Counting the Vote: A Firing Line Special with Margaret Hoover
PBS Western Reserve (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Tuesday, Aug. 27, at 9:30 PM
Wednesday, Aug. 28, at 2:30 AM
Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):
Saturday, Aug. 31. at 3 PM
In this one-hour special, Margaret Hoover embarks on a journey to explore voting systems across the United States. She examines methods to increase voter confidence and sheds light on states that face challenges in their vote count processes as the 2024 election approaches.
Throughout the documentary, she speaks to some of the country’s leading experts on voting, including David Becker, the Executive Director and Founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic Michigan Secretary of State who has run elections there since 2019, Ben Ginsberg, Republican election lawyer for President George W. Bush in 2000, and who later testified before the Jan. 6 committee against fraud claims, and Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In addition to the experts, personal stories of local election officials and voters shed new light on the most powerful tool in our democracy.
COUNTING THE VOTE looks back at two of the more closely contested elections in American history – 2000 and 2020 – and examines subsequent efforts to make the casting and counting of ballots more efficient and inclusive. Several pivotal swing states have taken steps to improve confidence in elections since 2020, including Georgia and Michigan, but other potential tipping points in a close presidential contest, like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, could be careening toward a crisis.
