Democracy Matters - Episode 20: Protecting Democracy During Pandemic

Elections are one of the cornerstones of representative democracy. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability for every eligible individual to cast a free and fair ballot, and especially without risking their health, is now in question. The notion that elections are in jeopardy was on full display during the Wisconsin primary spectacle, when voters were caught in the middle of state partisan political struggles, unable to vote by mail and forced to risk infection by waiting in lines, without proper distancing, to vote at crowded polling stations that had been consolidated to fewer sites.

As more states prepare for primaries and as the nation plans for the November 2020 general elections, how should candidates approach campaigning and how should elections be administered during a pandemic? What is the role of the media and what will matter most to voters when they cast their ballot in November? In this episode, we talk with Dr. Larry Sabato, Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia and director of the Center for Politics about the fundamental need to ensure voters have a voice in government by deciding who governs even during a pandemic.

Links in this episode:

• Center for Politics at University of Virginia 
• A More Perfect Constitution
• The Neutral Partisan Effects of Vote-by-Mail: Evidence from County-Level Roll-Outs
• National Conference of State Legislatures COVID-19 and Elections

Listen to this episode on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.