ONLINE: The Electoral Process

press release: As the U.S. presidential election approaches, it often seems like the real issues get buried amid sound bites and campaign promises. Nationally renowned experts from UW–Madison will discuss the key issues in a livestream event. This series is free, but registration is required to get the access link.

Katherine Cramer will be the moderator for this program. She is a professor of political science and the Natalie C. Holton Chair of Letters & Science. Her work focuses on the way people in the United States make sense of politics and their place in it. She is known for her innovative approach to the study of public opinion, in which she uses methods like inviting herself into the conversations of groups of people to listen to the way they understand public affairs. Her award-winning book, The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker, brought to light rural resentment toward cities and its implications for contemporary politics, and was a go-to source for understanding votes in the 2016 presidential election (University of Chicago Press, 2016).

Her guests include:

Barry Burden, professor of political science, director of the Elections Research Center, and the Lyons Family Chair in Electoral Politics. His research and teaching are based in American politics, with an emphasis on electoral politics and representation. He is coeditor of The Measure of American Elections, author of Personal Roots of Representation, and coauthor of Why Americans Split Their Tickets: Campaigns, Competition, and Divided Government.

Michael Wagner, professor and the Louis A. Maier Faculty Development Fellow in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. His research, teaching, and service are animated by the question, “How well does democracy work?” Wagner approaches this question from a variety of perspectives, incorporating into his work the study of political communication, political parties, journalism, public opinion, political psychology, political behavior, religion and politics, the presidency, and biology.

Robert Yablon, assistant professor of law and an affiliate of the Elections Research Center. His research interests include political and election law, constitutional law, federal courts, and statutory interpretation. Following law school, Professor Yablon served as a law clerk for Judge William Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.

This series is presented by the Wisconsin Alumni Association in partnership with the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Elections Research Center. The Elections Research Center fosters cutting-edge academic analysis of national and state elections to further the scholarly understanding of factors that influence voter decision-making and election outcomes.

When: Monday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. CDT

Where: Real Town Hall: uwalumni.com/event/uw-electoral-process/