Voting: there’s a lot to it! Early, mail-in, ranked choice, registration, districts, ID laws, primaries, caucuses, gerrymandering, recounts, paper ballots, electronic ballots. Each state seems to have its own rules and regulations, and state legislatures are frequently introducing new bills that will impact voting laws and districts. On States of Democracy, a new interview series from PBS/WNET, we speak to public media reporters around the country who are on the front lines of political, election and statehouse coverage in their local communities.
This podcast is brought to you by Preserving Democracy, a public media initiative by WNET/PBS Thirteen that tracks efforts at all levels of government to both limit and protect voter participation in America.
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First up, we visited Wisconsin, where two very important elections happened in April. When we spoke to PBS Wisconsin Senior Political Reporter Zac Schultz, voters were deciding on a new Wisconsin supreme court justice. Their choice could ultimately impact the 2024 presidential election—maybe that’s why candidates were smashing campaign spending records in this race. And, in a Milwaukee suburb, a special election determined whether Republicans would win a two-thirds majority in the state senate, giving them, among other things, the power to impeach local officials. We get into all that and more with our guest, Zac Schultz.
Meet the host and hear about what you can expect from our brand-new interview series. This podcast is brought to you by Preserving Democracy, a public media initiative by the WNET group that tracks efforts at all levels of government to both limit and protect voter participation in America.
Molly Enking is a reporter, editor and producer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work can be found in Wired, Rolling Stone, PBS NewsHour, Grist, Gothamist and others.
Molly graduated with a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY. She joins Preserving Democracy after four years working for PBS NewsHour Weekend, where she covered politics, international affairs, COVID-19, science, and the environment.
Molly is passionate about non-profit media and hopes States of Democracy will help highlight the important work public television and radio reporters are doing to combat news deserts and shine a light on under-covered issues, like local politics and voting rights.