Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine We talk about trust and distrust in government. What is the history of distrust in government in the US? How has it been weaponized in the last half-century? What do we lose when we have a blanket distrust in government: who loses and who gains? What motivates strategic attempts to weaken government? In what way is distrust a weapon in the arsenal of attempts to weaken or reduce government? Guests: Amy Fried, John Mitchell Nickerson Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine Steven Webster, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Indiana University To learn more about this topic: How Republicans Stoke Anti-Government Hatred by Luisa S. Deprez in Washington Monthly, August 27, 2021 Covid vaccine resistance and the Capitol riot stem from the GOP long weaponizing distrust, by Noah Berlatsky in NBC New Think, Aug. 3, 2021 Are Liberals to Blame for Our Crisis of Faith in Government? by Louis Menand, August 9, 2021 in The New Yorker At War with Government: How Conservatives Weaponized Distrust from Goldwater to Trump by Amy Fried and Douglas B. Harris, August 2021 Rebuilding Trust in American Institutions By Sonal Shah & Hollie Russon Gilman Jan. 27, 2021, Stanford Social Innovation Review American Rage: How Anger Shapes Our Politics, Cambridge University Press, by Steven W. Webster, Indiana University. August 2020 Stoking the Beast By Jonathan Rauch in The Atlantic JUNE 2006 Key findings about Americans’ declining trust in government and each other, Pew Research Center, July 22, 2019 The Republicans waged a 3-decade war on government. They got Trump. By Norman J. Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann Jul 18, 2016, Vox Prerecorded on 9/13 using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther,Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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. The post Democracy Forum 10/15/21: In Government We Trust — Or Do We? first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Democracy Forum

Democracy Forum 10/15/21: In Government We Trust — Or Do We?

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine We’ll talk about the history and the future of the two major parties, How parties change and evolve, how/why they splinter. Are the parties too strong or too weak? Are the two major parties in this moment so polarized that the system itself is undermined? Has the modern two-party system made us ungovernable? What reforms and options might be realistic? — multi-member districts, proportional representation, ranked choice voting? Guest: Lee Drutman, senior fellow at New America. He is the author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America Sandy Maisel, Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of American Government at Colby College (emeritus) To learn more about this topic: “Quiz: If America Had Six Parties, Which Would You Belong To?” by Lee Drutman in the New York Times, September 8, 2021 “Have Democrats become a party of the left?” William A. Galston and Elaine Kamarck, for Brookings, July, 2021 “The Decline of the GOP,” Norm Ornstein in The Atlantic, August, 2020 Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America, by Lee Drutman, March, 2020. Watch an interview with the author at Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop – Political Reform. Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process. by Mark D. Brewer and L.Sandy Maisel, ninth edition, 2020 The Parties Respond: Changes in American Parties and Campaigns (Transforming American Politics) Mark D. Brewer and L. Sandy Maisel, fifth edition, 2018 (essay collection) “This Maine Initiative Could Shake Up the Two-Party System,” by Hendrik Hertberg in The Nation, October, 2016. It’s Even Worse Than It Looks by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, April, 2016. “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: America’s Love Affair with the Two-Party System,” Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, Marc Horger, July 2013. Prerecorded on 9/15 using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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. The post Democracy Forum 9/17/21: The Two-party System and the Future of Our Democracy first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Democracy Forum 9/17/21: The Two-party System and the Future of Our Democracy

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Protest: Good Citizenship at Work? We talk about whether protests are a legitimate, if not necessary, form of civic participation. Are protests good citizenship or are they civil disorder? Is protesting effective in changing public policy? Are nonviolent actions more effective than those that involve violence? When do protest movements succeed? Guests: Douglas Allen, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Maine Erica Chenoweth, Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at the Harvard Kennedy SchooL and a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study To learn more about this topic: “What Anti-Protest Bills Reveal About The State Of U.S. Democracy,” OnPoint, WBUR, April, 2021 Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know, Erica Chenoweth, March, 2021 “The Myth of the Silent Majority: Americans have learned the wrong lessons about the political consequences of protest,” Daniel Gillian, The Atlantic, September, 2020. “Protesting is as important as voting,” Andre M. Perry and Carl Romer, Brookings, August, 2020 “The Future of Nonviolent Resistance,” Erica Chenoweth, Journal of Democracy, July, 2020. “Why protests matter in American democracy,” Daniel Gillion, Princeton University Press, June, 2020 Gandhi after 9/11: Creative Nonviolence and Sustainability, Douglas Allen, April, 2019 Prerecorded on 6/16 using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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. The post Democracy Forum 6/18/21: Protest: Good Citizenship at Work? first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Democracy Forum 6/18/21: Protest: Good Citizenship at Work?

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine We talk about the historical and contemporary link between labor organizing and expanding political rights like voting. -Is union organizing an important, if not essential, tool in building a vibrant democracy? -Has the diminution of labor unions contributed to the politics of resentment? -Has it provided fertile ground for the current moment of populist anger and stridently divided politics? -What led to the demise of unions over the last half century? -How could they come back? Guests: David Madland, resident senior fellow and senior adviser to the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress. Cynthia Phinney, President of the Maine AFL-CIO. She was the first woman elected to that position in 2015. To learn more about this topic: Re-Union: How Bold Labor Reforms Can Repair, Revitalize, and Reunite the United States, David Madland, May, 2021 In 2020, the number of unionized workers dropped, while the share of union members increased, USAFacts, January, 2021 Democracy Dies When Labor Unions Do, Eric Levitz in New York, September, 2019 Democracy Needs Unions, Christine Owens at Other Words, August 28, 2019 The Conservative Case for Unions, Jonathan Rauch in The Atlantic, July/August 2017 Democracy, Union Made, Phil Fishman in The American Interest, September 2007 Prerecorded on 5/17/2021 using Zoom technology The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Michael Fisher, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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.

Democracy Forum 5/21/21 Democracy and Unions: Do They Need Each Other?

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Key Discussion Points: Whether this is one of the most divided moments in American history. How have these fractured moments come up in our prior history? What role is the emergence of multiracial democracy playing in this current divisive moment? What role has race played in the divisions of the past? Can a polity come back from such serious fragmentation? How have we gotten past it before, or have we? Guests: David Blight, Sterling Professor of History, of African American Studies, and of American Studies at Yale University, and the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, among many other books and articles. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and African-American Studies at Colby College. She is also an ordained Baptist minister and the assistant pastor for special projects at the Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. To learn more about this topic: “Three Great Revolutions: W. E. B. Du Bois, African American Women and Social Change,” Cheryl Gilkes in the Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 2016. “America is exceptional in the nature of its political divide,” Pew Research Center, November, 2020. “How can America heal from the Trump era? Lessons from Germany’s transformation into a prosperous democracy after Nazi rule,” Sylvia Taschka in The Conversation, January, 2021. “Appomattox and the Ongoing Civil War,” David Blight in The Atlantic, April, 2015. “Multiracial Democracy Is 55 Years Old. Will It Survive?,” Adam Serwer in The Atlantic, January, 2021. Anchor of the Soul, a documentary about Black history in Maine, 1994 “W.E.B. Du Bois’ Visionary Infographics Come Together for the First Time in Full Color,” wherein his pioneering team of black sociologists created data visualizations that explained institutionalized racism to the world, Smithsonian, 2018 Life of a Klansman: A Family History in White Supremacy, Edward Ball, 2020 Prerecorded on 4/14/2021 using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Michael Fisher, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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.

Democracy Forum 4/16/21 Divided We Stand: Can diversity be our strength?

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Participatory Democracy: Is that for real? Conspiracy Theories in American Politics We’ll talk about the political and social conditions that give rise to conspiracy movements. Why are people drawn to these ideas? What are the conditions in civil society that are feeding into these trends? How have these moments come up in our history? How have we gotten past it before? Can democracy function when these beliefs are widespread? Guests: Jamie McKown, James Russell Wiggins Chair in Government and Polity at College of the Atlantic Joanne Miller, Associate Professor, Political Science & International Relations, Director of Graduate Studies, University of Delaware To learn more about this topic: Speaking of Psychology: Why people believe in conspiracy theories, with Karen Douglas, PhD, podcast of the American Psychological Association Gender Differences in COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory Beliefs, Erin C. Cassese, Christina E. Farhart, and Joanne M. Miller. 2020 A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy, Nancy L. Rosenblum and Russell Muirhead, 2019 The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Michael Fisher, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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.

Democracy Forum 3/19/21: Is that for real? Conspiracy Theories in American Politics

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine -Our information ecosystem and how it’s contributed to this very divisive moment in American politics: -How did it go wrong, can we fix it? -What role do mis- and dis-information, social media, media silos, and alternative realities play in fostering extremism? -How are these issues playing out right here in real-world Maine? -What remedies are suggested by research? Guests: Ronald Deibert, Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, Director of The Citizen LabMunk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, and author of the new book, Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society Andy O’Brien, freelance journalist where he has been reporting on far-right groups in Maine for the magazine, Mainer. He is also a former Maine state legislator, former managing editor of the Free Press in Rockland To learn more about this topic: Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, Ronald Deibert, 2020 By Andy O’Brien from Mainer: “Hatebook” – The Facebook group that promoted violence and death threats against Safiya Khalid, the first Somali-American elected to the Lewiston City Council “Leaks Show Mainer’s Online Radicalization By Neo-Nazi Terrorist Cult” “UMaine College Republicans Caught in MAGA Civil War” “Maine GOP Leadership Goes to Bat for White Nationalistic College Club” “Mob thinking has grown as news moves online,” Sara Fischer/Axios, January 2021 “Banning Trump won’t fix social media: 10 ideas to rebuild our broken internet – by experts,” The Guardian, January 2021 “Trump Is Fighting Section 230 for the Wrong Reason,” The Atlantic, January 2021 “How to Deal With a Crisis of Misinformation,” Brian Chen, The New York Times, October 2020 The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Michael Fisher, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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.

Democracy Forum 2/19/21: Can Democracy Survive the Internet?

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine We’ll talk about the political divide in the aftermath of the 2020 general election. Do we share any common ground? What happened at “America in One Room” in 2019? And what does it mean for American in 2021. What lessons can we learn about American democracy and its future? Guests: Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution James Fishkin, Janet M Peck Chair of International Communication at Stanford University, and Director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy. Steve Wessler, Maine human rights educator, trainer, and advocate specializing in conflict resolution To learn more about this topic: These 526 Voters Represent All of America. And They Spent a Weekend Together, New York Times, October, 2019 America in One Room Our Common Purpose “Pulling Our Politics Back from the Brink,” The New Yorker, November, 2020 “?You’re Wrong About: Losing Relatives to Fox News” on Apple Podcasts The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good, Michaels J Sandel, 2020 The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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.

Democracy Forum 1/15/21: Searching for Common Ground across the Political Divide

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Participatory Democracy: Election Reflections 2020 We will talk about the November 3 general election What just happened here in Maine and around the country What went right, what went wrong What it says about the future of our democracy Guests b: Shelly Crosby, Orono Town Clerk and president of the Maine Town and City Clerks Association Matthew Dunlap, Maine Secretary of State Amy Fried, John Mitchell Nickerson Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Maine Jill Goldthwait, Columnist and former independent Maine State Senator Meg McCormick, Maine Director & New England Coordinator, Campus Election Engagement To learn more about this topic: Half of Americans Don’t Vote. What Are They Thinking? Colin Woodard in Politico, February 2020 College Students, Voting and the COVID-19 Election, Knight Foundation, August 2020 The 100 Million Project: The Untold Story of American Non-Voters, Knight Foundation Polarization and the Politics of Personal Responsibility. Jeffrey M. Stonecash and Mark D. Brewer 2015 In Suspense: Donald Trump’s Efforts to Undermine Public Trust in Democracy, Amy Fried and Donald B. Harris, October, 2020. Prerecorded on 11/19/2020 using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Kirk Earl, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Judith Lyles, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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.

Democracy Forum 11/20/20: Election Reflections 2020

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Research into voter motivation; How new information can affect the way people form political opinions, make political choices and, ultimately, take political actions; How research into voter motivation might be relevant in the 2020 General Election. Guests: Yanna Krupnikov, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Stony Brook University Meg McCormick, Maine Director & New England Coordinator, Campus Election Engagement Shelly Crosby, Orono Town Clerk and president of the Maine Town and City Clerks Association. To learn more about this topic: Half of Americans Don’t Vote. What Are They Thinking? Colin Woodard in Politico, February 2020 College Students, Voting and the COVID-19 Election, Knight Foundation, August 2020 The 100 Million Project: The Untold Story of American Non-Voters, Knight Foundation Maine watchdog may probe shadowy poll aimed at Democratic legislative hopeful, Bangor Daily News, September 2020 Opinion | Is America Hopelessly Polarized, or Just Allergic to Politics? (Published 2019), Samara Klar, Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan, New York Times, April 2019 Independent Politics: How American Disdain for Parties Leads to Political Inaction, Samara Klar and Yanna Krupnikov, 2016 Prerecorded using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org 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.

Democracy Forum 10/16/20: Who’s Showing Up to Vote in November?

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Who Votes, Who Can’t, and Who Won’t? We talk about voter participation in marginalized communities Structural/ systemic/ institutional barriers to voting, and motivational barriers to voting. Guests: Maulian Dana, Penobscot Nation Ambassador Michael Kebede, Policy Counsel, ACLU of Maine Chryl Laird, Assistant Professor of Government at Bowdoin College To learn more about this topic: How Shelby County v. Holder Broke America, Vann R. Newkirk II, The Atlantic, July 2018 America’s Relentless Suppression of Black Voters, Lawrence Goldstone, The New Republic, October 2018. Young Black Americans not sold on Biden, the Democrats or voting, David C. Barker and Sam Fulwood III, The Conversation, August 2020 Systematic Inequality and American Democracy, Danyelle Solomon, Connor Maxwell, and Abril Castro, Center for American Progress, August 2019 Why So Many Black Voters Are Democrats, Even When They Aren’t Liberal, Cheryl N. Laird, Ismail K. White, FiveThirtyEight, February 2020 Steadfast Democrats: How Social Forces Shape Black Political Behavior, Cheryl N. Laird, Ismail K. White, February 2020 Maine: State of our Democracy, a report from the League of Women Voters of Maine, April 2020. FRRC is one of several nonprofits that are raising money to help returning citizens pay fines and fees in Florida, as mentioned on the show. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond, 2016 The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturdevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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.

Democracy Forum 9/18/20: Who Votes, Who Can’t, and Who Won’t?

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine NOTE: This is a rebroadcast of a program that originally aired on 11/15/2019 We’ll talk about new political science research into policy feedback effects How public policy design affects people’s sense of themselves as citizens and their propensity to participate. What this means for legislators and advocates Guests: Amy Fried, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Maine Don Moynihan, McCourt Chair at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University To learn more about this topic: Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means, Pamela Herd and Donald P. Moynihan, December 2018 “Citizens feel disconnected from government. If they knew what government did for them, they wouldn’t.” Interview with Susan Mettler, Washington Post, November 2018 Reforms at Risk: What Happens After Major Policy Changes Are Enacted , Eric M. Patashnik, 2009 Citizens By Degree: Higher Education Policy and the Changing Gender Dynamics of American Citizenship. Deondra Rose, February 2018 The Government-Citizen Disconnect, Suzanne Mettler, July 2018 Arresting Citizenship: The Democratic Consequences of American Crime Control. Amy E. Lerman and Vesla M. Weaver, June 2014 Soldiers to Citizens: The G.I. Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation, Suzanne Mettler, September 2007 The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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.

Democracy Forum 8/21/20 Is Government Doing Good: Policy Feedback Effects & the Civic Divide

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Who won the Maine primaries and why. How did Maine elections work under COVID restrictions? What does it all mean for the high-stakes election in November? Guests: Matthew Dunlap, Maine Secretary of State b) Amy Fried, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Mainec) Jill Goldthwait, Columnist and former independent Maine State Senator To learn more about this topic: As November Looms, So Does the Most Litigious Election Ever, New York Times, July 7, 2020 Election results not expected to be delayed in Maine despite virus changes, Bangor Daily News, July 8, 2020 Poll gives Dale Crafts edge in GOP primary in Maine’s 2nd District, Bangor Daily News, July 8, 2020 Clerks report record absentee ballots for July 14 election, Portland Press Herald, July 2, 2020 What Went Wrong in the Wisconsin Election, and What We Can Learn From It Before November, Time, April 2020 After record primary turnout, Iowa Senate Republicans try to limit vote-by-mail in presidential election, Fortune, June 2020 New York candidates left on hold as primary results trickle in, The Hill, July 2020 Georgia Primary Issues Sow Concerns About General Election, NPR, June 2020 How The Elections In Nebraska And Wisconsin Managed Amid The Pandemic, FiveThirtyEight, May 2020 Prerecorded using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor and Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org 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.

Democracy Forum 7/17/20: Election Reflections re July 14, 2020

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine The Electoral College, is it working as intended—and by the way, what was intended?— What issues have emerged over time, is Popular Election of the President a solution, and where does the National Popular Vote Compact fit in? Guests: Saul Azunis, Saul Anuzis is principal and managing partner of Coast to Coast Strategies. Mark Brewer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine. Eileen Reavey, national grassroots director at National Popular Vote To learn more about this topic: “National Popular Vote: Bipartisan Reform to Presidential Elections,” Patrick Rosenstiel and Scott Drexel in RealClear Politics, January 2020. “Want to Fix Presidential Elections? Here’s the Quickest Way,” Tim Foley, Politico, May, 2019 “Steve Vladeck: Is democracy rigged? The debate over Senate representation ignores a much more plausible reform,” NBC News, October, 2018 “Don’t Believe the Myths about the National Popular Vote”, Saul Anuzis, The Hill, May, 2018 “The Electoral College badly distorts the vote. And it’s going to get worse,” Katy Collin, Washington Post, November, 2016. Prerecorded using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Kirk Earl, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn 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.

Democracy Forum 6/19/20 One Person, One Vote: The Electoral College and the NPV

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine We will talk about ranked choice voting (RCV) in the upcoming July and November elections in Maine RCV developments in other states The possible effect of a people’s veto and a pending law suit, and more. Guests: John Brautigam, senior advisor and counsel to the League of Women Voters of Maine. www.lwvme.org/who Marc Roberts, Republican Representative in the Utah State Legislature www.robertsmarc.com/ To learn more about this topic: Maine Republicans seek to repeal ranked-choice voting in presidential elections. Portland Press Herald, February 4, 2020 Maine Voices: Ranked-choice presidential primaries would give boost to moderates, Sandy Maisel Op-ed in the Portland Press Herald, March 3, 2020 Portland voters approve expansion of ranked-choice voting, Bangor Daily News, March 3, 2020 Ranked-choice voting backers file suit seeking to block Maine GOP people’s veto effort Bangor Daily News, April 16, 2020 Pre-recorded on 5/13/2020 using Zoom technology. The mostly-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Kirk Earl, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person. Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org 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.

Democracy Forum 5/15/20: Ranked Choice Voting: How’s It Working in 2020

Audio archives of spoken word broadcasts from Community Radio WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill (weru.org)

hubhopper

Democracy Forum

hubhopper