In this episode, Mara encourages listeners to think about what democracy-- or rather, the absence of democracy--feels like. They ask what it means to nurture and sustain hope in an era of democratic decline.

Their guest, Pamela (Pam) Smith, the CEO and president of Verified Voting, offers answers and gentle perspective to these questions, and so much more, in her own democracy biography.

"To vote is to be a part of something bigger than yourself."

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To learn more about Verified Voting, check out the following links!

-Website: verifiedvoting.org for resources and tools that help explain how votes are cast and counted.

-The Verifier verifiedvoting.org/verifier, a tool that lets you explore voting equipment usage and post-election audit requirements across the country going back to 2006

-An in-house database of voting equipment at verifiedvoting.org/equipmentdb provides extensive information on the equipment used to cast – and count – votes.