On this edition of Call’s Media Roundtable, we're discussing a ProPublica investigation that explores how new voting restrictions could make it harder for people with low literacy skills to exercise their right to vote.
Nearly 48 million Americans, including those with disabilities and those who have not learned English, struggle to read. ProPublica analyzed voter turnout in 3,000 counties and found that places with lower estimated literacy rates tended to also have lower turnout.
Reporters Aliyya Swaby and Annie Waldman write, "This is not only an individual hardship but a societal crisis. We wanted to look at the root causes that make reading inaccessible for so many people."
Guests:
Aliyya Swaby, reporter in ProPublica’s South unit covering children, families and social inequality
Annie Waldman, reporter with ProPublica covering education. In 2018, she contributed to the “Lost Mothers” series, which investigated the high rate of maternal mortality in the United States. This series won the 2018 Goldsmith Prize for investigative reporting, received a George Polk Award, a Peabody and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for explanatory reporting.
Web Resources:
ProPublica: For Helping Voters Who Can’t Read, She’s Been Criminally Charged — Twice. That Hasn’t Stopped Her.
ProPublica: New Voting Restrictions Could Make It Harder for 1 in 5 Americans to Vote
ProPublica: The Fight Against an Age-Old Effort to Block Americans From Voting
ABC: Georgia early midterms voting so far surpassing 2020 presidential election
