WISCONSIN
On April 7th, 2020, the voters of Wisconsin lined up to cast their ballots in the Democratic primary election. They lined up in masks and in gloves. They lined up out the door of the polling places, and down the block, and tried throughout the day to keep their distance from one another. Because Republican state lawmakers refused to push back the election, the voters of Wisconsin were forced to turn out in the middle of the pandemic -- and were forced to make a choice between their right to vote and their right to live.
But those lawmakers weren’t working alone. Indeed, this effort was ultimately enabled by twenty years of voter suppression handed down by the Supreme Court. In case after case, the U.S. Supreme Court has hollowed out voting rights in America -- making in-person voting in a pandemic election not only possible, but inevitable.
Credits
Made to Fail is produced by The Hub Project, Goat Rodeo, and the Roosevelt Institute.
From the Hub project, Executive Producer is Laura Hatalsky, Producers are Sasha Stone, Zach Praiss, Sophie Elliott, and Dan Crawford. Arkadi Gerney is Executive Director.
From the Goat Rodeo Team, Executive Producer is Megan Nadolski, Producers are Char Dreyer and Zachary Frank. Ian Enright is Chief Executive Officer.
And from the Roosevelt Institute, Senior Producer, Steph Sterling.
Our host is Elliot Williams.
This episode was written by Zachary Frank, Elliot Williams, and the good people at the Hub Project. Special thanks to Dan Kaufman, David Kaplan, and Angela Lang.
And if you want to continue the conversation online, find us on social media @MadeToFail on Twitter and Facebook and madetofailpodcast on Instagram.