Notes from America

In this episode of Notes From America, Elaine Kamarck, a Brookings Institution expert on electoral politics, discusses her research on how to vote safely during a pandemic, what else might keep U.S. citizens from voting on November 3rd, and what you can do about that. This is part 1 of 2 of a mini series about the upcoming U.S. election. We recorded the interview in mid-July.
Guest:Elaine Kamarck, expert on electoral politics and Director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution. Have a look at her report Voting by mail in a pandemic: A state-by-state scorecard: https://www.brookings.edu/research/voting-by-mail-in-a-pandemic-a-state-by-state-scorecard/ 
These are a few useful links to help you vote:
The ACLU’s How to Vote Guide
https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/voting-rights/
Vote.org for quick voter registration, info on deadlines, etc. www.vote.org 
At Ballotpedia, you can look up who will be on your ballot https://ballotpedia.org/Sample_Ballot_Lookup
At Vote Smart you can look up a candidate’s bio, donors, and positions on a range of issues  https://justfacts.votesmart.org/

And, as promised, here's a picture of the very first oddly shaped election district - and the story behind the original Gerrymander https://www.gilderlehrman.org/news/elbridge-gerry-and-original-gerrymander