Democracy Forum 11/18/22: Election Reflections: What Just Happened Here?

Democracy Forum

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: Election Reflections: What Just Happened Here? -A conversation about the election. -Less about how the parties and the candidates performed; more about how democracy performed. -How did the election machinery hold up? -How did our voters and our instituions hold up? -Have our citizens embraced or rejected the legitimacy of the outcomes? -What does it all mean in the context of a bigger conversation about the future of western democracy? Guest/s: Maya Eichorn, Liberal Studies Student York County Community College, and fellow with Maine Students Vote, and affiliate of the League of Women Voters of Maine Elaine Kamarck, Founding Director at the Center for Effective Public Management and Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings Steve Mistler, Chief Political Correspondent and State House Bureau Chief, Maine Public To learn more about this topic: Turnout among young voters was the second highest for a midterm in past 30 years | NPR, November 2022 LePage’s loss leaves Maine Republicans at a crossroads – Portland Press Herald, November 2022 Midterms pose fresh test for American democracy after two years under fire | Washington Post, November 2022 ‘We’re watching you’: incidents of voter intimidation rise as midterm elections near | The Guardian, November 2022 Gen Z voter turnout will show just how influential influencers really are | Washington Post, November 2022 State courts are fielding sky-high numbers of lawsuits ahead of the midterms – including challenges to voting restrictions and to how elections are run | The Conversation, October 2022 The end of the debate? Republicans draw the curtain on political theater | US politics | The Guardian, September, 2022 Can the abortion issue save Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections? | Brookings, Elaine Kamarck, August 2022 About the host: Ann currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009. In her work for the League, Ann has worked for greater public understanding of public policy issues and for the League’s priority issues in Clean Elections & Campaign Finance Reform, Voting Rights, Ethics in Government, Ranked Choice Voting, and Repeal of Term Limits. Representing LWVME at Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, she served that coalition as co-president from 2006 to 2011. She remains on the board of MCCE and serves as Treasurer. She is active in the LWV-Downeast and hosts their monthly radio show, The Democracy Forum, on WERU FM Community Radio -which started out in 2004 as an recurring special, and became a regular monthly program in 2012. She was the 2013 recipient of the Baldwin Award from the ACLU of Maine for her work on voting rights and elections. She joined the League in 1998 when she retired as Senior Vice President at SEI Investments. Ann was a founder of the MDI Restorative Justice Program, 1999 – 2000, and served on its Executive Board.

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