Democracy Forum

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Amy Browne Discussion held on Saturday, September 28, at the Moore Center in Ellsworth by the League of Women Voters – Downeast. Audio by Linda Washburn Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: Answering questions about the many ways in which Maine has excellent pro-voter election laws that are well administered and free from fraud, etc. Guest/s: 1. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows 2. Joann Bautista, Deputy Secretary of State – Policy Advisor 3. Bangor City Clerk, Lisa Goodwin 4. Moderated by Ann Luther, League of Women Voters Downeast/ To learn more about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: We preview the upcoming elections and provide information about the ballot questions, which races will use ranked choice voting, how and when to vote, etc Guest/s: Randy Billings, political reporter for the Portland Press Herald, www.pressherald.com/author/randy-billings/ Anna Kellar, Executive Director for the League of Women Voters of Maine, www.lwvme.org/lwvme-staff To learn more about this topic: www.lwvme.org/node/3387?a0=node&a1=2457 Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: We want to talk about propaganda: its manifestations in U.S. history and currently, its hallmarks, its sponsors, its uses and effects. Guest/s: Michael Franz, Professor of Government and Legal Studies at Bowdoin College, and co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project. www.bowdoin.edu/profiles/faculty/mfranz/index.html Jason Stanley, the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy, Yale University, and author of the new book, Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future. campuspress.yale.edu/jasonstanley/ To learn more about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Joel Mann The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Ruth Eveland, Michael Fisher, Claire Fox, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: We talk about the Maine judiciary. 1. How are judges chosen in Maine? 2. Compare Maine’s judicial selection process to the federal system and to other states. 3. What standards of judicial ethics apply? 4. Are judges in Maine subject to undue influence by narrow special or partisan interests? 5. Are judges in Maine facing escalating threats, the way judges are in other states? 6. What insulates Maine? How fragile are our protections? Guest/s: – Leigh Saufley, President and Dean of the University of Maine School of Law, former Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. mainelaw.maine.edu/faculty/profile/leigh-i-saufley/ – David Sachar, Director of Judicial Ethics at the National Center for State Courts. www.ncsc.org/staff-directory/staff/david-sachar – Dmitry Bam, Vice Dean/Provost, Professor of Law at the University of Maine School of Law. mainelaw.maine.edu/faculty/profile/dmitry-bam/ To learn more about this topic: 1. Judicial Nominations | Office of Governor Janet T. Mills www.maine.gov/governor/mills/about/judicial_nominations 2. Maine Judicial Branch courts.maine.gov/ 3. State of Maine Judicial Responsibility and Disability Committee www.cjc.maine.gov/index.html 4. How to file a judicial complaint in Maine www.cjc.maine.gov/file_complaint.html 5. Can State Supreme Courts Preserve—or Expand—Rights? | The New Yorker, June 2024 www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/06/10/can-state-supreme-courts-preserve-or-expand-rights 6. Defense attorneys, ACLU question whether new bail reviews for unrepresented defendants are working | Portland Press Herald, May 2024 www.pressherald.com/2024/05/28/defense- attorneys-aclu-question-if-new-bail-reviews-for-unrepresented-defendants-are-actually-working/?uuid=43807610-1735-4ac6-af9e-fed1faa9554c&lid=12766 7. Probate court reform overdue | Editorials | ellsworthamerican.com, May 2024 www.ellsworthamerican.com/opinion/editorials/probate-court-reform-overdue/article_32f84f7a-eadf-11ee-b70f-0f051fa172be.html 8. Maine officials seek suspension of Hancock County probate judge | BDN, April 2024 www.bangordailynews.com/2024/04/10/hancock/hancock-police-courts/seek-suspension-william-blaisdell-iv-probate-judge-joam40zk0w/ 9. Judges and Prosecutors, Targeted by Trump, Will Not Be Intimidated, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, April 2024 lucid.substack.com/p/judges-and-prosecutors-targeted-by 10. Judicial Leaders Praise Federal Bill to Protect State Judges | NCSC, March 2024 www.ncsc.org/newsroom/news-releases/2024/judicial-leaders-praise-federal-bill-to-protect-state-judges2 11. Maine’s chief justice cites progress and challenges for backlogged court system | Maine Public, February 2024 www.mainepublic.org/courts-and-crime/2024-02-21/maines-chief-justice-cites-progress-and-challenges-for-backlogged-court-system 12. Maine’s Part-Time Court | Maine Monitor, June 2023 themainemonitor.org/maines-part-time-court/ 13. Maine courts may take until 2028 to touch backlog of cases | Maine Monitor, March 2023 themainemonitor.org/maine-courts-may-take-until-2028-to-touch-backlog-of-cases/ 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,

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Joel Mann The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Ruth Eveland, Michael Fisher, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: Some of us thought we already had a right to vote. Where are we getting it wrong? How would a Constitutional Amendment help? What are the chances of getting it? Guest/s: – Dmitry Bam, Vice Dean/Provost, Professor of Law at the University of Maine School of Law mainelaw.maine.edu/faculty/profile/dmitry-bam/ – Rich Hasen, Professor of Law and Political Science at UCLA and Director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project. law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/richard-l-hasen To learn more about this topic: 1. Opinion | How Do You Teach Constitutional Law With This Supreme Court? | The New York Times, Jesse Wegman (NYT Editorial Board), February 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/opinion/constitutional-law-crisis-supreme-court.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YU0.w0u6.v_LEsvakt-x-&smid=url-share 2. A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy, Rick Hasen, February 2024, press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691257716/a-real-right-to-vote 3. Opinion | The U.S. Lacks What Every Democracy Needs | New York Times, Rick Hasen, January 2024, messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20240120&first_send=0&instance_id=113009&nl=opinion-today&paid_regi=1&productCode=TY&regi_id=112645860&segment_id=155858&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2Fd53cac52-c68f-5cd1-9db9-35d6e9ee2ea2&user_id=89883f526c8e7fcdda54b38b8c9a217b 4. Does the Constitution Guarantee a Right to Vote? The Answer May Surprise You | New York Times, Michael Wines, October 2022, www.nytimes.com/article/voting-rights-constitution.html 5. The Right to Vote: Is the Amendment Game Worth the Candle? | William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Heather Gerken, October 2014, scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/wmborj/article/1704/&path_info=borj23_no1_p11_gerken.pdf   6. What Does the Constitution Say About the Right to Vote? – Democracy Docket, Mac Brower, February 2022, www.democracydocket.com/analysis/what-does-the-constitution-say-about-the-right-to-vote/ 7. The Missing Right: A Constitutional Right to Vote : Democracy Journal, Jonathan Soros, Spring 2013, democracyjournal.org/magazine/28/the-missing-right-a-constitutional-right-to-vote/ 8. What Does the Constitution Actually Say About Voting Rights? | The Atlantic, Garrett Epps, August, 2013, www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/what-does-the-constitution-actually-say-about-voting-rights/278782/ 9. The Right to Vote by Alexander Keyssar | Hachette Book Group, 2000, www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/alexander-keyssar/the-right-to-vote/9780465005024/?lens=basic-books 10. Voting rights laws and constitutional amendments | USAGov, www.usa.gov/voting-rights 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,

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Joel Mann The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Claire Fox, Ruth Eveland, Michael Fisher, Claire Fox, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Kathy Stark, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: We’ll talk about the Maine Clean Election Act — public funding for candidate campaigns– as we move through our third decade. How does our program work in Maine? What have been its benefits and disappointments? How do publicly financed elections fit into the practical landscape for campaign finance reform considering the current legal environment? What trends are we seeing in Maine and nationally? Guest/s: – Anna Kellar, Executive Director, Maine Citizens for Clean Elections www.lwvme.org/lwvme-staff – Ian Vandewalker, Special Counsel, Democracy, Brennan Center for Justice www.brennancenter.org/experts/ian-vandewalker To learn more about this topic: 1. RFK Jr.’s VP Pick and the Dangers of Self-Funded Campaigns | Brennan Center for Justice, Ian Vandewalker, March 2024 www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/rfk-jrs-vp-pick-and-dangers-self-funded-campaigns 2. Maine considers expanding clean elections law to county candidates | Public News Service, February, 2024 www.publicnewsservice.org/2024-02-21/campaign-finance-reform-money-in-pol/maine-considers-expanding-clean-elections-law-to-county-candidates/a89001-1 3. Small Donor Public Financing Explained | Brennan Center for Justice, Mariana Paez and Ian Vandewalker, June 2023 www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/small-donor-public-financing-explained 4. 2023 Study Report on the MCEA | Maine Ethics Commission www.maine.gov/ethics/sites/maine.gov.ethics/files/inline-files/2023%20MCEA%20Study%20Report.pdf 5. MCEA Candidate Participation 2022 | Maine Ethics Commission www.maine.gov/ethics/sites/maine.gov.ethics/files/inline-files/2022%20MCEA%20Overview%20for%20VLA.pdf 6. Fight Over Clean Elections Act Won’t Be Over Anytime Soon And May Have Consequences In November | Maine Public, June 2018 www.mainepublic.org/politics/2018-06-27/fight-over-clean-elections-act-wont-be-over-anytime-soon-and-may-have-consequences-in-november 7. What is the Maine Clean Elections Law?, MCCE video explainer and fact sheet, www.mainecleanelections.org/cleanelections 8. Cleaning House? Assessing the Impact of Maine’s Clean Elections Act on Electoral Competitiveness | Maine Policy Review, 2012 digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1081&context=mpr 9. Maine “Clean Elections” Initiative, Question 1 (2015) – Ballotpedia ballotpedia.org/Maine_%22Clean_Elections%22_Initiative,_Question_1_(2015)#MCEA 10. Amplifying Small-Dollar Donors in the Citizens United Era | Common Cause www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/CT_SmallDonorDollar_Report_WEB.pdf 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Joel Mann The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Ruth Eveland, Michael Fisher, Claire Fox, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: We’ll revisit topics from our show in 2021, talking about the historical and contemporary links between labor organizing and expanding political rights like voting. Is union organizing an important, if not essential, tool in building a vibrant democracy – of people having a voice in their self-governance? What led to the demise of unions over the last half century? What have been the political consequences? Are unions making a comeback? Why is that? What new trends are emerging here in Maine? Guest/s: David Madland, Senior Fellow and senior adviser to the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress www.americanprogress.org/people/madland-david/ Arthur Phillips, Economic Policy Analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy www.mecep.org/about/our-teams/ Cynthia Phinney, President of the Maine AFL-CIO. maineaflcio.org/content/32232 To learn more about this topic: 1. Americans’ views of labor unions | Pew Research Center, February, 2024, www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/02/01/labor-unions/ 2. State worker union filing charges against Mills administration over pay gap | WGME, February, 2024, wgme.com/news/local/state-worker-union-filing-charges-against-mills-administration-over-pay-gap-maine-gov-janet-mills-low-wages-cost-of-living 3. USPS reschedules meeting on Hampden processing facility | WABI, February, 2024, www.wabi.tv/2024/02/01/usps-reschedules-meeting-hampden-processing-facility/ 4. Local union president shares concerns about proposed changes to Hampden USPS facility | WABI, January, 2024, www.wabi.tv/2024/01/18/local-union-president-shares-concerns-about-proposed-changes-hampden-usps-facility/?link_id=6&can_id=1905c6b9067a4b4bf8e189b166246f7a&source=email-new-take-action-re-mail-service-changes&email_referrer=email_2215388&email_subject=correction-re-mail-service-changes 5. Union membership grew last year, but only 10% of U.S. workers belong to a union | NPR, January, 2024, www.npr.org/2024/01/23/1226034366/labor-union-membership-uaw-hollywood-workers-strike-gallup 6. Maine’s labor movement sees big shift from small unions | Portland Press Herald, December, 2023, www.pressherald.com/2023/12/04/small-unions-drive-maines-labor-movement-forward/ 7. Maine farmworkers deserve equal rights | Bangor Daily News, Food and Medicine Op-ed, December, 2023, www.bangordailynews.com/2023/12/25/opinion/opinion-contributor/maine-farmworkers-equal-rights/ 8. UMaine System graduate-student workers win union certification | Mainebiz.biz, October, 2023, www.mainebiz.biz/article/umaine-system-graduate-student-workers-win-union-certification 9. Brief: The state of labor organizing in Maine | MECEP, September, 2023, www.mecep.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The-state-of-labor-organizing-in-Maine-Labor-Day-2023.pdf 10. Why Government Unions—Unlike Trade Unions—Corrupt Democracy | TIME April, 2023, time.com/6267979/government-unions-corrupt-democracy/ 11. Chipotle agrees to pay $240 K after closing a store that sought to unionize | CBS, March, 2023, www.cbsnews.com/news/chipotle-union-settlement-closing-store-augusta-maine/ 12. Chipotle workers in Maine file for chain’s first union election | The Hill, June, 2022, thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-lobbying/3534270-chipotle-workers-in-maine-file-for-chains-first-union-election/ 13. House sustains veto of bill to allow Maine farm workers to unionize | Maine Public, January, 2022, www.mainepublic.org/politics/2022-01-26/house-sustains-veto-of-bill-to-allow-maine-farm-workers-to-...

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Michael Fisher, Claire Fox, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: We will talk about the history of the Electoral College and how it's working in the 21st century. What reforms are needed, and which are possible? What is the NPV compact, and how would it work? Is it right for Maine? Guest/s: Mike Saxl, former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and Managing Principal of Maine Street Solutions, the leading proponent of the National Popular Vote in Maine www.verrill-law.com/michael-v-saxl/ Kate Shaw, Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, co-host of the Supreme Court podcast Strict Scrutiny www.law.upenn.edu/faculty/kateshaw To learn more about this topic: Our View: It’s time to pick the president by national popular vote | Portland Press Herald, Editorial, January, 2024 www.pressherald.com/2024/01/14/our-view-its-time-to-pick-the-president-by-national-popular-vote-2/ No thanks to national popular vote | Bangor Daily News, Matt Gagnon op-ed, January, 2024, www.bangordailynews.com/2024/01/10/opinion/opinion-contributor/national-popular-vote-problems/ Arguments against national popular vote compact fall short | Bangor Daily News, Amy Fried op-ed, January, 2024, www.bangordailynews.com/2024/01/30/opinion/opinion-contributor/arguments-against-national-popular-vote-compact-fall-short-joam40zk0w/ Yarmouth representative pitches National Popular Vote plan | Spectrum News, January, 2024, spectrumlocalnews.com/me/maine/politics/2024/01/08/yarmouth-representative-pitches-national-popular-vote-plan-for-presidential-elections National Popular Vote | National Conference of State Legislatures, December, 2023, shows state-by-state passage, www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/national-popular-vote Majority of Americans continue to favor moving away from Electoral College | Pew Research, September, 2023, www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/25/majority-of-americans-continue-to-favor-moving-away-from-electoral-college/ “A Mystifying and Distorting Factor”: The Electoral College and American Democracy | Michigan Law Review, Katharine Shaw, 2022, repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8442&context=mlr The National Popular Vote, Explained | Brennan Center for Justice, December, 2020, www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/national-popular-vote-explained?utm_medium=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_source=PANTHEON_STRIPPED The Electoral College is flawed — so are the alternatives: Experts | ABC News, December, 2020, abcnews.go.com/Politics/electoral-college-flawed-alternatives/story?id=74708394 Why We Need A National Popular Vote | Robert Reich, m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn8rWMVGlfQ 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 ...

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Michael Fisher, Claire Fox, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: We’ll talk about the roll-out of semi-open primaries. Maine will be running semi-open primaries for the first time in 2024. We’ll explain to voters what to expect and what important deadlines and new procedures may pertain. And we’ll talk about how semi-open primaries might affect voter behavior and election outcomes. Guest/s: Shenna Bellows, Maine Secretary of State www.maine.gov/sos/about/bio.html Jill Goldthwait, Hancock County journalist and political columnist, former Maine state senator (unenrolled) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Goldthwait Laurel Harbridge-Yong, Professor of Political Science; Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research; Northwestern University www.ipr.northwestern.edu/who-we-are/faculty-experts/harbridge.html To learn more about this topic: 1. LWV Of Tennessee | League of Women Voters LWVTN sues over Bona Fide Primary Voting Law, November, 2023 www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/lwvtn-tennessee-voters-file-federal-lawsuit-challenging-state-bona-fide 2. Understanding the Partisan Divide: How Demographics and Policy Views Shape Party Coalitions | New America, February, 2023 www.newamerica.org/political-reform/reports/understanding-the-partisan-divide/ 3. The Success Story Behind Maine’s Adoption of Semi-Open Primaries | Independent Voter News, August, 2022 ivn.us/posts/the-success-story-behind-maines-adoption-of-semi-open-primaries 4. State Primary Election Systems | National Council of State Legislators, June, 2021 documents.ncsl.org/wwwncsl/Elections/Primary-Types-Table_2021.pdf 5. Why Do Legislators Reject ‘Half-Loaf’ Compromises? | Northwestern Institute for Policy Research, April, 2020 www.ipr.northwestern.edu/news/2020/harbridge-yong-half-loaf-compromises.html 6. Rejecting Compromise: Legislators’ Fear of Primary Voters. Anderson, S., D. Butler, and Harbridge-Yong, Cambridge University Press, 2020 www.cambridge.org/core/books/rejecting-compromise/01F2DA900C72ACF02E1B3ECF4EED43D3 7. LWVME Study Guide on Primaries, 2017-2018 www.lwvme.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/Primary_Study_Guide.pdf 8. 9 media myths about independent voters, debunked | Vox, January 2016 www.vox.com/2016/1/22/10814522/independents-voters-facts-myths 9. How Do You Like Me Now? The desirability of Political Independence, Klar S, Krupnikov Y., Independent Politics: How American Disdain for Parties Leads to Political Inaction, Cambridge University Press, 2016. www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/independent-politics/how-do-you-like-me-now-the-desirability-of-political-independence/312BD7BFCC87D43FFACADAA264E261FB 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...

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine 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, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: We’ll talk about what happened in the November 7 election. Who were the winners and losers, and what does it mean for the future? Guest/s: Shenna Bellows, Maine Secretary of State www.maine.gov/sos/about/bio.html Michael Shepherd, Political Editor at the Bangor Daily News www.bangordailynews.com/author/mshepherd/ To learn more about this topic: Mike Shepherd in the BDN www.bangordailynews.com/2023/11/08/politics/maine-2023-election-surprises-n6hjn1me0n/?mc_cid=3b4ae1f6a5&mc_eid=a2b49da37d www.bangordailynews.com/2023/11/08/morning-update/here-are-results-of-the-biggest-maine-races-from-tuesdays-election/ www.pressherald.com/2023-election/ www.vote411.org/ www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/ballotquestionsnov2023.html 2023 Citizen’s Guide to the Referendum Election www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/pdf/citizensguide23.pdf www.mainepublic.org/tags/political-pulse archives.weru.org/democracy-forum/2023/10/democracy-forum-10-20-23-yikes-8-ballot-questions/ archives.weru.org/democracy-forum/2023/04/democracy-forum-4-21-23-ballot-questions-whose-initiatives-are-they/ 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine 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, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, emerita, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: – Some of them are citizen initiatives; some of them are constitutional amendments. What’s the difference? – What do they mean, what will they do, where did they come from, who supports and who opposes, and whose money is being spent? Guest/s: Will Hayward, Advocacy Program Director, LWVME – www.lwvme.org/lwvme-staff Steve Mistler, Maine Public’s chief politics and government correspondent – www.mainepublic.org/people/steve-mistler To learn more about this topic: www.lwvme.org/www.vote411.org www.maine.gov/meopa/ www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/ballotquestionsnov2023.html www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/pdf/citizensguide23.pdf www.mainepublic.org/tags/political-pulse archives.weru.org/democracy-forum/2023/04/democracy-forum-4-21-23-ballot-questions-whose-initiatives-are-they/ 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine 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, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, emerita, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: We’ll talk about book banning in an historical and political perspective: tensions between First Amendment rights and rights of parental control; whether and how book bans reflect the tip of the iceberg of other coercive ambitions: controlling ideas, controlling culture, controlling people, etc. What is happening in Maine and around the country? Guest/s: 1. Lindsay Decker, Librarian at the Fogler Library at the University of Maine and also a member of the Maine Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC). 2. Kasey Meehan, Program Director, Freedom to Read, PEN America. 3. Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. To learn more about this topic: Banned Books Week (October 1 – 7, 2023) | ALA LIVE from NYPL and The Atlantic | Banned: Censorship and Free Expression in America, October 5 Books Unbanned | The Seattle Public Library (spl.org) Books Unbanned | Brooklyn Public Library (bklynlibrary.org) Intellectual Freedom – Maine State Library Florida schools got hundreds of book complaints — mostly from 2 people, August, 2023 Twenty-two challenges to school library books have been filed in Maine since January 2022. Just one book has been removed. | Maine Monitor, August, 2023 The Book Banners on the Left – by Cathy Young | The Bulwark, August, 2023 Inside Moms for Liberty’s summit: Big money and money even bigger conspiracy theories | Media Matters for America, July 2023 You can’t tell the truth about the Holocaust in Poland. Could that happen in the US? | USA Today, July, 2023 How book-banning campaigns have changed the lives and education of librarians – they now need to learn how to plan for safety and legally protect themselves | The Conversation, July. 2023 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine 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, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, emerita, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: Ballot Questions: Whose Initiatives Are They? We’ll talk about the citizen initiative process in Maine: the sheer number of them, the money behind them, their strengths and shortcomings, home-grown vs. “from away.” How does the initiative process work, and how is it working for Maine? Can ordinary citizens can still run a ballot question? Guest/s: Shenna Bellows, Maine Secretary of State Todd Donovan, Professor of Political Science, Western Washington University To learn more about this topic: As Abortion Measures Loom, GOP Raises New Barriers to Ballot Initiatives | The Pew Charitable Trusts, February, 2023 Missouri House Passes Bill Making It Harder for Voters To Amend State Constitution – Democracy Docket, February, 2023 Policy Matters: Ballot initiatives – Press Herald, November 17,2022 League Study On Maine’s Citizens’ Initiatives And People’s Veto Referenda, Fall, 2020 Initiatives without Engagement: A Realistic Appraisal of Direct Democracy’s Secondary Effects, Joshua J. Dyck & Edward L. Lascher, Jr., Jr., 2019 Democracy Forum – Citizen Initiatives: The Devil’s in the Details, April 19, 2019 Initiative and Referendum Overview and Resources | NCSL Citizen Initiatives & Peoples Veto | Maine Secretary of State Citizens as Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States, Todd Donovan and Shaun Bowler, 1998 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine 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, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: We’ll talk about whether modern polling techniques have been good for democracy. Is polling a reflection of public opinion; is it shaping public opinion; or is it distorting public opinion? Who is it helping? And how can we be responsible consumers of polling information? Guest/s: Ashley Koning, Assistant Research Professor and Director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Dan Shea, Chair and Professor of Government at Colby College. To learn more about this topic: Public Opinion Polling Basics | Pew Research Center Two Schools of Polling Are Converging: Reflecting on a Tumultuous Decade | The New York Times, May, 2023 How Public Polling Has Changed in the 21st Century | Pew Research Center Methods, April, 2023 Polls’ Representative Samples Often Merit Skepticism | WSJ, April, 2023 The Polls Were Historically Accurate In 2022 | FiveThirtyEight, March, 2023 Some midterm polls were on-target – but finding which pollsters and poll aggregators to believe can be challenging | The Conversation, November, 2022 Seven Ways to Evaluate a Poll | FiveThirtyEight, August, 2021 Harvard experts weigh the good and bad of political predictions | The Harvard Gazette, November, 2020 The Problems Inherent in Political Polling | The New Yorker, March, 2020 Can We Trust the Presidential-Election Polls? | The New Yorker, March 2020 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine 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, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: We’ll talk about how young people are engaging politically nationwide and here in Maine. What motivates them? What challenges do they face? What can the larger community do to support their efforts? Why is it important to the future of democracy? Guest/s: Cole Cochrane, Co-founder, Maine Youth Action Mahnoor Hussain, Program Director, CIRCLE Anna Siegel, founding member of Maine Youth Climate Justice and co founder of Maine Youth Action To learn more about this topic: The teen brain: Mysteries and misconceptions | Knowable, April 2023 24 Ways to Grow Voters Before 2024 | CIRCLE, April 2023 The Youth Vote in 2022 | CIRCLE, April 2023 LWVME Youth Voting Age Study Info Session, April, 2023 How the Youth Vote Is Being Suppressed – Long Story Short | The Daily Show – YouTube, March, 2023 Making our ‘civic deserts’ more fertile – Island Institute, April, 2023 GOP lawyer Cleta Mitchell decries ease of ‘campus voting’ in private RNC pitch – The Washington Post, April, 2023 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine 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, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, emerita, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: Ballot Questions: Whose Initiatives Are They? We’ll talk about the citizen initiative process in Maine: the sheer number of them, the money behind them, their strengths and shortcomings, home-grown vs. “from away.” How does the initiative process work, and how is it working for Maine? Can ordinary citizens can still run a ballot question? Guest/s: Shenna Bellows, Maine Secretary of State Todd Donovan, Professor of Political Science, Western Washington University To learn more about this topic: As Abortion Measures Loom, GOP Raises New Barriers to Ballot Initiatives | The Pew Charitable Trusts, February, 2023 Missouri House Passes Bill Making It Harder for Voters To Amend State Constitution – Democracy Docket, February, 2023 Policy Matters: Ballot initiatives – Press Herald, November 17,2022 League Study On Maine’s Citizens’ Initiatives And People’s Veto Referenda, Fall, 2020 Initiatives without Engagement: A Realistic Appraisal of Direct Democracy’s Secondary Effects, Joshua J. Dyck & Edward L. Lascher, Jr., Jr., 2019 Democracy Forum – Citizen Initiatives: The Devil’s in the Details, April 19, 2019 Initiative and Referendum Overview and Resources | NCSL Citizen Initiatives & Peoples Veto | Maine Secretary of State Citizens as Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States, Todd Donovan and Shaun Bowler, 1998 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine 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, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Rick Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, emerita, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor Linda Washburn Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: If Small States Rule, Why Are They So Angry? Does this small-state bias in the federal government equate to overrepresentation of rural interests? Does it translate to policies that help rural areas thrive? Are communities in small or rural states actually thriving? Do people in those communities feel like they’re thriving? Or does “rural resentment” account for minority rule at the federal level? Senators from small states hold outsize sway in government to the point where they can block measures that the majority of Americans want. How are they using that power? What does it mean for Maine? Guest/s: Amy Fried, John Mitchell Nickerson Professor or Political Science, UMaine Michael Podhorzer, Chairman of the Board of the Analyst Institute; Assistant to the President for Strategic Research at the AFL-CIO To learn more about this topic: Paul Ryan Says Even MAGA Diehards Believe Trump Can’t Win in 2024 – The New York Times, March, 2023 Most Rural States 2023 | World Population Review The Resentment Fueling the Republican Party Is Not Coming From the Suburbs – The New York Times, January, 2023 Rural Americans aren’t included in inflation figures – and for them, the cost of living may be rising faster | The Conversation, January, 2023 Opinion | Can Anything Be Done to Assuage Rural Rage? | The New York Times, January 2023 Opinion | How to fix American democracy during a ‘Great Pulling Apart’ – The Washington Post, January, 2023 Opinion | This Is How Red States Silence Blue Cities. And Democracy |The New York Times

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: Compared to their population, rural states are over-represented in the federal government, from the U.S. Senate to the Electoral College, the Supreme Court, and possibly even the U.S. House. How has the come about; how far can it go? How does this affect Maine? Where is this heading, and what can or should be done about it? Guest/s: Mark Brewer, Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Maine Alexander Keyssar, Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School To learn more about this topic: U.S. Senate: Origins and Foundations | Senate.gov The Senate: From White Supremacy to Governmental Gridlock – UVA Press The Senate: Threat or Backbone of American Democracy? | Divided We Fall June, 2021 The Electoral College and the Rural-Urban Divide – The Aspen Institute, February, 2021 Two Senators per State: A Recipe for Minority Domination | Second Rate Democracy, 2020 The history of the Electoral College and our national conversation about race | Harvard Kennedy School, August, 2020 Alexander Keyssar — Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? | Politics and Prose, November, 2020 The Stubborn Survival of the Electoral College – WSJ, August 2020 American democracy’s Senate problem, explained – Vox, December, 2019 Here’s How to Fix the Senate – The Atlantic, January, 2019 The Founder’ monumental constitutional mistake; 2 senators from each state | NationofChange, October, 2018 Misrepresentation in the House of Representatives | Brookings, February 2017 The electoral college badly distorts the vote. And it’s going to get worse | The Washington Post, November, 2016 As American as Apple Pie? The Rural Vote’s Disproportionate Slice of Power – The New York Times, November, 2016 Sizing Up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation, Lee, Oppenheimer, 1999 When Adding New States Helped the Republicans – The Atlantic, September, 2019 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Rick Lyles, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: A number of towns in Hancock County are doing, have done, or are thinking of doing comprehensive planning. So, what is comprehensive planning, why do Maine towns do it? Why should they do it and how often? What comprises a comprehensive plan? What difference does it make in a community, why should people care? Guest/s: Susan Lessard, Bucksport Town Manager Noel Musson, Principal/Planner with the Musson Group Evan Richert, Former director of the State Planning Office To learn more about this topic: Comprehensive Plans: Municipal Planning Assistance Program: Maine DACF Comprehensive Planning: A Manual for Maine Communities Land Use Planning | National Working Waterfront Network Comprehensive Plan | Town of Orland, December, 2022 Priority Strategy: Increasing Physical Activity Through Community Design | CDC, December, 2022. The Future of the Comprehensive Plan | Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy May, 2022 A New Era of Equity-Based Comprehensive Planning…Finally | GreenLaw, September, 2021 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: Election Reflections: What Just Happened Here? -A conversation about the election. -Less about how the parties and the candidates performed; more about how democracy performed. -How did the election machinery hold up? -How did our voters and our instituions hold up? -Have our citizens embraced or rejected the legitimacy of the outcomes? -What does it all mean in the context of a bigger conversation about the future of western democracy? Guest/s: Maya Eichorn, Liberal Studies Student York County Community College, and fellow with Maine Students Vote, and affiliate of the League of Women Voters of Maine Elaine Kamarck, Founding Director at the Center for Effective Public Management and Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings Steve Mistler, Chief Political Correspondent and State House Bureau Chief, Maine Public To learn more about this topic: Turnout among young voters was the second highest for a midterm in past 30 years | NPR, November 2022 LePage’s loss leaves Maine Republicans at a crossroads – Portland Press Herald, November 2022 Midterms pose fresh test for American democracy after two years under fire | Washington Post, November 2022 ‘We’re watching you’: incidents of voter intimidation rise as midterm elections near | The Guardian, November 2022 Gen Z voter turnout will show just how influential influencers really are | Washington Post, November 2022 State courts are fielding sky-high numbers of lawsuits ahead of the midterms – including challenges to voting restrictions and to how elections are run | The Conversation, October 2022 The end of the debate? Republicans draw the curtain on political theater | US politics | The Guardian, September, 2022 Can the abortion issue save Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections? | Brookings, Elaine Kamarck, August 2022 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Lisa Leaverton, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Pam Person, Lane Sturtevant, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn Panel moderator: John Brautigam, an attorney and consultant with over 25 years of experience in campaign finance and election law, public policy, advocacy, and legal representation. From 2004 to 2008 he served in the Maine legislature and was House Chairman of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee. Prior to his tenure in the legislature Mr. Brautigam served as Assistant Attorney General. He previously served as legal counsel successfully defending the constitutionality of the 1996 reforms to Maine campaign finance laws, including the Maine Clean Election Act. Brautigam is counsel for the League of Women Voters of Maine. Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: Many legal scholars say that the Supreme Court’s decision in Moore v Harper, involving the Independent State Legislature Theory, could be one of the most important election law cases for the future of federal elections. If adopted by the Court, the most extreme versions of the theory could destabilize elections. But the Court could adopt a more limited, less disruptive version. Or the Court could decide not to adopt any version. We’ll introduce this issue and some of the potential implications of the case Moore v. Harper to be decided in 2023. Guest/s: Derek T. Muller, holds Ben V. Willie Professorship in Excellence at the University of Iowa College of Law Eliza Sweren-Becker, counsel in the Voting Rights & Elections Program at the Brennan Center for Justice To learn more about this topic: There Is Absolutely Nothing to Support the ‘Independent State Legislature’ Theory | The Atlantic, October, 2022 Moore v. Harper, Explained | Brennan Center for Justice, August 2022 State Legislature Seeks Unchecked Power over Elections in Moore v. Harper | League of Women Voters, League of Women Voters blog, August 2022 Unpacking the Left’s Disinformation Campaign about Moore v. Harper | National Review, August, 2022 The Next Big Threat to American Democracy Is Headed to the Supreme Court | The New Republic, August 2022 Is Democracy Constitutional? | The Atlantic, July 2022 Richard Pildes’ on Election Law Blog, July 2022 Derek Muller on Moore v. Harper and Independent State Legislature Doctrine | The Lawfare Podcast: July, 2022 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine 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 Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics This month: Checks and Balances: What are They? Are They Working? How the three branches of government check each other: executive, judicial, legislative. \ Why did it matter to the Framers, and why does it matter to us? Of what importance is mutual and self-regard among the branches: each branch protecting its own institution and backing up the other branches? Is the public one of the checks — with political consequences creating a limit on extremism? Does it seem to be working right now? Why or why not? Guest/s: Andrew Rudalevige, Chair of the Department of Government and Legal Studies, Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government, Bowdoin College Kim Lane Scheppele, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the University Center for Human Values To learn more about this topic: Post-ROE, the Supreme Court is on a collision course with Democracy | Vanity Fair August 25, 2022 Opinion | The Supreme Court Has Too Much Power and Liberals Are to Blame – POLITICO, July 27, 2022 Most in new poll say US government needs major reforms, complete overhaul | The Hill, July 13, 2022 The Supreme Court’s Role in the Degradation of U.S. Democracy | CLC, July 13, 2022 Opinion | How the Founders Intended to Check the Supreme Court’s Power – POLITICO, July 3, 2022 How Viktor Orbán Wins | Journal of Democracy, July 2022 Abuses of executive privilege reveal our system of checks and balances is on life support | The Hill October 24, 2021 Executive privilege is killing checks and balances | MichaelLeppert.com October 15, 2021 Checks and balances on war powers — Defense Priorities, April 2, 2021 By Executive Order | Princeton University Press, April 2021 Checks and Balances in a Trump-Era Supreme Court | Brennan Center for Justice, July 10, 2020 Congress Has Lost Its Power Over Trump | The Atlantic, February 4, 2020 The Unconstrained Presidency: Checks and Balances Eroded Long Before Trump | Council on Foreign Relations, August 14, 2018 Congress’s Power over Courts: Jurisdiction Stripping and the Rule of Klein | CSR, August 9, 2018 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine 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 Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics Description, guests and links FMI can be found here 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics Taxation without Representation: Should DC be a State? What rights of self-determination do DC residents now enjoy? How are their rights now constrained? What are the obstacles to DC statehood? What is the history? What is the racial justice aspect to this issue? Against the backdrop of Maine’s own struggle for statehood and the Missouri Compromise, why should Maine people care? Anne Anderson, Chair of the League of Women Voters DC Full Rights Committee Chris Myers Asch, Visiting Instructor of History, Colby College, and co-author of the book, Chocolate City, A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital To learn more about this topic: League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia – YouTube With Liberty and Justice for All (Except DC) | League of Women Voters, May 2022 The Case for Statehood – DC History Center, with links to other great resources DC Statehood Explained | Brennan Center for Justice, March, 2022 epublicans Used to Back DC Statehood. What Changed? – The Atlantic, David Graham, June, 2021 The Long Fight for DC Statehood – JSTOR Daily, Livia Gershon, February, 2021 When Adding New States Helped the Republicans – The Atlantic, Heather Cox Richardson, September, 2019 Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital by Chris Myers Asch and George Derek Musgrove, 2019 On the Road with the DC Statehood Toolkit, League of Women Voters of DC, November 2017 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics Issue: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics Key Discussion Points: The courts as protectors of democracy Judicial philosophy and constitutional interpretation The authority and power of the court The peril of the court being political or even perceived as such Guests: Richard H. Pildes, Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University School of Law Maron Sorenson, Assistant Professor of Government, Dept. Government and Legal Studies, Bowdoin College To learn more about this topic: Decade-long study shows Supreme Court is now further to the ideological right than most Americans | Ash Center, June, 2022 The Supreme Court Is on the Verge of Expanding Second Amendment Gun Rights | Brennan Center for Justice May, 2022 5 justices, all confirmed by senators representing a minority of voters, appear willing to overturn Roe v. Wade | The Conversation, May 2022 The Court and Its Procedures – Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court (2020) : Throughline : NPR, September, 2021 The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics, Stephen Breyer, 2021 Nine Reasons that “Originalism” Isn’t Really a Thing for Supreme Court Justices, October, 2020 The Law of Democracy: Legal Structure of the Political Process. Samuel Issacharoff, Pamela S. Karlan, Richard H. Pildes, Nathaniel Persily. ” 5th Edition, 2016. Is the Supreme Court a ‘Majoritarian’ Institution?, Richard Pildes, December, 2010 The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Laurie Fogleman, 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics Key Discussion Points: Local news and local democracy. What is a “news desert”? Does Maine have them? What happens in towns that have no institutional news coverage? Does it affect self-governance at the local level? Can citizen or grass-roots journalism fill the gap? Even if we have plenty of citizen journalists, do we lose cohesion without an institutional resource that provides a collective understanding? Guests: Penelope Abernathy, visiting professor at the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University Dan MacLeod, Managing Editor, Bangor Daily News Lincoln Millstein, blogs local news at The Quietside Journal To learn more about this topic: Survival of the Fittest: Can Independent News Media Endure in These Times? | Global Engagement at Georgetown University, April, 2022 New Report On The State Of Our Democracy | League of Women Voters 2021 Local news deserts are expanding: Here’s what we’ll lose | Washington Post, November, 2021 Exploiting the local news desert | Editor and Publisher, November 2021 Islander celebrates 20 years of community journalism – Mount Desert Islander, Faith D’Ambroise, November, 2021 Trends and Facts on Newspapers | State of the News Media | Pew Research Center. June, 2021 The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Laurie Fogleman, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Key Discussion Points: libraries and democracy privacy protection intellectual freedom and censorship informed citizenry, challenges and threats from book bans to funding Guests: Rich Boulet, Director, Blue Hill Public Library Alexandra Hinrichs, Children’s Author and Middle School Librarian at Leonard Middle School in Old Town Alison Macrina, Founder and Director of the Library Freedom Project Jamie Ritter, Maine State Librarian To learn more about this topic: Book Banning Efforts Surged in 2021. These Titles Were the Most Targeted | New York Times, April 4, 2022 World librarians, archivists rush to save Ukraine’s digital history | The Washington Post, April 8, 2022 Tired of years of budget woes, Ellsworth library director leaving for MDI | BDN, April 5, 2022 Schools nationwide are quietly removing books from their libraries | Washington Post, March 22, 2022 Book bans and the threat of censorship rev up political activism in the suburbs | NPR, March 21, 2022 How this Old Town school handled a request to ban a book on sexual assault | BDN, March 18 2022 Prerecorded on 4/12/2022 using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Hannah Cyrus, consulting librarian, Martha Dickinson, Laurie Fogleman, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine We’ll talk about anger and intimidation in the public sphere, especially in local politics. Where is this coming from? What is it that puts schools and elections in the bull’s eye? What measures should officials take? What can ordinary people do? Can we still have deliberative democracy? Guests: Patti Dubois, Waterville City Clerk and the Legislative Policy Chair for the Maine Town and City Clerks Association. Jordan LaBouff, Associate Professor of Psychology and Honors at the University of Maine. umaine.edu/psychology/jordan-labouff/ Paul Markosian, an Ellsworth business owner and member of the Ellsworth School board. To learn more about this topic: Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, Brittney Cooper, 2018. Local election officials are exhausted, under threat and thinking about quitting, Politico, March 2022 Whitmer plot underlines growing abuse of women officials | AP News, March 2022 Bill to make interfering with election workers a crime OK’d | AP News, February 2022 Maine teachers and school board members seek legal protection as they face harassment, February 2022 The Role of Racial Resentment in Our Politics | Brennan Center for Justice, February 2022 The Five Minute Fix, Washington Post, January 2022 City School Board threatened with lawsuits over masking policies, January, 2022 Prerecorded on 3/10/2022 using Zoom technology. The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Laurie Fogleman, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine -How Facebook has transformed our political life. It’s not just Facebook, is it? -How has it polarized our political identities? -How has it become so central to our community and political life? -What threats does it pose to democracy? -What did the Facebook Papers tell us? -What are the possible solutions? Guests: Jessica Brandt, policy director for the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative at the Brookings Institution and a fellow in the Foreign Policy program’s Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology. Judith Rosenbaum, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Maine. To learn more about this topic: www.lwvme.org/democracyforum Facebook Has a Superuser-Supremacy Problem – The Atlantic, February, 2022 Opinion | The Platform Accountability and Transparency Act is a small step toward solving our social media woes – The Washington Post Editorial January 2022 Autocracy Is Winning – The Atlantic. Anne Applebaum, December 2021 How to fix social media? Start with independent research, Brookings, December 1, 2021 The internet is a battleground. Will democracies win?, Brookings, December 1, 2021 The Facebook Papers, explained – The Washington Post, October, 2021 Facebook Is an Authoritarian State – The Atlantic, September 2021 How to Put Out Democracy’s Dumpster Fire – The Atlantic, April 2021 The Internet Doesn’t Have to Be Awful – Anne Applebaum, March, 2021 The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, by Shoshana Zuboff, January. 2019 Political polarization on Facebook, Brookings, May 2015 Prerecorded on 2/15/2022 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine We’ll talk about the political philosophy and history of public education in America. What is the role of public education in sustaining our fragile republic? How did public education develop and evolve over time? What has been or should be the role of public education in creating a shared civic enterprise? Guests: Doris Santor, Professor of Education at Bowdoin College. Jonathan Zimmerman, Judy and Howard Berkowitz Professor in Education at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania To learn more about this topic: Will US Education Remedy A Half-Century Of Neglecting Civics Education?, Tom Lindsay, Forbes, February 2020 The need for civic education in 21st-century schools, Rebecca Winthrop, Brookings, June 2020 History and Evolution of Public Education in the US, Center on Education Policy, The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development, 2020 Have We Lost Faith in Public Education? | Perspectives on History | AHA Johann N. Neem, July 2018 Democracy’s Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America, Johann Neem, August 2017 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 Prerecorded on 1/21/2022 using Zoom technology. 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Religion: Politics and Religion in America -What is the constitutional foundation of the separation of church and state? -Why is it important? -Is freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights? How did the doctrine emerge and develop from the prohibition on the establishment of religion? -How is the interpretation and practice affecting modern politics? -What is the intersection of political activism and religious groups, now and in our history? Guests: Mark Brewer, Professor of Political Science and Department Chair, University of Maine Vincent Phillip Muñoz, Tocqueville Associate Professor of Religion & Public Life, Department of Political Science, Concurrent Associate Professor of Law, Notre Dame University To learn more about this topic: Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, James Madison, presented to the Virginia General Assembly in 1785 In U.S., Far More Support Than Oppose Separation of Church and State, Pew Research Center, October 2021 The Sleeper SCOTUS Case That Threatens the Separation of Church and State, The Atlantic, October 2021 Two Concepts of Religious Liberty: The Natural Rights and Moral Autonomy Approaches to the Free Exercise of Religion, Vincent Phillip Munoz, American Political Science Review, May 2016 Opinion | If they’re going to keep passing religious laws, we’re going to need exemptions, Washington Post, September 2021 The 2020 Census of American Religion, Public Religion Research Institute, July 2021 How ‘In God We Trust’ bills are helping advance a Christian nationalist agenda, The Conversation, July 2021 Relevant No More?: The Catholic/Protestant Divide in American Electoral Politics by Mark D. Brewer, 2003 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Prerecorded April 15, 2020 using ZOOM meeting technology hosted by LWVME We will talk about how the continuing COVID-19 emergency might change voting procedures in Maine’s upcoming primary election What steps are being taken to protect the election, election workers, and the voting public. What voters can do now to prepare Guests: Alison Beyea, Executive Director, ACLU Maine Matthew Dunlap, Maine Secretary of State To learn more about this topic: Our View: COVID-19 will change Maine Election Day traditions, Portland Press Herald editorial, April 5, 2020. A Primary? In a Pandemic?, The Atlantic, March, 2020 Voting in the time of the coronavirus, Sue Halperin, The New Yorker, March, 2020 ‘It’s Madness.’ Wisconsin’s Election Amid Coronavirus Sparks Anger, NPR, April, 2020 “The Lessons of the Election of 1918,” New York Times, March, 2020 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 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne -How is the presidential primary going to work, -How will delegates to national conventions be apportioned and selected, -What role will municipal caucuses continue to play, -What will be the differences among the parties. Guests: Kenneth Palmer, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Maine Lisa Roberts, Executive Director of the Maine Democratic Party Richard Rosen,, former Republican State Legislator and former Commissioner of the Maine State Department of Administrative and Financial Services To learn more about this topic: “The Primary Versus the Caucus,” PBS Newshour, 2003 “Primaries v caucuses: a handy primer,” Harry J Enten in The Guardian, 2012. League of Women Voters of Maine, “Study Guide on Primary Elections,” 2018. “Maine switched to a presidential primary in 2020. Here’s why parties are still caucusing,” Bangor Daily News, February 9, 2020. “The U.S. Presidential Nominating Process,” The Council on Foreign Relations, January, 2020. What to Know About the Iowa Caucuses, Pew Research Center, January, 2020 Primary Politics: Everything You Need to Know about How America Nominates Its Presidential Candidates 4th Edition, Elaine C. Kamarck, Brookings Institution Press, November, 2018 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 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne We talk about the upcoming decennial census How it’s going to work Problems on the horizon The consequences for Maine and the nation. Guests: Margo Anderson, Distinguished Professor Emerits of History and Urban Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, author of the book, The American Census: A Social History Matt Dunlap, Maine’s 49th Secretary of State, now serving his fourth consecutive term and seventh term overall. He also Chairs of the State’s Complete Count Committee. To learn more about this topic: “ The American Census: A Social History“, by Margo J. Anderson 2015. “The 2020 Census may be wildly inaccurate–and it matters more than you think,” Robert Shapiro for the Brookings Institution, August, 2017 “Special Report: 2020 U.S. census plagued by hacking threats, cost overruns,” Nick Brown for Reuters, December, 2019 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 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.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: 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. umaine.edu/polisci/faculty-and-staff/amy-fried/ Don Moynihan, McCourt Chair at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/0033600001i3sNRAAY/donald-moynihan 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 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 FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne Program Topic: Hate and Fear in Politics: How fear and anger endanger democracy Key Discussion Points: We talk about hate and fear in politics and whether they undermine democracy: How panic and fear make space for abandoning the rule of law and the regular order; How when we demonize the opposition, it makes room for extraordinary measures to stop them. Guests: Joanne Freeman, Professor of history and American studies at Yale University history.yale.edu/people/joanne-freeman Steve Wessler, Maine human rights educator, trainer, and advocate specializing in conflict resolution www.stevewessler.com/ To learn more about this topic: “Trump and the Politics of Fear,” Molly Ball in The Atlantic, September, 2016. “America Descends into the Politics of Rage,” Joanne Freeman in The Atlantic, October, 2018. “The Upside of Anger,” Isaac Chotiner interviews Martha C. Nussbaum for Slate, August, 2018 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 FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne We talk about the lies in politics and the politics of lying, Historical examples, and current practice. How is the present moment in American politics different from others in our history? Or is it? What are the consequences for democracy? Guests: Dallas G. Denery II, Professor of History at Bowdoin College. www.bowdoin.edu/profiles/faculty/ddenery/index.html Nancy L. Rosenblum, the Harvard University Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government emerita scholar.harvard.edu/nrosenblum/home To learn more about this topic: “How the Science of “Blue Lies” May Explain Trump’s Support,” guest blog at the Scientific American by Jeremy Adam Smith, March 2017. “Trump’s lies corrode democracy,” James Pfiffner for Brookings, April 2018. “A Behavioral Science Solution to Lies in Politics,” blogpost at Psychology Today by Gleb Tsipursky, June 2017. “Conspiracy Without the Theory,” by Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum in The Atlantic, April, 2019. 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 FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org.

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne This month, back by popular demand, we’ll talk more about practicing politics and democracy at the most personal level, in local government. What are the characteristics of the towns that have the most civic participation? How can community members help create a culture of inclusion and civic engagement in their own towns? What can go right; and what can go wrong? Guests: Susan Clark, is coauthor of Slow Democracy: Rediscovering Community, Bringing Decision Making Back Home. She serves as Town Moderator of Middlesex, Vermont. Dick Thompson, an experienced moderator for the Towns of Palermo, China, Vassalboro, and others, Dick conducts moderator training for the Maine Municipal Association. To learn more about this topic: Slow Democracy: Rediscovering Community, Bringing Decision Making Back Home, Susan Clark and Woden Teachout, 2012. Citizen’s Guide to Town Meeting, Maine Municipal Association. For the People, by the People: What I saw when I participated in one of the truest forms of democracy, Amy Crawford in Slate May, 2013. Americans Aren’t Practicing Democracy Anymore: As participation in civic life has dwindled, so has public faith in the country’s system of government, Yoni Applebaum in The Atlantic October, 2018. We all should care more about local elections, editorial in the Bangor Daily News, July 6, 2019. I’ll take the problems of local politics over the Washington chaos any day, Roger Bowen op-ed in the BDN, May 21, 2018. More citizen education from the Maine Municipal Association here and tips on how to get involved in local government here. 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 FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne We talk about practicing politics and democracy at the most personal level, in local government, and the unusual experience we enjoy in the form of the New England town meeting. Does the town meeting still work? Is participation up or down? Is partisanship creeping in? Is money “from away” taking more of an interest? If you’ve never been, what do you need to know? Guests: Susan Clark, is coauthor of Slow Democracy: Rediscovering Community, Bringing Decision Making Back Home. She serves as Town Moderator of Middlesex, Vermont. Susan Lessard, Town Manager for Bucksport. She’s worked town government in Maine for over twenty years in a diverse array of communities, some with and some without a town meeting form of government. Dick Thompson, an experienced moderator for the Towns of Palermo, China, Vassalboro, and others, Dick conducts moderator training for the Maine Municipal Association. To learn more about this topic: Slow Democracy: Rediscovering Community, Bringing Decision Making Back Home, Susan Clark and Woden Teachout, 2012. Managing Town Hall meetings so that everyone benefits (and relatively few are miserable), Della Rucker in Creating a Wise Economy, May, 2015. Citizen’s Guide to Town Meeting, Maine Municipal Association. For the People, by the People: What I saw when I participated in one of the truest forms of democracy, Amy Crawford in Slate May, 2013. Americans Aren’t Practicing Democracy Anymore: As participation in civic life has dwindled, so has public faith in the country’s system of government, Yoni Applebaum in The Atlantic October, 2018. More citizen education from the Maine Municipal Association here. 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 FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne What do those words mean: republic and democracy? What do people mean when they say, “We’re not a democracy; we’re a republic,” in the context of different policy debates. Is there a particular subtext implicating minority rights, even minority rule, and possibly states’ rights and federalism? Guests : Lance Dutson, a Republican communications consultant and a columnist for the Bangor Daily News. lancedutson.bangordailynews.com/about/ Joseph Reisert, Associate Professor of American Constitutional Law at Colby College www.colby.edu/directory/profile/jrreiser/  To learn more about this topic: Democracy or Republic?, Jay Cost in Nationa Review September, 2018. Sorry, Liberals, But America Is Not A Democracy, And It’s Better That Way,, Clifford Humphrey in The Federalist February, 2018. Is the U.S. a Democracy? A Social Studies Battle Turns on the Nation’s Values Dana Goldstein in The New York Times April, 2019. Is the United States of America a republic or a democracy? Eugene Volokh, The Volokh Conspiracy, at The Washington Post May, 2015. You Say Democracy, I Say Republic, Jonathan Bernstein in Bloomberg April, 2019         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 FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Citizen Initiatives: The Devil’s in the Details Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine, www.lwvme.org Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: the historical origins of the initiative provisions, how initiatives actually work in Maine, our contemporary experience with them, their effect on politics and elections, the tension between direct and representative democracy, and proposals for reform, many of which are being debated in the Maine State Legislature right now. Guests: Joshua Dyck, Associate Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Center for Public Opinion at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. www.uml.edu/fahss/political-science/faculty/dyck-joshua.aspx Michael Franz, Professor of Government and Legal Studies at Bowdoin College and co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project. mikemfranz.com/ To learn more about this topic: – Initiatives without Engagement A Realistic Appraisal of Direct Democracy’s Secondary Effects, Joshua J. Dyck and Edward L. Lascher, Jr., 2019 – Ballot Questions in Maine, Polling Edition, Michael Franz, April, 2019. – Miller-Rose Initiative Database at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government, Claremont McKenna College. – Seizing the Initiative: A Short History of Direct Democracy in America Nick Johnson, April, 2018. – American Voters Are Turning to Direct Democracy, Vann Newkirk, Atlantic April 2018. 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 FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

The Electoral College: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: The electoral college. its historical origins and the founders’ intent, The practical implications for modern American politics, Proposals for reform, including the National Popular Vote (NPV). Guests: Mark Brewer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine Jamie Raskin, Professor Law at American University Washington College of Law and U.S. Congressman representing Maryland’s 8th District Patrick Rosenstiel, CEO of Ainsley Shea, a Minneapolis-based public relations firm working to advance the National Popular Vote. To learn more, follow these links to related content: As American as Apple Pie? The Rural Vote’s Disproportionate Slice of Power Emily Badger in The New York Times, November, 2016. The real reason we have an Electoral College: to protect slave states Sean Illing interviews Akhil Reed Amar in Vox, November, 2016. The Electoral College badly distorts the vote. And it’s going to get worse. Katy Collin in The Washington Post, November, 2016. Don’t Believe the Myths about the National Popular Vote, Saul Anuzis, The Hill, May, 2018. Constitutional Law Professor Drops Bombshell on `Forgotten Americans’ at Democrats’ Electoral College Meeting, Jamie Raskin, Alternet December, 2016. An Idea for Electoral College Reform That Both Parties Might Actually Like, Edward B. Foley, Politico January, 2019. Alternative view: National Popular Vote would amplify Maine voices and empower small states, Patrick Rosenstiel in the Maine Wire, March 10, 2019. The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Sheila Kirby, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

The Free Press and a Functioning Democracy Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne We talk about democracy, journalism, the state of play in American news. Can fact-based journalism survive? Can democracy survive otherwise? Guests: Earl Brechlin, Earl was the founding editor of the Mount Desert Islander. friendsofacadia.org/news/friends-acadia-welcomes-earl-brechlin-communications-director/ Burt Neuborne, Burt Neuborne is the Norman Dorsen Professor of Civil Liberties and founding Legal Director of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School. He is the author of the book, Madison’s Music, that explores a deep reading of the First Amendment. its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.biography&personid=20165 Judy Woodruff, Judy Woodruff is the anchor and managing editor of the PBS Newshour. www.pbs.org/newshour/about/judy-woodruff To learn more about this topic: More Important But Less Robust? Five Things Everybody Needs to Know about the Future of Journalism Reuters Institute Report, January, 2019 Does Journalism have a Future? Jill Lepore in The New Yorker, January 28, 2019 Is journalism’s `pivot to dust’ arriving? Megan McArdle in the Washington Post, January 26, 2019 How We Know Journalism is Good for Democracy, Josh Stearns, posted at Medium, a publication of PACE: Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement, June 26, 2018 Local newspapers have already been gutted. There’s nothing left to cut. Steve Cavendish, the Washington Post, January 25, 2109. Madison’s Music: On Reading the First Amendment, Burt Neuborne, 2015. The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Sheila Kirby, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn This episode of Democracy Forum was produced with support from the Maine Humanities Council. FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Cyber Attacks on Democracy: Social Media, Fake News, and Voter Responsibility Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: We’ll talk about cyber attacks on elections, weaponizing misinformation, social media, and disinformation. Is this the new normal? Can democracy survive? Guests: Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and author of the new book, Cyber War: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President – What We Don’t, Can’t, and Do Know www.asc.upenn.edu/people/faculty/kathleen-hall-jamieson-phd Jamie McKown, Faculty, Government & Polity at the College of the Atlantic and James Russell Wiggins Chair in Government and Polity. coa.edu/live/profiles/1179-jamie mckown/templates/details/faculty.php To learn more about this topic: Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook Before It Breaks Democracy?, Evan Osnos in The New Yorker, September, 2018. Machine Politics, Fred Turner in Harpers Magazine, January, 2019. Secret campaign to use Russian-inspired tactics in 2017 Ala. election stirs anxiety for Democrats, Washington Post, January, 2019. New Report on Russian Disinformation Prepared for the Senate shows the Operations Scale and Sweep, Washington Post, December, 2018. New Studies Show Pundits Are Wrong About Russian Social-Media Involvement in US Politics, Aaron Maté, The Nation, December, 2018. The most underplayed story of the 2016 election is voter suppression, Rachelle Hampton, The New Republic, January, 2019. Call In Program: Yes The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Sheila Kirby, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Election 2018: What Happened and What Does It Mean? Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne Be sure to catch Democracy Forum in its regular time slot, 10-11 am on the 3rd Friday off each month. This edition of the Democracy Forum was canceled earlier in November due to a storm, and rescheduled in today’s time slot for this month only. Key Discussion Points: We talk about who won in Maine and why. How do the election outcomes in Maine reflect national trends–or not–along the dimensions of party majorities, women and minority candidates, voter turnout, demographics, and voter suppression? What does it all mean for governing in the biennium ahead? Guests: John Baughman, Associate Professor of Politics at Bates College. www.bates.edu/politics/faculty/john-baughman/ Jill Goldthwait, Columnist and former independent Maine State Senator www.mdislander.com/author/jgoldthwait To learn more about this topic: 2018: Another ‘Year of the Woman’ Brookings, November 8, 2018. Americans will head to the polls in a week. Here’s why some won’t. Washington Post, October 30, 2018. Maine’s toss-up 2nd District appears headed to a ranked-choice count, Bangor Daily News, November 7, 2018. Brian Kemp’s Lead in Georgia Needs an Asterisk, The Atlantic, November 7, 2018. 2018 exit polls show greater white support for Democrats, Brookings, November 8, 2018. The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Sheila Kirby, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Political Polls: Can We Ever Trust Them Again? Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: the state of the art in political polling, why polls sometimes get it wrong, the emerging challenges for pollsters, what citizens need to know about who and what to believe. Guests: aAmy Fried, Professor & Department Chair, Political Science, University of Maine umaine.edu/polisci/faculty-and-staff/amy-fried/ Courtney Kennedy, Director of Survey Research at the Pew Research Center. www.pewresearch.org/staff/courtney-kennedy/ To learn more about this topic: Can we still trust polls? by Courtney Kennedy, May, 2018, from FactTank: News in Numbers at the Pew Research Center. Why Polling Can Be So Hard by Nate Cohn, September, 2018, from TheUpshot at the New York Times. You can trust the polls in 2018, if you read them carefully by Josh Pasek and Michael Traugott for The Conversation. Pathways to Polling: Crisis, Cooperation and the Making of Public Opinion Professions, Amy Fried, 2011. The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Sheila Kirby, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Elections in Maine: Where the Rubber Meets the Road Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: what citizens need to know about the conduct of elections in Maine: what are the opportunities for citizen participation and observation; what aspects are conducted by the State with regard to the security and integrity of the process and the electronic components; what role do the town clerks play in making sure things run smoothly, etc. Guests: Patti Dubois, Waterville City Clerk www.waterville-me.gov/clerk/ Julie Flynn, Deputy Secretary of State, Maine Secretary of State’s Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions. www.eac.gov/testing/staff-modules/julie-l-flynn/ To learn more about this topic: History of the Municipal Clerk, September, 2014, at the International Institute for Municipal Clerks Maine Town and City Clerks Association Maine Secretary of State Elections Division U.S. Elections Assistance Commission The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Sheila Kirby, Ann Luther, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, and Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Distrust in Government: A Necessary Evil or a Weapon of Destruction? Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: a) the waxing and waning of Americans’ trust in government b) why a little skepticism may be a good thing c) how partisanship plays into the equation d) how too much distrust may be a self-fulfilling prophecy Guests: Amy Fried, Professor & Department Chair, Political Science, University of Maine umaine.edu/polisci/faculty-and-staff/amy-fried/ Thomas E. Mann, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution and Resident Scholar, Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley www.brookings.edu/experts/thomas-e-mann/ To learn more about this topic: – Public Trust in Government: 1958-2017, Pew Research Center, December, 2017. – The Strategic Promotion of Distrust in Government in the Tea Party Age, Amy Fried, 2015. – Finding the Common Good in an Era of Dysfunctional Governance Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, Daedelus, Spring 2013. – A More Perfect Union, New York Times book review of Garry Willis’s book, A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government, 1999. The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Sheila Kirby Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

State Preemption: From Guns to Garbage, Who’s Got the Power? Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: a) how federalism protects and constrains states’ rights and? b) how states can both protect and commandeer local control. c) from guns and garbage to water quality and pesticides, how much control do states and towns have to protect their assets or advance their values Guests: Garrett Crobin, a Legislative Advocate for the Maine Municipal Association www.memun.org/Legislative-Advocacy/Contact-Information Lauren E. Phillips, newly-minted JD from Columbia Law and authored an important article on state pre-emption for the Columbia Law Review. To learn more about this topic: –Impeding Innovation: State Preemption of Progressive Local Regulations, Lauren Phillips in the Columbia Law Review, Volume 117, No. 8, December 2017. –Blue Cities Want to Make Their Own Rules. Red States Won’t Let Them. more from TheUpshot at the New York Times, July, 2017. –From Fracking Bans To Paid Sick Leave: How States Are Overruling Local Laws, PR Watch’s Lisa Graves on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, April, 2016. –Soda And Fast Food Lobbyists Push State Preemption Laws To Prevent Local Regulation, Robb Waters in Forbes Magazine, June, 21, 2017. –Municipal Approaches in Maine to Reduce Single-use Consumer Products, Travis Wagner in the Maine Policy Review, 2016. –Preemption Watch Newsletter, –Preemption Doctrine, by Ellerbe P. Cole, Maine Municipal Association in Maine Townsman,” Legal Notes,” June 1991. The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Sheil Kirby Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Immigration: Can We Live Without It? Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: Immigration and jobs Federal policy Effect on economic development and workforce in Maine Guests: Dany Bahar, David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution www.brookings.edu/experts/dany-bahar/ Carla Dickstein, Senior Vice President for Research and Policy Development at the Coastal Enterprise Institute www.ceimaine.org/about/staff-directory/name/carla-dickstein/ Martha Searchfield, Executive Director of the Bar Harbor Chamber Commerce www.visitbarharbor.com/staff-board-of-directors To learn more about this topic: Immigrants’ Contribution to Maine’s Workforce and Economy, from the Coastal Enterprise Institute Building Maine’s Economy: How Maine Can Embrace Immigrants and Strengthen the Workforce, more from CEI, 2016. 100 Years Ago, Maine’s Economy Was Powered by Immigrants reporting in the Bangor Daily News, September, 2017. The Trump administration failed to study immigration vetting. So I did. David Bier from the Cato Institute in the Washington Post Migrants and refugees: The unlikely key for economic development, Dany Bahar for Brookings. The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Sheila Kirby Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Ranked Choice Voting: How Will it Work In Maine Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne -How ranked choice voting is moving forward for the June primary -What the Secretary of State is planning -What voters need to know as they head for the polls. Guests: John Brautigam, a public interest attorney, senior adviser and strategist to the project, Maine Uses Ranked Choice Voting. www.mainecleanelections.org/who Grace Ramsey, deputy outreach director for FairVote, a national electoral reform advocacy group. www.fairvote.org/grace_ramsey To learn more about this topic: Maine Uses Ranked Choice Voting Fair Vote League of Women Voters of Maine The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Sheila Kirby Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Gerrymandering: What’s the Big Deal? Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Joel Mann How redistricting has changed over the last 50 years Thee emergence of extreme partisan gerrymandering Court cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court Why it matters in Maine. Guests: Matt Dube, Assistant Professor in Computer Information Systems at the University of Maine in Augusta www.uma.edu/directory/staff/matthew-p-dube/ Elaine Kamark, Senior Fellow in the Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution www.brookings.edu/experts/elaine-kamarck/ To learn more about this topic: Gerrymandering and how to fix it, from Elaine Kamark at Brookings. The new front in the gerrymandering wars, from the New York Times Magazine, August, 2017. We Drew 2,568 Congressional Districts By Hand. Here’s How., from the 538 Gerrymandering Project, January 25, 2018. Mathematical Characteristics of District Boundary Lines as Indicators of Partisan Gerrymandering in U.S. House Elections, Richard J. Powell, Matthew P. Dube, and Jesse T. Clark, April, 2017. Assessing the Causes of District Homogeneity in U.S. House Elections, Richard J. Powell, Matthew P. Dube, and Jesse T. Clark, August, 2017

Primary Elections: What Are They Good For? Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Engineer: Amy Browne -How have primaries changed over the last 50 years? -Are they still working for the parties and the voters? -What changes are on the horizon in Maine? Guests: Jill Goldthwait, Political columnist Kevin Raye, Republican politician Dan Shea, Professor Government at Colby College        To learn more about this topic: Everything You Need to Know About Maine’s Caucus System, League blog post from February 2016. Maine considers switching from caucuses to primaries, from the AP, March, 2016. How activists choose our politicians, long before we vote, Jonathan Rauch for the Brookings Institution, December, 2017. The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine   Engineer: Amy Browne Ten Months In: Taking Stock in Maine We’ll talk about what’s changed in Maine since the 2016 presidential election. How have the policies of the new administration affected Maine politics and people? Guests: Hannah Pingree, a Democrat, former Speaker of the House in Maine, now co-host of the Maine Event on Maine Public television. pingree.com/ Josh Tardy, a Republican lobbyist and attorney who served as chair of the 2016 Trump campaign in Maine www.mitchelltardyjackson.com/about/ To learn more about this topic: Tracking deregulation in the Trump era, from the Brookings Institution. How Trump is helping to save our democracy, from the Washington Post Stocks Are Up 20% Under Donald Trump. Can It Last? from the Wall Street Journal Trump’s Trade Policy Is Lifting Exports. Of Canadian Lobster. from the New York Times List of Cabinet positions and appointees in the Trump Administration The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine   Engineer: Amy Browne Political Parties: Do They Still Matter? We talk about the state of the two party system, how recent trends have weakened the parties even as partisanship has grown, whether our political parties threaten our democracy or hold the main hope for its salvation. Guests: Professor Mark Brewer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine umaine.edu/polisci/faculty-and-staff/mark-brewer/ Jonathan Rauch, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor to The Atlantic. www.brookings.edu/experts/jonathan-rauch/ To learn more about this topic: More professionalism, less populism, from the Brookings Institution How American Politics Went Insane, from The Atlantic How Trump is helping to save our democracy, from the Washington Post The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine   Engineer: Amy Browne Census 2020: Making Sense of the Census Key Discussion Points: We’ll talk about the history and evolution of the census, Why it’s important, Who uses census data, What’s being planned for 2020, What problems are on the horizon, and Why the census matters in Maine. Guests: –Margo Anderson, Distinguished Professor of History and Urban Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, author of the book, The American Census: A Social History uwm.edu/history/people/anderson-margo/ -Richard Taylor, Communications and Research Manager, Maine State Housing Authority To learn more about this topic: 2020 Census Operational Plan from the Census Bureau New Acting Director To Oversee ‘High Risk’ 2020 Census, reporting from NPR The 2020 Census may be wildly inaccurate–and it matters more than you think, from the Brookings Institution The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org/

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine   Engineer: Amy Browne Civil Discourse: Can We Still Do It? What civil discourse looks like? Why does it seems to be so hard right now? How can we practice it ourselves? What can we to do encourage it in our leaders and public servants here in Maine? Guests: Tomas Spath, co-founder of the Institute for Civility in Government Matt Motyl, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois – Chicago Andrew Rudalevige, the Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government at Bowdoin College To learn more about this topic: Why Polarization Matters, David Blankenhorn in The American Interest The Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People, David Blankenhorn in The American Interest 2016 Colby Civility Poll with the Boston Globe The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Jobs in Maine: What’s the Future? Key Discussion Points: a) global changes in employment and the nature of work b) the shifting demographics of jobs c) barriers to work d) what it means for Maine Guests: James Breece, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Maine. umaine.edu/soe/faculty-and-staff/breece/ Rosalie Hughes, is an investigative journalist and writer at the Bangor Daily News and a contributor to the Maine Focus series. bangordailynews.com/staff/bdn-maine/content/rosalie-hughes/ Beth Stickney, Executive Director of the Maine Business Immigration Coalition mainebic.org/about/ To learn more about this topic: The State of American Jobs, Pew Research Center Did China Eat America’s Jobs, Freakonomics, January 25, 2017 Visualizing the Jobs Lost to Automation An Overview of the Maine Economy: Per Capita Personal Income 2014, James Breece, 2016 Maine Job Outlook to 2024 The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Topic: Free Trade: Winners and Losers in Maine Key Discussion Points: We’ll talk about international trade policy How does it work? Who sets the rules? What does it mean for Maine? Guest: Kate DeLutio, economist, applied researcher, and trade expert. www.45northresearch.com/about/ To learn more about this topic: a) Did China Eat America’s Jobs, Freakonomics, January 25, 2017 freakonomics.com/podcast/china-eat-americas-jobs/ b) Maine History Online: Trade and Transport, from the Maine Historical Society. www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/885/page/1296/display c) Maine Trade Assessment Report 2016, Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, prepared for the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission. www.maine.gov/legis/opla/CTPC2016TradeAssessmentFinal.pdf    The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Topic: Fake News: Who Can You Trust? Key Discussion Points: We’ll talk about the proliferation of news sources in the internet age The role of independent journalism in a liberal democracy The challenges for citizens in finding real news. b) Guests: John Christie, co-founder and senior editor for the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. pinetreewatchdog.org/about/ Naomi Schalit, co-founder and senior reporter for the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. pinetreewatchdog.org/about/ Melissa Zimdars, assistant professor of communication at Merrimack College in Massachusetts www.merrimack.edu/live/profiles/586-melissa-mish-zimdars To learn more about this topic: Study: Breitbart-led right-wing media ecosystem altered broader media agenda, Columbia Journalism Review, March 3, 2017 The Real Story About Fake News Is Partisanship, The Upshot, New York Times, January 11, 2017 There’s an intriguing sociological reason so many Americans are ignoring facts lately, Business Insider, February 27, 2017 The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Program Topic: Two Maines: Can We Bridge the Divide? Key Discussion Points: a) We’ll talk about the cultural, demographic, and economic differences that define the two Maines and how those differences are sharpening political differences. b) Are there only two Maines? c) Can we bridge the divide? Guests: a) Alan Caron, is the owner of Caron Communications and the author of “Maine’s next Economy” and “Reinventing Maine’s Government” b) Erin Rhoda, Editor of Maine Focus for the Bangor Daiy News bangordailynews.com/staff/bdn-maine/content/erin-rhoda/ c) Matt Stone, journalist and writer for the Bangor Daily News To learn more about this topic: What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class, Joan C. Williams in the Harvard Business Review, November 30, 2016 hbr.org/2016/11/what-so-many-people-dont-get-about-the-u-s-working-class%20 6 takeaways from an examination of rural Maine’s future, Erin Rhoda, Bangor Daily News, January 29, 2017 bangordailynews.com/2017/01/29/mainefocus/6-takeaways-from-an-examination-of-rural-maines-future/ This remote Maine region has a chance to grow, Matt Stone, Bangor Daily News, December 7, 2106 mainefocus.bangordailynews.com/2016/12/wilderness-and-a-way-forward/#.WLsNjfnyuUk Maine’s Next Economy: How the State’s Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Doers are Growing a New Prosperity, Alan Caron, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 16, 2015) The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: John Greenman Program Topic: Ballot Questions in Maine: Whose Initiatives Are They? Key Discussion Points: We’ll discuss what happened in the recent election What our constitution provides What role the legislature and the governor are playing now. Guests: a) John Brautigam, Attorney and election law expert b) Ron Schmidt, Associate Professor of Political Science at USM. usm.maine.edu/pos/ronald-schmidt To learn more about this topic: Laws Governing the Initiative Process in Maine Initiated Bills in Maine 1911 – Peoples Vetoes in Maine 1909 – Referenda in Maine 1910 – As Progressives Turn to Ballot Initiatives, GOP Eyes Restrictions Steve Mistler story for Maine Public, February 2, 2017. The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Don Carmichael Suzanne Carmichael Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: John Greenman Program Topic: The Civic Mission of Public Education Key Discussion Points: a) What is the historical role of public education in American democracy and civic life? b) Do inequities in public education and the failure of public schools to prepare all children for citizenship contribute to political inequality? c) What can citizens do? Guests: a) Meira Levinson, Professor of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education www.gse.harvard.edu/faculty/meira-levinson b) Bill Richards, Maine educator and former Associate Commissioner of Instruction for Maine. To learn more about this topic: a) Education and Equality, by Danielle Allen b) “If Democracies Need Informed Voters, How Can They Thrive While Expanding Enfranchisement?” by Jennifer Hochschild c) “Why Did We Stop Teaching Political History?” by Fredrik Logevall and Kenneth Osgood in the New York Times d) No Citizen Left Behind, by Meira Levinson The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Don Carmichael Suzanne Carmichael Starr Gilmartin Maggie Harling Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Maryann Ogonowski Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Topic: Election Reflections Key Discussion Points: What just happened? Why were we surprised? What role did voter suppression play in the election? And what does it mean for the future of democracy? Guests: Prof. Mark Brewer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine umaine.edu/polisci/faculty-and-staff/mark-brewer/ Kathy Colliton-Gonzalez is Senior Counsel at Demos, a national civil rights organization, where she participates in litigation and policy advocacy to ensure an inclusive democracy and equal opportunity for all. FMI: www.demos.org The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Program Topic: Ballot Questions in Maine Key Discussion Points: a) We’ll discuss the ballot questions in Maine this year, how the process works, what the questions mean, and how citizen initiatives fit into a representative versus a direct democracy. b) What are the questions on the ballot? What do they mean? What are the arguments for and against the question? c) Where can voters learn more? Guests: Amy Fried, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine umaine.edu/polisci/faculty-and-staff/amy- fried/ Jill Goldthwait, former Maine State Senator and award-winning political columnist for the Ellsworth American and the Mount Desert Islander.         The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: John Bradford Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Marge May Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Program Topic: The Civic Mission of Public Education (NOTE: This was an abbreviated version of Democracy Forum. Due to technical difficulties the show was 30 minutes rather than the usual 60.) Key Discussion Points: a) We discuss whether inequities in public education and the failure of public schools to prepare all children for citizenship contribute to political inequality. b) Has there been a decline in civic education? Or an evolution in what constitutes civics instruction? c) What do kids typically learn about how government and democracy work in Maine and in the United States? d) What do citizens need to learn to be effective in civic life? e) In what ways do disparities in the quality of education among school systems widen empowerment gaps between rich and poor children? Guests: Meira Levinson, Professor of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education www.gse.harvard.edu/faculty/meira-levinson Bill Richards, Maine educator and former Associate Commissioner of Instruction for Maine.    The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: John Bradford Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Program Topic: Privatizing Public Policy: Is Philanthropy Good for Democracy? Key Discussion Point: a) We discuss philanthropy, foundations, shadow networks, and the private drivers of public policy from the Koch Brothers to the Gates-inspired Giving Pledge. b) To what extent is a libertarian world-view pushing down taxes and reducing the size of government while increasing concentrations of private wealth? Has there also been an increase in charitable and public-benefit giving? c) Is private generosity displacing public dollars in supporting charitable, educational, research, and other non-governmental institutions? Has this shift in funding created a change in priorities for these dollars? d) How much of this private giving is transparent? Can we tell where the money is going and to what ends? e) Government bureaucracy has a terrible reputation for waste and fraud. Is this kind of philanthropy more effective? Does it get the job done? Could the public sector spend the money more effectively? f) Whose interests are being served? Is this good for democracy? What can citizens do? Guests: Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, Harvard University; sociology.fas.harvard.edu/people/theda-skocpol Alec MacGillis, Alec MacGillis covers politics and government for ProPublica. www.propublica.org/site/author/alec_macgillis The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: John Bradford Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Topic: Press or Propaganda: Corporate Media, a Free Press, and the Future of Democracy Key Discussion Points: -Tension between corporate, profit-motivated ownership of mainstream media and the public interest mission served by journalism in an open democracy. -What roles are old and new media playing in forming an educated electorate in 21st century America? -The long-held belief in a liberal media bias has been challenged by the success of Fox News and the like. Is this kind of POV media a new phenomenon in American journalism? Which side is winning? -What happens when the ultra-rich like Sheldon Adelson, Rupert Murdoch, and Jeffrey Bezos start buying up news outlets? -Is this good for democracy? What can citizens do? Guests: Michael Franz, Associate Professor at Bowdoin College and co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project. mikemfranz.com/ John Christie, co-founder and senior editor for the Maine Center of Public Interest Reporting. pinetreewatchdog.org/about/ The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: John Bradford Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Marge May Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Topic: Us vs Them: Is Government the Enemy Key Discussion Points: a) We’ll discuss the history and cultural origins of American attitudes toward government b) How these attitudes have evolved over time, and c) Whether these attitudes have been purposefully amplified by vested interests. Guests: Colin Woodard, award winning author and journalist www.colinwoodard.com/ Amy Fried, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine umaine.edu/polisci/faculty-and-staff/amy-fried/ The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: John Bradford Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Marge May Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Topic: Moochers and Freeloaders: Welfare for the Rich, Welfare for the Poor Key Discussion Points: a) We’ll discuss the relationship between free markets and democracy; b) Have the rules of government and markets have been rigged in favor of big money interests and corporations? c) Has populist sentiment has been played to generate resentment over welfare for the poor? d) Who is being served in American democracy today? e) What can ordinary citizen do? What policies should they support? Guests: a) Vanessa Williamson, Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution www.brookings.edu/experts/williamsonv?view=bio b) Garrett Martin, Executive Director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy MECEP Staff Bios The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Marge May Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Topic: Whose Democracy Is It? Wealth and Income Inequality, Money in Politics Key Discussion Points: a) The great American experiment in democracy was founded on the ideal of a sovereign people — government responsive to the will of the people. Does American democracy still serve that ideal? b) Are policy outcomes today more responsive to wealthy donors than to the majority voters? c) Is the new populism evident in the current presidential primaries fed by voter frustration with government? Is money in politics somehow responsible for that frustration? d) If it’s not practical or even wise to think of eliminating income and power disparities, do we even have a problem? e) What are some practical solutions? Guests: Mark Schmitt, Director of the Political Reform Program at New America www.newamerica.org/experts/mark-schmitt/ Tony Corrado, Professor of Government at Colby College www.brookings.edu/experts/corradoa?view=bio

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine     Engineer: Amy Browne Program Topic:  Political Equality: The Founding Vision, the Modern Reality Key Discussion Points: a) What do we mean when we talk about political equality? b) Was it an ideal embraced by our founding fathers? c) What did it mean to them? What does it mean to us today? d) To what extent has the founding ideal been realized or thwarted? Guests: a) Prof. Ralph Ketcham, Maxwell Professor Emeritus of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, www.maxwell.syr.edu/psc/Ketcham,_Ralph/ b) Prof. Mark Brewer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine, umaine.edu/polisci/faculty-and-staff/mark-brewer/ The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Linda Hoskins Ann Luther Marge May Pam Person Leah Taylor Linda Washburn FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters Engineer: Joel Mann Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Topic: Political Advertising and Its Effect on Voters and Elections Key Discussion Points: a) How important is political advertising in helping people learn about candidates? b) How does political advertising work and why is it worth the many millions of dollars being spent on it. c) Is it good for democracy? d) What can citizens do? Guests by name and affiliation: A) Richard R. Lau, Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, fas-polisci.rutgers.edu/lau/. B) Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication and Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, www.asc.upenn.edu/faculty/Faculty-Bio.aspx?id=129. Call In Program: No

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters Engineer: Joel Mann Program Topic: Educating Voters; Educating Citizens Key Discussion Points: a) the difference between educated voters and well-informed voters b) the role of public education in cultivating civic engagement c) what can citizens do? Guests: A) Professor Jennifer Hochschild, the Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government at Harvard University, www.gov.harvard.edu/people/faculty/jennifer-hochschild B) Elisabeth MacNamara, the 18th president of the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) and chair of the League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF), www.lwv.org/content/elisabeth-macnamara Call In Program: No Political Broadcast: No

Producer/Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters Studio Engineer: Joel Mann Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Topic: Tea Party: What Can We Learn about Civic Engagement Key Discussion Points: a) the Tea Party movement, who are its members and what do they believe; and b) the Tea Party’s impact on elections and governing, c) what it means for civic participation Guests: -Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University, www.wjh.harvard.edu/soc/faculty/skocpol -Amy Fried, Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine, umaine.edu/polisci/faculty-and-staff/amy-fried/ Call In Program: No

Producer/Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters Engineer: Amy Browne Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Topic: Wealth and income inequality in the U.S. and why it matters for democracy Key Discussion Points: a) What are the trends in wealth and income disparity? Who is affected? b) What structural or public policy factors are contributing to this trend? c) What are the consequences for democracy and the general well-being? d) What can citizens do? Guests: A) Professor Susan Feiner, Professor of Economics and Professor of Women and Gender Studies, University of Southern Maine, www.usm.maine.edu/eco/susan-feiner. B) Dr. Richard Freeman, Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics at Harvard University and director of the National Bureau of Economic Research, www.nber.org/~freeman/. Call In Program: Yes Political Broadcast: No

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters Engineer: Joel Mann (NOTE: Due to technical difficulties, this audio file is 47 mins long, and the recording starts with the show in progress) Issue: Participatory Democracy Key Discussion Points: a) Do corporations have too much power in politics and government? What is the source of their power? Campaign finance? Lobbying? How does corpororate economic power translate into political power? b) Do you think free enterprise and democracy go together? Do concerns about corporate power translate into concerns about capitalism as an economic system? c) Discuss your ideas on what is needed for a healthy democracy to work? Has our own system been healthier at other times? What would be the proper role of corporations and very wealthy individuals? What can ordinary citizens do to make things work better? Guest: Robert Monks, shareholder activist, author, and corporate governance adviser, www.ragm.com/. Call In Program: Yes

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters Engineer: Joel Mann Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Topic: Is the Two-Party System Working or Broken? Key Discussion Points: a) The role of the two-party system in federal elections b) The effects of partisan politics in the Congress c) Possible alternatives to the current system d) What can citizens do? Guests: A) Lisa Borders, co-founder of No Labels, www.nolabels.org. B) Sandy Maisel, Professor of Government at Colby College, www.colby.edu/profile/lsmaisel/. Call In Program: Yes

Issue: Participatory Democracy Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters Engineer: Amy Browne Broadcast Time: 10-11:00 a.m. Program Topic: Dysfunction in Congress: What Do We Need to Make It Work Key Discussion Points: a) What are the underlying, structural, or procedural problems that keep Congress from governing effectively: e.g., extreme partisanship, endless fundraising, erosion in the “regular order” of business, concentrated corporate and donor influence. b) What do you think are the three most important things to change: for example, redistricting, campaign finance reform, return to regular order c) What can citizens do? Guests by name and affiliation: A) Maine’s Second District Congressman, the Honorable Mike Michaud, 2nd District Congressman Mike Michaud. B) Arn Pearson, Vice President of Programs at Common Cause. Call In Program: Yes

Issue: Participatory Democracy Broadcast Time: 10-11:00 a.m. Program Topic: Free speech, corporate money, and democracy Key Discussion Points: a) The constitutional background of granting personhood to corporations and equating political spending with free speech. b) The practical outcomes for democracy. c) What can citizens do? Guests: A) Jeff Clements, co-founder of Free Speech for People and author of the book Corporations Are Not People. www.freespeechforpeople.org B) Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director of the Center for Responsive Politics. www.opensecrets.org Call In Program: Yes Political Broadcast: Yes Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters www.lwvme.org Engineer: Joel Mann

Issue: Participatory Democracy Program Name: Democracy Forum Broadcast Date: January 9, 2012 Broadcast Time: 10-11:00 a.m. Program Topic: What do we need to make our democracy work better? Key Discussion Points: a) Why do you think Congress has such a low approval rating? b) What are the systemic impediments that prevent Congress from responding to what members surely know citizens want? c) Is campaign finance reform part of the solution? What about a constitutional amendment to allow broader reform? d) Why are there so few moderates in Congress? e) Some people think the two-party system is part of the problem. They advocate solutions like open primaries or others that favor small parties. What do you think of those suggestions? f) What about revising the Senate rules to limit use of the filibuster? g) How do you view the role of the media? h) What changes would you propose? i) What can citizens do? Guests by name and affiliation: A) Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree B) Dr. Thomas E. Mann, constitutional scholar of the Brookings Institution Call In Program: Yes Political Broadcast: Yes Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters Engineer: Joel Mann