Tweak the Vote

Radiolab • October 18, 2024

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Guests

Guest Role Confidence Extraction Method Actions
Rob Richie Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow
Don Saari Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow
Diana Leygerman Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow
Caroline Tolbert Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow
Bobby Agee Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow
Edward Still Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow
Jim Blacksher Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow
Allen Caton Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow
Nikolas Bowie Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow
John Hale Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow
Anna Luhrmann Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow
Rick Pickren Guest 85% LLM Login to Follow

Description

Back in 2018, when this episode first aired, there was a feeling that democracy was on the ropes.  In the United States and abroad, citizens of democracies are feeling increasingly alienated, disaffected, and powerless.  Some are even asking themselves a question that feels almost too dangerous to say out loud: is democracy fundamentally broken?  

Today on Radiolab, we ask a different question: how do we fix it?  We scrutinize one proposed tweak to the way we vote that could make politics in this country more representative, more moderate, and most shocking of all, more civil.  Could this one surprisingly do-able mathematical fix really turn political campaigning from a rude bloodsport to a campfire singalong? And even if we could do that, would we want to?

Special thanks to Rob Richie (and everyone else at Fairvote), Don Saari, Diana Leygerman, Caroline Tolbert, Bobby Agee, Edward Still, Jim Blacksher, Allen Caton, Nikolas Bowie, John Hale, and Anna Luhrmann and the rest of the team at the Varieties of Democracy Institute in Sweden.

And a very special thanks to Rick Pickren, for allowing us to use his rendition of State of Maine, Maine’s state anthem. Check that out, and all his other state anthems on Spotify or Youtube.

EPISODE CREDITS: 
Reported by - Latif Nasser, Simon Adler, Sarah Qari, Suzie Lechtenberg and Tracie Hunte
Produced by - Simon Adler, Matt Kielty, Sarah Qari, and Suzie Lechtenberg
Original music and sound design contributed by - Simon Adler

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