Politics With Paul Podcast #31: Voting Policy Reforms Part 1 — The Voting Process
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Episode 31 of the Politics with Paul Podcast — Voting Policy Reforms Part 1: The Voting Process — is now available.
- YouTube: https://youtu.be/8_354a9gDaI
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4R9Csg3kL5NXcG3zmK2mlw
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/politics-with-paul-31-us-voting-policy-reforms-part-1/id1755201463?i=1000699675410
Description
There’s a lot that we take for granted about how voting works in US elections these days, but there has been a lot of trial and error over time in administering them. Significant changes in how voting works have occurred over the 235+ years since the US Constitution was ratified. This series takes a look at many of the changes in US voting policy.
Today’s episode covers how the voting process has been refined over time: WHEN we vote, WHO we vote for, and HOW our vote is counted. This includes how we came to decide when Election Day is held, the changes in which officials have been directly elected and appointed, and the technology improvements in counting votes. Some of the ways elections were administered in the olden days are bizarre to think about from today’s point of the view.
Timestamps
- 00:00 Introduction and Today’s Topic
- 01:27 Changing When We Vote: Federal-Level Offices
- 04:29 Changing When We Vote: State and Local-Level Offices
- 09:52 Changes in Who We Vote For: Federal-Level Offices
- 15:02 Changes in Who We Vote For: State and Local-Level Offices
- 19:24 Changing How We Vote: How It Started
- 21:19 Changing How We Vote: The Rise of Paper Ballots
- 23:51 Changing How We Vote: The Secret Ballot and its Iterations
- 29:38 Final Thoughts on How the Voting Process Has Changed
- 32:22 Closing
