Drunken brawls, coercion, and lace curtains: believe it or not, how regular people vote was not something the Founding Fathers thought much about. Americans went from casting votes at wild parties in the town square to doing so in private booths, behind a drawn curtain. In this episode, the process of voting: how it was designed, who it was meant for, and the moments when we reimagined it altogether.

GUESTS:

Carol Anderson, professor at Emory University and author of One Person No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy

Jill Lepore, professor at Harvard, staff writer for The New Yorker, and host of The Last Archive podcast

Richard J. Carwardine, Rhodes professor emeritus of American history and author of Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power

Andrew W. Robertson, professor at the Graduate Center at City University of New York, and author of The Language of Democracy: Political Rhetoric in the United States and Britain, 1790–1900

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