High Turnout Wide Margins

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Catherine McMullen. She's the Clerk in Clackamas County, Oregon. Her office is “the keeper of all county public records,” which means in addition to administering elections, the office also officiates weddings, handles property records and has to be notified in the case of missing property that the finder wants to keep.They spoke about these unique responsibilities, as well as how the Clackamas County Clerk's office finds balance – and funding – for all of their numerous duties.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Amanda McColley. She's the Regional Supervisor for the Division of Elections Region III office in Alaska, which covers Fairbanks and the interior of Alaska. They spoke about some of the unique challenges Alaskan election administrations can face – think having to load election equipment onto small charter planes – as well as some of the challenges they share with the lower 48, such as voter education around rank choice voting and training election staff.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Tina Guilford. She's the Town Clerk in Derry, New Hampshire – home to the largest polling place in the United States (One polling location for 21,000 voters).They spoke about a newer law in New Hampshire that requires all people to provide proof of United States citizenship to register to vote, as well as how this new law has impacted the administration of elections in the state.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with married election officials Akyn and Noah Beck in Georgia. Akyn is the Elections Supervisor in Floyd County, and husband Noah is the Elections Director in neighboring Polk County. They spoke about how the couple met and fell in love – over poll books and precinct population data, and about how they have seen the landscape of Georgia election administration change in the last few years.

In January, the HTWM team was invited to record a live episode at the Southern Political Science Association meeting held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.Brianna and Eric sat down with Paul Gronke and Paul Manson of the Elections & Voting Information Center about results of this last year's Local Election Official Survey Project, looking at challenges, attitudes, and job satisfaction.

In January, the HTWM team was invited to record a live episode at the Southern Political Science Association meeting held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.In a fun turn of events, our “guests” put Brianna and Eric on the receiving end of questions – giving them the opportunity to reflect on the administration of the November 2024 general election.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Mark Kampf, the former clerk in Nye County, Nevada. He stepped into the role in the summer of 2022 after the Nye County Commission voted to move to hand counting ballots and his predecessor resigned.That fall, Kampf proposed a plan for Nye County to hand count during the midterm elections, which faced a legal challenge from the ACLU (https://news3lv.com/news/local/nye-county-clerk-tempers-hand-count-expectations-calls-it-a-test), and ultimately served as a parallel trial of hand counting. In March 2024, Kampf resigned from the position of Nye County Clerk.They spoke about these hand counting efforts, as well as Kampf's work to beef up chain of custody processes during his tenure in office.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Trent Tripple in Ada County, Idaho. Trent was integral in implementing the new Ballot Verifier system in Ada County that allows voters to view ballot images and cast vote records side-by-side. They spoke about how this ballot verifier came to be, how it's helped decrease distrust in elections in Idaho and how it's won his office back time that used to be spent fielding public records requests.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Sarah Archambault and Margo Guernsey. They are the production team behind the documentary “No Time to Fail,” and of a new documentary, “The Officials” that continues to shine a light on the work of local election officials.  They spoke about why they chose to focus their work on local elections, how they have built a connection to the elections administration community and what everyday Americans could take away from the nonpartisan nature and focus of the field.  You can watch the new 27-minute documentary at https://time.com/7017573/the-officials/

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Peggy McGaugh. She's the State Representative for the 7th District, which includes Carroll, Linn, Livingston, and part of Ray counties. Before being elected to the House, she served for 33 years in the Carroll County Clerk's Office.  They spoke about McGaugh's experience, the benefits of state legislators coming from election administration backgrounds, and how clerks and state legislators can better work together.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with some new election administrators in the state of Missouri – all of whom have been in the job less than four years, and are now preparing for their first presidential election.  They spoke about Rachel Lightfoot in Polk County, Heather Hall, the Republican Director of the Election Board in Clay County, and Adrienne Lee in Vernon County. They each spoke about how the job has been doing so far, some of the challenges they've faced and what they are looking forward to in November.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Jeff Mangan. He's a former Commissioner of Political Practice in Montana, and one of co-chairs of the Montana Election Observation Initiative [MEOI], a Carter Center-supported nonpartisan election observation effort.  MEOI conducted their first pilot observation during Montana's June 4th primary in Missoula. You can read the preliminary report – here (https://www.cartercenter.org/resources/pdfs/peace/democracy/u_s_elections/meoi-statement-of-findings-june2024.pdf)  They spoke about how these domestic election observations came about, how their first pilot went and about how nonpartisan election observation efforts could play a role in the future.

The High Turnout Wide Margins team recently traveled to Portland, Oregon, for a special workshop on State Associations hosted by the Election Center. While there, we were able to have face-to-face conversations with people working in elections across the country. In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Commissioner Tom Hicks, one of the longest serving members of the Election Assistance Commission, or EAC. They spoke about Tom's time as a commissioner, how elections can be more accessible for disabled voters, and how the EAC could play a role in developing the election administration workforce.

The High Turnout Wide Margins team recently traveled to Portland, Oregon, for a special workshop on State Associations hosted by the Election Center. While there, we were able to have face-to-face conversations with people working in elections across the country. In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Jackie Beaudry and Melanie Ryska. They're both local clerks in Michigan and leaders of the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks. They spoke about the implementation of some new election law in the state, how their association works alongside the Michigan Association of County Clerks, and how their association is trying to balance the needs of very large and very small municipalities.

The High Turnout Wide Margins team recently traveled to Portland, Oregon, for a special workshop on State Associations hosted by the Election Center. While there, we were able to have face-to-face conversations with people working in elections across the country. In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Mark Coakley. He's the General Registrar of Henrico County, Virginia. They spoke about Mark's long history working in elections and the unique way that local election administrators in Virginia are setting their own educational priorities and learning from each other. 

The High Turnout Wide Margins team recently traveled to Portland, Oregon, for a special workshop on State Associations hosted by the Election Center. While there, we were able to have face-to-face conversations with people working in elections across the country. In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Aaron Ockerman, the Executive Director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials. They spoke about the importance – and power – of state associations, how having a non-election administrator in charge can strengthen an association, as well as the role a state association can play in better preparing election officials, both old and new, for the increasingly complex nature of their jobs.

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.

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.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Peter Stanyon. He's the Chief Executive for the Association of Election Administrators, or AEA, in the United Kingdom.  They spoke about the complexities of the UK's election system with its limited time frame for some elections, changes in voter ID law, and the challenges of adding modernization on top of a system originally designed in the 1800s.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Gideon Cohn-Postar. He's the Legislative Director from Issue One, an organization that advocates for cross partisan political reform at the Congressional level – on issues such as social media reform, protecting the safety of election officials and consistent federal funding for elections throughout the country. They spoke a little about the current status of congressional funding for elections, as well as how projects, like “Faces of Democracy,” can help personalize these issues for members of Congress.  To learn more about and read previous “Faces of Democracy articles,” visit https://issueone.org/projects/facesofdemocracy/.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Mindy Moretti, the editor-in-chief of electionline, a news source and aggregator for local election administrators that sends out a daily newsletter on all things election news. They spoke about how electionline has evolved over time, what it takes for Moretti to curate it each morning, and a very special partnership that's coming soon. You can learn more about electionline and sign up for the daily newsletter at https://electionline.org/

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Scott McDonell in Dade County, Wisconsin. After a number of threats and attempted break-ins, McDonell decided that election officials needed a safer and larger space for election processes. So, after traveling around the country to look at other election offices, McDonell chose the new space at an unexpected location- a local brewery. They spoke about how a County Clerk embarks on a project of this size, keeping election workers safe, and maintaining trust with other clerks across the state.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Tommy Gong from Contra Costa County, California. They spoke about Tommy's long history working in California elections, about his work with Bay Area Votes – and how they're trying to educate and connect with voters – and a little about his unique connection to Bruce Lee. https://www.facebook.com/BayAreaVotes/

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Fred DeCaro III, one of the two elected Registrars of Voters in Greenwich, Connecticut. They spoke about the unique nature of Connecticut's election administration, some of the challenges of being a part-time local election administrator, and about what all election administrators could do to rebuild citizen's trust in the electoral system.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Heider Garcia in Dallas County, Texas. Garcia has had a couple of high-profile years – first, being highlighted on “This American Life” for the inclusive and in-depth way he engaged with people who were skeptical of or had questions about the elections process. Then, after a close result in Tarrant County in 2020, Garcia became the target of accusations of voter fraud, as well as serious threats and racist attacks – including the release of his personal address on social media. You can read Garcia's full testimony from 2022's “Protecting Our Democracy's Frontline Workers” hearing in front of the U.S. Senate's Committee on the Judiciary  – here. They spoke about Garcia's passion for educating voters, about what other election officials can learn from his experiences and what he's most excited about in his new role in Dallas County, Texas.

Last November, the High Turnout Wide Margins team held a live event looking ahead to 2024's election cycle. Hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey spoke - for the first time – with Secretary of State-level election administrators: Gabriel Sterling in Georgia and Trey Grayson in Kentucky. They spoke about some of the things they've learned during their time working in elections.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Jamie Shew in Douglas County, Kansas. They spoke about how innovations - like RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification technology, can be used for keeping track of all of the equipment needed to run a good, efficient election.  

In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with BiaSciLab, a teenage white hat hacker who has been working in the elections cybersecurity space since she was 11 years old. They discuss the role of DEF CON's Voting Village and ethical hackers in testing and identifying cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the American election system. To learn more about DEF CON's Voting Village, visit their YouTube page – here.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Charles Stewart III. He's the director of the MIT Election Data and Science Lab and the co-director of the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project (https://electionlab.mit.edu/). They spoke about the relationship between academics studying elections and the local election administrators who are conducting them, how academic research can become functional tools for election administrators to use and how academic-election administrator collaboration could impact future elections.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with John Lindback. He's been involved in elections administration for many years and was the first Executive Director of ERIC, the Electronic Registration Information Center, after its creation in 2012. They spoke about the creation of ERIC, how the multi-state voter-registration monitoring collaborative functions, as well as some of the challenges that come along with maintaining the integrity of a voter list.

This past August, the High Turnout Wide Margins team headed to Indianapolis for the National Conference of State Legislatures' Legislative Summit, which brings together lawmakers from all across the country. Hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey did a live taping at the event where – for the first time – they spoke with state legislators. They spoke about how state legislators and local election administrators can work together to foster trust and confidence in American elections.

In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak to Clinton Jenkins – a third-generation county clerk in Miller County, Missouri. As of the 2020 Census, Miller County has a population of 24,722.   They spoke about his family legacy of public service, the many tasks that come with the job, and some of the challenges he has faced in his small, rural jurisdiction.

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.

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.

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. You can read the Carter Center's Preliminary Report from the Tunisian elections on December 17, 2022, “Historically Low Turnout in Tunisia's Parliamentary Election Confirms Need for Renewed Dialogue” at https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2022/tunisia-121922.html. You can read about the Carter Center's Preliminary report from the Tunisian runoff elections on January 29, 2023, “Post-election Statement: Low Turnout in Tunisia Election Reaffirms Need for Broad-Based Consensus” at https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2023/tunisia-020123.html/.

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/

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Kathy Boockvar. She's the former Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 2019- 2021 and a member of the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections, which works to protect election officials from physical threats, violence, and intimidation through coordination with law enforcement. They spoke about some of her own experiences working with law enforcement for protection during her time as Pennsylvania Secretary of state, as well as about how local election officials can start working now to ensure the physical safety of their staff and their office during the 2024 election cycle.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In 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.

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.

In this episode, hosts Eric Fey and Brianna Lennon speak with Ryan 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.

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.

In this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with Eva Guidarini, the manager of state and local government outreach at Facebook. They spoke about how local election officials can use their social media platforms to educate voters and push back against misinformation.

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 take a broad look at democracy in the Republic of Moldova – a small country nestled between Romania and Ukraine that was a part of the former Soviet Union. They speak with Igor Munteanu, the former Moldovan ambassador to the United States and Igor Boțan, the Executive Director of the Association for Participatory Democracy to learn more about the history of this relatively young democracy and explore some of the unique challenges it faces.

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, they speak with Alexander Shlyk, the Special Representative on Elections for Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and the former head of the Elections Department of OSCE ODIHR, or the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Tsikhanouskaya is the leader of the leader of the Belarusian democratic movement who many believe truly won the 2020 election against President Alexander Lukashenko. Shlyk is currently living in exile as one of the 16 people working for Tsikhanouskaya, and he's working to prepare the legislative and practical framework for democratic elections in Belarus – which he believes will inevitably happen.

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, they speak with Dr. Irena Hadžiabdić with the Bosnia and Herzegovina Central Election Commission about the state of democratic collaboration in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as some of the challenges like disinformation and harassment of female election officials that Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing. You can find the election e-portal for citizens living abroad that Dr. Hadžiabdić mentions at https://eizbori.izbori.ba/.