Youve given us a mandate for true reform and I appreciate that. How does the system work, and can it be fixed? It came to a head right where it startedin Alabama, where commissioners in Shelby County had sued the Justice Department, saying that discrimination was no longer the problem it had been in the 1960s and the law had outlived its purpose. Open that door! Please enter a valid email and try again. There's no end in sight." The visuals from Vox are incredible and well . Whose Vote Counts, Explained is an American documentary series that is a three-part limited series that's a part of the larger Explained franchise produced by Vox. Why should Meade and others like him have had to lobby the government to let them vote? The topics of these episodes have been coming to a head in recent years. Report. I texted our election services coordinator, Mike, and said, "Hey, dude, where are you? With the election underway, I interviewed both candidates. is provided by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. I looked up Angela Lang, a source of mine who is a voting rights activist in Milwaukee. And on the ground, local election officials struggled to keep up. But somebody that's running for mayor in that state, losing 10, 15 votes can make the difference for them. Its tempting to see them as three distinct concerns, but they're inextricably linked to a legacy of inequality and an ongoing struggle. Patrick Marley is one of the states preeminent political reporters, and we talked to him a lot as things were playing out. Whose Vote Counts, Explained (Limited Series) | Official Trailer | Netflix, Nepotism Babies Continue To Spark Controversy. Cities are underrepresented and suburban and rural communities are overrepresented even though they are not a significant portion of the population. If youre not aware of which one is which between Trump and Joe Biden, then youve got some work to do. Claire Woodall-Vogg was second in command at the Milwaukee Election Commission when the absentee ballot requests started coming in. Voting is mandatory and those who do not may be fined or have to go to court. How can the system be fixed? The right to vote is at the foundation of America's democracy. Well, basically they felt it was important to have the election. Hank Sanders represented the defendants in one such case brought by the U.S. attorney in Alabama at the time, Jeff Sessions. You can change your cookie preferences. The violence was combined with other thingspoll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clausesto prevent Black people from voting in the Jim Crow South. STEPHEN STIRLING, Columbia Journalism Investigations: Sure. With so much at stake in Wisconsin, the national parties joined the fight. Open that door! Kathy Bernier was elected to the State Assembly the year Gov. Earlier today, I signed Executive Order 74 to suspend in-person voting for the spring election until June 9. Republican lawmakers almost immediately sue. College Vote Unpredictable Heading into Election Day. Three of those states (Colorado, Oregon, and Washington) have done the same thing in past elections, and two others (California and Utah) have done something similar.. Many people in the U.S. feel that their vote will not matter because of how politicians rig elections in favor of their party. That people felt that their vote was being suppressed by having to go out and potentially contract the illness by going to a polling place. Learning about the different ways politicians suppress voting could leave viewers discouraged, but knowing how far we have come could also be empowering. Unavailable on Basic with ads plan due to licensing restrictions. And those contacts help people to navigate a system that was designed to shut them out and help people to cast absentee votes. Currently, only 19 U.S. states have automatic voter registration. Last edited on 19 November 2022, at 00:44, "Whose Vote Counts, Explained review a star-endorsed exploration of a crucial topic", "Netflix's Whose Vote Counts, Explained Review: The Grim Reality of the Voting System", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Whose_Vote_Counts,_Explained&oldid=1122684721, This page was last edited on 19 November 2022, at 00:44. Always having to provide proof of residence when you register to vote. People steal them out of mailboxes. The final margin was over 10 points, and if someone had told me before the election that we were going to win by more than 10 points, I would have told them they were absolutely crazy. Especially when it comes to such a hot-button topic. That kind of outcome where its driven by the minority is okay as long as its infrequent, said Danielle Allen, a political scientist from Harvard. And their fears are well-founded: Based on our review of years of voting records, more than a million votes might go uncounted in the upcoming election. Audience Reviews for Whose Vote Counts, Explained: Season 1 Dec 02, 2020 A huge disappointment. You know, I was not, but I had a absentee ballot. . By 1985, that number would grow to nearly 4,000. With Joe Biden projected to win the state by a narrow margin, the Trump Campaign said it would seek a Wisconsin recount. We decided to go 100% virtual and to focus 100% on helping people cast absentee ballots. You are ordered to disperse. So I think you can look at various moments in history, but to me the critical moment was the election of President Obama and the ensuing internal civil war within the Republican Party about what to do about it. The series is narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, Selena Gomez, and John Legend. The memorial is informally known as the national lynching museum, and it's filled with thousands of names of Black Americans, many of them killed amid the push for voting rights. The result, we hope, is three compelling stories that make the issues and their stakes clear brought to life by our three incredibly talented narrators, who shared our passion for these issues: Leonardo DiCaprio, Selena Gomez, and John Legend. Photo: Whose Vote Counts Explained/Netflix. You'll receive access to exclusive information and early alerts about our documentaries and investigations. Melody McCurtis and her mother, Danell Cross, founded a community organization called Metcalfe Park Bridges. And they certainly weren't interested in a mail ballot. "Whose Vote Counts, Explained" takes a close look at the United States' political system and attempts to get voters engaged and informed before the 2020 general election. Throughout U.S. history, many have fought to extend the right to vote to all adults. We believe in peaceful/non-violent protests and I would like to request the rest of media to focus on 95% of the protests that are peaceful and working effectively with positive changes happening daily. If the lies told by the Commander in Chief arent enough. The Shelby decision did send a powerful signal, and soon changes to voting laws began taking place all over the countryin Southern states and beyond. There are cases of voter fraud here and there, but it doesn't happen in the numbers necessary to show that there's some sort of great conspiracy out there to steal elections through voter fraud. Our series outlines some of the proposed solutions out there to make Americas democracy represent all its citizens better. Videos Whose Vote Counts, Explained Trailer: Whose Vote Counts, Explained Episodes Whose Vote Counts, Explained Limited Series Release year: 2020 The right to vote is at the foundation of America's democracy. Democrats tend to live in urban areas whereas Republicans live in suburban areas. The first episode of the series discusses voter suppression and its origins in the aftermath of slavery. Albert, you can see thats him right there. In Wisconsin, Scott Walker and the Republicans began passing a flurry of new voting laws. Most estimates were that Black and Hispanic voters in Wisconsin were twice as likely as white voters not to have one of the approved forms of identification. From voter suppression to disenfranchisement, see the roadblocks that stop voices from being heard. I thought a lot about this idea when I paid a visit to Black Lives Matter Plaza earlier this fall. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});After the Supreme Court struck down a provision that required some states to get clearance before changing voting laws, some states have started finding new ways to restrict voting by closing polling places, especially in communities of color. Many of the same kinds of problems showed up in other states that held elections in the months that followed. My dad, who's a Democrat, he said, "Well, what's wrong with that? He's never had any actions, never done anything in the area of trying to investigate or go after election fraud." Whose Vote Counts, Explained S01 E01. The Democrats favorite, Jill Karofsky, had won, the unexpected result of the wave of absentee ballots. We're providing printed literature in there with phone numbers for folks to call us if they need help registering to vote, so that they feel empowered to vote. In all these states that we've looked at, studies have shown. As a DC resident, I was sent a ballot without formally requesting it, and I didnt think it was unfair. At one time, we talked about reducing sites to maybe from 180 to 120. Actually, in my district, it is not a partisan issue. Many voters are concerned about how they can safely vote and make sure their vote is counted. For the rest of the country, voters have to request a mail-in ballot and give a reason as to why they cannot vote in person; in four states, the pandemic is not a valid reason to vote by mail. In fact, I thought it was completely fair to not have to risk getting COVID-19 by going to vote in person. A change in the number of hours we could have for early voting. Leonardo DiCaprio, Selena Gomez and John Legend lend their voices to this incisive, informative deep dive into U.S. voting. Fewer Rejected Ballots Seemed to Be a Win for Voter Access. So why don't you guys look at that and see what you make of it. People were going to get sick and those people were probably going to be Black and brown people who are disproportionately impacted by the virus. In the electoral college system, the candidate with a majority of votes in a state will receive all of the states electoral votes. On Sept. 10, he tweeted Sending out 80 MILLION BALLOTS to people who arent even asking for a Ballot is unfair and a total fraud in the making. With Columbia Journalism Investigations and reporters from the USA TODAY NETWORK, New Yorkerwriter Jelani Cobb reports on allegations of voter disenfranchisement,how unfounded claims of extensive voter fraud entered the political mainstream,rhetoric and realities around mail-in ballots,and how the pandemic could impact turnout. The job of making that happen fell to numerous appointed officials like Neil Albrecht. On top of that, Ellis said, even making small changes like the location of a polling place required time-consuming paperwork and costly legal fees, a hardship for the county. Kansas voters sided with abortion rights in August. For Republicans, though, this all spelled trouble. | Powered and Designed by: WEBSITEITUP. Whose Vote Counts, Explained isn't the only project that dives deep into the U.S. voting system on Tuesday, Amazon made available for free its original documentary All In: The Fight for. And when people in the Bush administration got in there, very ideological, very right-wing people, they began to change the mandate of the Department of Justice from instead of protecting voters who were facing disenfranchisement, they started talking about voter fraud. Dir., Milwaukee Election Comm. States that were notorious for voter suppression now had to get federal approval if they wanted to change any laws regarding voting. Areas like Milwaukee, where we'd been talking to anxious voters. The crush of absentee ballot applications added chaos to an election that included not just the presidential primary but thousands of local races as well. Civil rights groups went to court to challenge the law, which was one of the most restrictive in the nation and was endorsed by Hans von Spakovsky. That provision was called Section 5. He also enjoys writing about current events in the entertainment landscape, and is always looking for interesting topics to cover. JELANI COBB: I've been studying American elections for years, but I've never seen anything. But in many cases, this led to a Republican bias because people gerrymandered themselves. Additional funding forWhose Vote Countsis provided by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. Half a dozen changes after the Shelby decision. ANDREW HITT, Chmn., Republican Party of WI: We believed that with the right amount of preparation, we could hold a safe election. The Democratic National Committee filed one of several lawsuits to make absentee voting easier, seeking to loosen requirements like voter ID and witness signatures, things that historically have been obstacles, especially for people of color. Wisconsin is very, very likely to be the tipping point of the presidential election in November. From voter suppression to disenfranchisement, see the roadblocks that stop voices from being heard. We sent a crew to Wisconsin to understand what had been happening on the ground. We are actively, physically and digitally a part of this global movement. We went to places in the state that were being hardest hit by the virusdensely populated urban areas: Madison, Green Bay and especially Milwaukee. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Thats about 44 million ballots not 80 million and they will be going to Republicans as well as Democrats and independents. Due to biases in the criminal justice system, poll taxes and literacy tests soon became common, preventing many Black and non-English speaking people who could not pass the test or afford the tax from voting. It's a lot of names on here that are pretty active in the community that we're in a relationship with. Especially when it comes to such a hot-button topic. Its been an especially common practice for me ever since the pandemic started, with my custom list of shows and films to watch growing larger the more time I spend inside. The elimination of late-arriving absentee ballots. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. She was a leading proponent of the voter ID legislation. Well, the most important thing for you to understand is it's just a sampling of cases, OK? As one of our interviewees put it: Theres no such thing as forever in a democracy. Its just up to the American people to decide whats next. One of them said, its a rigged game, so dont play. While I agree that the electoral college should be discontinued, I dont think that disagreeing with it justifies somebody not voting. I don't think there is a clerk in the state of Wisconsin that didn't see an entire shift in how we conduct elections on April 7. Under the banner of combating voter fraud, von Spakovsky had spent years advocating for restrictions on voting, such as laws requiring photo ID in order to register or cast a ballot, outraging many Democrats. It snatched the covers off of it. With their constituents at risk from in-person voting, Democrats began pushing for something that would ignite a political firestorm: an absentee ballot drive. I think were seeing elected officials, specifically on the Republican side, that are playing politics with peoples lives. Videos Whose Vote Counts, Explained Trailer: Whose Vote Counts, Explained Episodes Whose Vote Counts, Explained Limited Series Release year: 2020 The right to vote is at the foundation of America's democracy. Three new Explained episodes on the ways our democracy is broken. Voting is really on the bottom when you're dealing with life and trying to provide for you and your children. Whose Vote Counts, Explained is a 2020 docuseries. Hey, how you doing? No other justices in history besides these four were nominated by presidents who lost the popular vote. Web Site Copyright 1995-2023 WGBH Educational Foundation. Americans vote at much. What they said was that voter fraud does occur in the U.S. and it could make a difference in a close election. Are Aging Politicians and Supreme Court a Rising Gerontocracy. At the end of the day, when you look at the problems, they're in the large, urban areas. Evers made a last-ditch attempt to postpone the election. Over the coming days, Wisconsin would be skewered in the national media. 1867. When I heard Melody McCurtis say that, the drama in Wisconsin came into sharp focus. The really significant shifts that we began to see were a closure of many of the sites that we used for voting and a mass exodus of our election workers due to concern about the pandemic. Like a lady on here that's a senior. Simple mistakes like using the wrong color ink or not signing on the envelope can cause your ballot to be discarded. The United States Postal Service lacks much-needed funding, leaving voters feeling uncertain about mailing their ballots. BEN WIKLER, Chair, Democratic Party of WI: Hi, this is Ben Wikler with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin calling for David. These 16 FRONTLINE documentaries offer context on some of the biggest challenges the new administration faces. Tony Evers, a Democrat whod been elected on a razor-thin margin, had wanted to delay. stated mail ballots will be sent automatically to eligible registered voters in only nine states and the District of Columbia. Well guide you through requesting an absentee ballot online. And also that's the same group of people that can make and break an election. It goes back all the way to our nation's infancy when voting was considered a privilege, not a right. States across the country have postponed their primary elections because of the coronavirus pandemic, but not Wisconsin. Evers did, you run into a real problem because what you're doing is going toyou're necessarily going to lessen the number of people that vote because of that chaos, because of that confusion. We find them through newspaper accounts of people getting convicted. It does a great job of misleading the viewer with out-of-context statistics. With former Vice President Joe Biden leading Wisconsin by a narrow margin, the local election commission and others respond to the Trump campaign's call for a state recount. The first is a formal way of not letting a certain group of people vote, and the latter is an attempt to discourage people from trusting the voting system. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. We are simultaneously faced with a global pandemic, climate change, systemic racism/inequality, and a lack of competent leadership in the White House. 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Was elected to the state Assembly the year Gov discusses voter suppression had...