The Electorette Podcast

What happens if your mail ballot is picked up by USPS… but never actually delivered?

In this episode of The Margin — a midterm election coverage collaboration between The Electorette and URL Media — Jen Taylor-Skinner speaks with ACLU attorney Theresa J. Lee about the Trump administration’s executive order targeting mail-in voting and the ACLU’s legal challenge against it.

Lee explains how the executive order could direct federal agencies to create citizenship verification lists using flawed federal databases, potentially impacting mail-in and absentee voting for eligible citizens across the country.

The conversation explores:• the SAVE system vs. the SAVE Act• the constitutional questions surrounding the executive order• Section 11 of the Voting Rights Act• polling place closures and voter suppression• risks for disabled voters, military families, and overseas voters• and whether the courts are likely to block the order before the 2026 midterms

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#VotingRights #ACLU #MailInVoting #Midterms2026 #Election2026 #Democracy #TheElectorette #TheMargin
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Nikki Fried on organizing, voter suppression, and rebuilding Democratic infrastructure.

Florida has become shorthand for Republican dominance — but Nikki Fried says the national media narrative is missing what’s happening on the ground.

In this episode, Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried joins Jen Taylor-Skinner to discuss Florida’s newly drawn congressional maps following the Supreme Court’s decision weakening Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the legal battle over partisan gerrymandering, and why Fried believes Republicans may have unintentionally created more competitive districts.

They also discuss the disconnect between online political discourse and real-world organizing, why Democrats need to invest in long-term infrastructure instead of last-minute campaign spending, and what recent Democratic wins in Florida could signal about the state’s future.

Later in the conversation, Fried discusses Florida’s controversial immigrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” the political incentives behind it, and what she describes as a broader culture of privatization, corruption, and democratic erosion under Republican leadership in the state.

Topics include:

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act

Gerrymandering and Florida’s congressional maps

Democratic organizing strategy

Year-round infrastructure vs. campaign spending

Florida’s changing political landscape

Immigration detention and “Alligator Alcatraz”

Media narratives vs. on-the-ground politics

The future of Democratic politics in the South

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Last week, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Louisiana v. Callais that could fundamentally alter the future of voting rights in the United States.

In this episode of The Electorette, host Jen Taylor-Skinner speaks with Sophia Lin Lakin, Director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, about what the Court’s ruling means in practice. At the center of the decision is Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act—the key provision used for decades to challenge maps that dilute the political power of Black voters and other voters of color.

Together, they examine how the Court reshaped Section 2 without formally overturning it, why the ruling could make it significantly harder to challenge racial vote dilution, and what this means for representation at every level of government. The conversation also explores the immediate consequences already unfolding in states like Louisiana, where elections have been halted and maps are being redrawn mid-cycle, creating confusion for voters and administrators alike.

As Lakin explains, the implications extend far beyond a single case—touching congressional races, state legislatures, and local elections, just months before the midterms.
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Across the world, women are leading—often outside traditional systems of power and often without recognition. At the same time, women’s rights are under pressure, making that leadership even more consequential.

For nearly three decades, Vital Voices has identified and invested in women leaders tackling some of the world’s toughest challenges.

In this episode of The Electorette, Alyse Nelson, President and CEO of Vital Voices, joins host Jen Taylor-Skinner to discuss what women bring to leadership, how those approaches differ, and why many of the solutions we need may already exist—if they’re recognized.
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Amanda Litman on local power, political messaging, and rebuilding the Democratic bench

At a moment when national politics feels stalled and increasingly disconnected from everyday life, something very different is happening at the local level.

In this episode of The Electorette, Jen Taylor-Skinner speaks with Amanda Litman, cofounder of Run for Something, about why Democrats are seeing success in down-ballot races—even as dysfunction persists in Washington. Litman argues that local candidates are able to do something national leaders often struggle with: communicate clearly, connect directly with voters, and deliver tangible results.

The conversation explores the limits of policy without messaging, the importance of candidates who can effectively “sell” their work, and why communication is not secondary to governing—it’s central to it. Litman also outlines Run for Something’s long-term strategy of building a new generation of leaders from the ground up, many of whom are already moving into higher office.

At the heart of the discussion is a larger question about political identity and direction: what replaces the “old normal” that many voters rejected, and what does it take to build something durable in its place?

This is a conversation about power—where it’s shifting, who’s building it, and what it means for the future of the Democratic Party.
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