Show Notes
Why does the US still choose its president through the Electoral College, a system designed for an 18th-century country of 13 states?
To answer this question, Joshua Paisley is joined by Alexander Keyssar, the Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor at Harvard Kennedy School, and author of Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? Together they trace the electoral college from its origins, from a muggy August in Philadelphia to filibusters in the late 1960s.
The story of the electoral college is deeply intertwined with the progression of US politics, intertwining with issues of race and states' rights. Find out how to get involved as an election observer: https://democracyvolunteers.org/
More from The Democracy Volunteers Podcast
Morocco's recent election felt important, yet turnout was strikingly low. In this episode of Elections across the world, we look at why so many young Moroccans are walking away from the ballot box, and at the gap between the country's prestige projects and economic growth and the reality of youth unemployment and poor public services.
16 and 17 years olds are about to get the vote but only around 30% of under 18's say they've learned about politics in school or college. Is lowering the voting age enough to get young people engaged?
Kazakhstan went to the polls on 23rd August for their first parliamentary election since the constitutional change. The result was a landslide, new party Adilet won more than 71% of the vote on a reported turnout of 74%. On the surface, it looks like the Kazakhstan government enjoys strong voter engagement and a healthy endorsement of the status quo; however, it's more complicated than the numbers suggest.
Zambia's August election was billed as a test of one of Africa's most stable democracies. It ended with the arrest of the main opposition candidate, accusations of a staged assassination attempt, a vote count suspended over unverified reports of violence, and questions raised over discrepancies between the presidential and parliamentary vote counts. In this episode of
Should voting be compulsory? In this podcast, Joshua Paisley is joined by Shane Singh, Professor of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia, to ask whether compulsory voting could be the answer to declining democratic participation.