smith, traveled to Central and Eastern Europe to learn more about election administration in democracies overseas.In this episode, our hosts are back in Moldova – a small country nestled between Romania and Ukraine that was a part of the former Soviet Union – speaking with Dr. Doina Bordeianu and Pavel Cabacenco with the Center for Continuous Electoral Training, or CICDE. This is a partner organization of the country’s Central Election Commission that focuses on the continued education of election workers and the education of the next generation of voters in the country.
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In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with Matthew Weil, the executive director of the Democracy Program at the Bipartisan Policy Center.They spoke about some of the work his team is doing, some ways local election administrators can get more involved in the policy making process, and about some of the challenges American democracy is facing – like Moore v. Harper, a case being heard this week by the US Supreme Court that could have major implications about how elections are administrated and election policy is made.
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In June, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey, along with Managing Editor Rebecca Smith, traveled to Central and Eastern Europe to learn more about election administration in democracies overseas.In this episode, our hosts speak with Angelica Caraman, the current Chairperson of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Moldova – a small country nestled between Romania and Ukraine that was a part of the former Soviet Union. They spoke about how the CEC coordinates elections throughout Moldova, some of the unique challenges the organization faces, and some of the efforts they are currently undertaking to improve trust in elections and fight disinformation.
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In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum in Michigan about how she pushes back against election misinformation, the need for greater voter education, and how she hopes all election officials – regardless of party – can work together to address election-related conspiracy theories.
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In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with Missouri Senator Roy Blunt and reflect on his 26 years in Congress and his previous careers in local election administration – as both the County Clerk in Greene County, Missouri, and the Missouri Secretary of State.
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S2E14 – An Insider Look at the Business of Voting Equipment with Hart InterCivic’s Peter LichtenheldIn this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Peter Lichtenheld with Hart InterCivic – one of the companies that provides election technology, software, and services to election jurisdictions – about the business of election equipment, some of the challenges the industry has faced, and how things have changes for these companies since 2000.
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In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Joanna Francescut in Shasta County, California, and Natalie Adona in Nevada County, California, about how interactions with the public have changed since 2020 and about how the new demands of educating skeptical voters and people wanting to observe the election process can make it hard to get the day-to-day work of local election administration done.
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In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Soren Jordan and Ryan Williamson at Auburn University about their Trust in Elections study that is looking at how Americans perceive messaging from elections officials – on social media, with “I Voted” stickers, etc. – and about how local election administrators can modify their messages to build and restore trust.
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Mesa County, Colorado, has been in the election’s world spotlight since Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was accused of election tampering in August 2021. Since then, she has been indicted by a Mesa County grand jury on seven felony and three misdemeanor counts of election tampering and misconduct related to the alleged May 2021 security breach. In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Mesa County Elections Manager Stephanie Wenholz about what it was like in the Mesa County office during that tumultuous time and how she keeps herself, and her staff, going despite the controversy.