# The Ballot Balancing Act

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/beyond-the-polls-with-henry-olsen-1207991/the-ballot-balancing-act
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/beyond-the-polls-with-henry-olsen-1207991/the-ballot-balancing-act.md
Podcast: [Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen](https://stenobird.com/podcast/beyond-the-polls-with-henry-olsen-1207991)
Published: 2026-06-25T18:58:43+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-ballot-balancing-act--72692684
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.blubrry.com/3808868/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72692684/beyond_the_polls_131.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/beyond-the-polls-with-henry-olsen-1207991/episodes/the-ballot-balancing-act
Duration seconds: 3230

## Resource

Americans all rightly make a great deal about our democracy. But the partisan element sets in quickly, and the incessant debate extends even beyond the candidates and initiatives on the ballot. Stephen Richer (a fellow of the Cato Institute and Harvard Kennedy School and former Maricopa County recorder) joins Henry to discuss past and contemporary efforts to address fundamental concerns about voting access and election integrity. Plus, we take two bites out of the Big Apple for this week's rant and ad of the week. Mayor Mamdani and his team of Democratic Socialists of America members won big on Tuesday, and Henry frames this wave in a historical context at the top and ends with a close look at how this group applied digital media savvy to get its shot at influencing the future.

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## Transcript

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