Why was there in-person voting in Wisconsin during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic? Was the election legitimate? In this podcast episode of Free and Fair with Franita and Foley, election scholars Ned Foley and Franita Tolson analyze the partisanship and polarization that contributed to the state’s fraught primary, and how other states can do better in their upcoming elections.

About the show: Will the U.S. have a free and fair election in 2020? In the days leading up to Nov. 3 this podcast breaks down complex legal issues for listeners who care about democracy and elections. Election scholars Edward Foley (Ohio State University Moritz College of Law) and Franita Tolson (University of Southern California Gould School of Law) focus on the integrity and health of our democratic process. This podcast is a collaboration between OSU Moritz College of Law and USC Gould School of Law.

Franita Tolson

USC Gould School of Law

Franita Tolson is the Vice Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs, and Professor of Law at USC Gould School of Law. She joined the law school in June 2017. Her scholarship and teaching are focused on the areas of election law, constitutional law, legal history and employment discrimination. She has written on a wide range of topics including partisan gerrymandering, campaign finance reform, the Elections Clause, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Her forthcoming book, In Congress We Trust?: The Evolution of Federal Voting Rights Enforcement from the Founding to the Present, will be published in 2020 by Cambridge University Press.

Edward B. Foley

Reporter, Principles of the Law, Election Administration

Edward Foley (known as “Ned”) directs Election Law @ Moritz at Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law, where he also holds the Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law. His book, Presidential Elections and Majority Rule (Oxford University Press, 2020), excavates the long-forgotten philosophical premises of how the Electoral College is supposed to work. His 2016 book, Ballot Battles: The History of Disputed Elections in the United States, was named Finalist for the David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Legal History and listed as one of 100 “must-read books about law and social justice.” While Foley has special expertise on the topics of recounts and provisional ballots, he has also co-authored the casebook, Election Law and Litigation: The Judicial Regulation of Politics (Aspen 2014), which covers all aspects of election law.

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