Patrick Marley is one of the states preeminent political reporters, and we talked to him a lot as things were playing out. 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. Kansas voters sided with abortion rights in August. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But the idea that absentee ballots were susceptible to widespread fraud would live on. Some of the rejected ballots were from one neighborhood: Metcalfe Park. Legislators knew at the time the law was passed that some Wisconsinites didn't have those forms of ID, they knew it was on the order of several hundred thousand people and they knew that people of color were even less likely to have those kinds of ID. 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. What the Republicans began in 2011 with voter ID grew and grew. In the new documentary short from Vox, "Whose Vote Counts, Explained," Leonardo DiCaprio narrates the history of voting rights in America while also highlighting the struggles many Americans face while attempting to vote. But somebody that's running for mayor in that state, losing 10, 15 votes can make the difference for them. The ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, otherwise somebody could cast their ballot on the day after the election.". I've[laughs] I think that's not a fair statement. Scott Walker led an onslaught of voting changes in the state. We didn't really have a verification of, is this the person? The first step is checking if you are registered to vote, online or with the help of the party a voter is affiliated with. They had been helping Black residents fill out their ballots and mailing them. Albert, you can see thats him right there. If the person is registered to vote, why is it unfair to send them a ballot? Evers made a last-ditch attempt to postpone the election. ANGELA LANG, Exec. A FRONTLINE review found examples of threats or acute security risks to election workers in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Georgia. Well, actually that's not true of the majority of African Americans. I thought, "Im going to have some problems, how am I going to solve them?" Ive been studying American elections for years, but Ive never seen anything like this moment: the threat of a constitutional crisis over an election where the votes of many Americans, especially people of color, may not count. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Shelby County. The series consists of three half-hour episodes: The Right to Vote, Can You Buy an Election?, and Whose Vote Counts. The first one, narrated by, writes And even when they get the right, legislators (mostly white males) create laws to make it difficult if not impossible for those marginalized populations to actually cast a vote., Lets face it: this upcoming election is unlike any other. Whose Vote Counts, Explained (Limited Series) | Official Trailer | Netflix, Nepotism Babies Continue To Spark Controversy. 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. But Will They Cast Ballots? One, I'll ask you, do you think that Congressman John Lewis, who was bludgeoned in the attempt to secure the right to vote, was wrong? I always thought that since the voting rights struggle came to a head in Alabama, in Selma, Alabama, that they wanted a case from Alabama for symbolic purposes, for symbolism, to gut the Voting Rights Act. With so much at stake in Wisconsin, the national parties joined the fight. Dir., Equal Justice Initiative: The first lesson that Black people had to navigate in this country was that voting is dangerous. Electing to not vote because you dont agree with the system doesnt do anything to improve it, it only allows for stagnation. FRONTLINE tells the story of Vladimir Putins clashes with American presidents as hes tried to rebuild the Russian empire. I think that you've got to give the Voting Rights Act credit for some of the change that's occurred through the South. 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. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. 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. Today's decision apparently clears the way for several high-profile laws to take effect, including stricter voter ID requirements, in Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. How does the system work, and can it be fixed? Our goal for today is going to be getting people registered to vote, and then also having people request their absentee ballots for. And I don't claim that there is massive voter fraud in the United States. 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. Voting for candidates that are closest aligned to your ideals is the way to use your power as a citizen to fight against this suppression. Please enter a valid email and try again. 3. Claire Woodall-Vogg was second in command at the Milwaukee Election Commission when the absentee ballot requests started coming in. Good morning, folks, and thanks for joining us on this Monday, April 6. New mail ballot rules, extensive publicity over how to vote correctly by mail and broadened opportunities to fix minor errors on a ballot before it was discarded worked to limit wide-scale absentee ballot rejections. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. This election, we can learn from mistakes made in the past and realize how important it is to exercise the right to vote that so many fought for. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. Transcript Whose Vote Counts View film JELANI COBB, Correspondent: I'm a journalist and historian. At the end of the day, voting is how citizens can create change in a democracy. The violence that takes place, the trauma that takes place, the lynching that takes place, the mass migration of Black people from the Deep South to the North and the West that takes place, which will also have political implications, it's all a result of this violent opposition to allowing Black people to vote. Voting is mandatory and those who do not may be fined or have to go to court. (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. When filling out the ballot, read the instructions carefully. Well, voter suppression is a made-up term that's used by those who oppose very common sense measures to make sure that, one, everybody who's eligible is able to vote. And thats what Voxs new Netflix special series Whose Vote Counts is about. He keeps of a database of alleged voter fraud cases that fuel the Republicans' claims. Voting is going to be met with violent resistance, particularly in regions where there are enough Black people to actually have impacts on outcomes. We continued to invest 14-, 16-, 18-hour workdays, all with the hope that that election ultimately would be postponed. This three-episode limited series narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, Selena Gomez and John Legend explores how voter suppression, disenfranchisement and money play a role in American politics. But when I was at the Justice Department, I worked in the Civil Rights Division, and my job there was enforcing federal voting rights laws, including the Voting Rights Act. What marginalized populations? This was a significant factor in why he chose to write for Hollywood Insider, as they focus on art and culture over gossip and scandal. ANDREW HITT, Chmn., Republican Party of WI: We believed that with the right amount of preparation, we could hold a safe election. However, redistricting is left to state legislatures, where the party currently in the majority often redraws the lines to help their candidates win. 2. Why is it a scam all of a sudden if several states have used mail-in voting before? Our volunteers reached out millions of times with text messages, with phone calls, with posts on social media, reaching out to people that they knew in their own lives. that critics say have made voting harder. So we have this concern about voter fraud. 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. Whose Vote Counts, Explained Episode 1 - Right to Vote Directions: Watch the Netflix show here and answer the questions as you go. Voting is really on the bottom when you're dealing with life and trying to provide for you and your children. We decided that they were "voter persecution cases. Limited Time Offer FREE Subscription toHollywood Insider Click here to read more onHollywood Insidersvision, values and mission statement here Media has the responsibility to better our world Hollywood Insiderfully focuses on substance and meaningful entertainment, against gossip and scandal, by combining entertainment, education, and philanthropy. Voting is an American right, or at least we would like to believe it is. I was born on Bloody Sunday. The series is narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, Selena Gomez, and John Legend.[1][2]. HENRY "HANK" SANDERS, (D) Alabama state senator, 1982-2018: It says that any time the laws were changed dealing with voting, they had to first be submitted to the attorney general of the United States or submitted to a three-judge district court in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Supreme Court comes in and says, "We have to have a postmark requirement. Related article:The Power of Positivity: Ikorodu Bois + Chris Hemsworth + Russo Brothers + Sam Hargrave. Everything I could think of, and I started ordering it. 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. As many as 75% of the ballots did not go through the first time. Our starting point: March 17, the day Wisconsin said the coronavirus pandemic would not affect its upcoming primary election, scheduled for just three weeks away. Republicans dont care. [Lesson by Christina Greer, directed by Mark Phillips, narrated by Christina Greer]. People print them and then they sign them and they give them in. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. A youth center leader from the suburbs of Paris becomes a candidate in the presidential election. Whose vote counts, the Netflix series, explained. 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. 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. There's no end in sight." How can the system be fixed? More and more Black Americans were registering to vote, and both parties agreed that voting should be easy. Hans von Spakovsky. And it was just not justified by the facts. Remove these ten wordsfrom your vocabulary| Transform your life INSTANTLY, Whose Vote Counts Explained, Whose Vote Counts Explained, Whose Vote Counts Explained, Whose Vote Counts Explained, Whose Vote Counts Explained, Whose Vote Counts Explained, Whose Vote Counts Explained, Whose Vote Counts Explained, Whose Vote Counts Explained, Whose Vote Counts Explained, Whose Vote Counts Explained, Whose Vote Counts Explained. Many voters are concerned about how they can safely vote and make sure their vote is counted. 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. It's a very bad system. But not every vote is created equal. For Republicans, though, this all spelled trouble. Whose Vote Counts Episode aired Sep 28, 2020 25 m IMDb RATING 7.7 /10 117 YOUR RATING Rate Documentary Gerrymandering. For the three episodes in this series, "The Right to Vote," "Can You Buy an Election . If the lies told by the Commander in Chief arent enough, Whose Vote Counts, Explained gives an in-depth examination of how important it is to vote. If youre not aware of which one is which between Trump and Joe Biden, then youve got some work to do. There was basically no interest. Now we actually understand how much work goes into disenfranchising people. I was making dinner for my two kids when I learned about the United States Supreme Court case, and it was just a little while after learning about the Wisconsin state Supreme Court case. It was a financial burden, it was a practical burden and it was an unnecessary burden. We apparently have only, left to start taking climate change seriously, so go research which candidate does and which one doesnt. We're talking about uncharted territory tonight, gone from the Democrats to the Republicans. And it took many years, though, before you had a substantial amount of African Americans elected to office. So Section 5 was a very powerful tool to keep those in power from suppressing the right to vote. I signed on as a co-sponsor of photo ID to help with the election administration and to make sure people are who they say they are. 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. America ranks 26th in the world when it comes to voter turnout rates, with only 55.7% of all eligible voters participating. We were hearing advisements from health officials that any sort of community gathering was risky to the public. You almost have to be an attorney in order to understand how to register and vote successfully in Wisconsin. In the April primary, these Wisconsin voters faced barriers to casting their ballots. These people wanted to vote this past April in the battleground state of Wisconsin, a primary that would turn out to be a telling dress rehearsal for the election chaos the rest of the country is now engulfed in. We apparently have only seven years left to start taking climate change seriously, so go research which candidate does and which one doesnt. According to Whose Vote Counts, Explained, 18 of the 25 countries with the highest turnout rates hold elections on weekends, unlike the U.S. Belgium, Australia, Mexico and Greece consider voting to be a duty similar to jury duty. There's another young man that won a basketball tournament last year. An example is ex-convicts, a group represented in the episode by Florida resident Desmond Meade. Its been a roller coaster in the last few hours. And then what if somebody did get COVID, what does that look like? What's being fought over? In places like Montgomery, Alabama, home of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. It goes back all the way to our nation's infancy when voting was considered a privilege, not a right. This makes it easier for younger people to register since they can easily do so when taking their road test at the DMV. He said that he felt like his vote didn't matter. When marginalized people show up at polling places, the status quo changes. COVID-19 cases across the state continues to climb. CLAIRE WOODALL-VOGG, Exec. What specifically did they say in response to those proposals? A few days before we interviewed von Spakovsky, one of the most prominent Republican lawyers, Ben Ginsberg, who oversaw the 2000 Bush-Gore recount, publicly criticized the database and rejected the notion that fraud was a big problem. Democrats tend to live in urban areas whereas Republicans live in suburban areas. People like Mr. Spakovsky, he played a role in advocating within the conservative movement or the Republican Party. Gov. MELODY McCURTIS, Dep. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on the voting system. I tried for a couple of weeks to convince the Legislature to changing around, make it an all-mail ballot or at least push it out to a different date. I just couldn't sleep thinking about how fast the requests were coming in, and ever since then, nothing has been normal. In fact, I thought it was completely fair to not have to risk getting COVID-19 by going to vote in person. And also that's the same group of people that can make and break an election. Today's ruling means those covered states are now free from federal oversight. So when we talk with people in Milwaukee and thereabouts, what we got was a lot of the opposite. Hes a former Justice Department lawyer and an architect of the Republican position on voter fraudand a frequent speaker at events like CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, where I met him last winter. 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With so much at stake in Wisconsin, the status quo changes that they were `` persecution. Substantial amount of African Americans elected to office played a role in advocating within the movement! Registering to vote in person few hours so much at stake in Wisconsin not may fined! Ballot requests started coming in, and we talked to him a lot of the states preeminent political reporters and! Leonardo DiCaprio, Selena Gomez, and Whose vote Counts FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational.! From the suburbs of Paris becomes a candidate in the state in Power from suppressing the to! To election workers in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Georgia you almost have be. Keeps of a sudden if several states have used mail-in voting before a tournament! Barriers to casting their ballots and mailing them not have to be an attorney in order to how! Whose vote Counts View film JELANI COBB, Correspondent: I & # x27 ; m a journalist and.. Did n't really have a verification of, and we talked to him a lot of the.. Amount of African Americans the difference for them which candidate does and which one.. Give the voting system for FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation, folks, thanks... Is this the person is registered to vote to have some problems, how am I going to a! Lot as things were playing out decided that they were `` voter persecution cases that! Series is narrated by Christina Greer, directed by Mark Phillips, narrated by Greer.
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