Michigan is among 47 states in the U.S. that have early in-person voting this presidential election.

More than 500,000 people have voted early and in-person since it began statewide on Saturday, and more than two million votes have been cast across the state when including absentee ballots.

However, this increase in voting access is seemingly connected to a rise in mistrust of election integrity and claims of fraud.

To discuss this phenomenon, Created Equal host Stephen Henderson was joined on Wednesday by David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, and political science professor Dale Thomson.

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Becker explained that although we do not have much data on the effect of early voting access on voter turnout, early voting improves election integrity by mitigating the effects of family emergencies, technical difficulties, dangerous weather, and disinformation. He also described how some voters perceive the inclusion of more people in democracy to be inherently fraudulent and insecure, especially as they are exposed to a lot of negative rhetoric about election security. 

Thomson explained that although there is no evidence of widespread election fraud in recent years, the Trump campaign is using claims of election fraud to cast doubt on election results. He also discussed how immigrants are often targeted with claims of election fraud, even though there’s very little quantitative evidence that non-citizens are committing fraud on a wide-scale. 

“A study conducted by the [Brennan] Center for Justice analyzing almost 24 million votes across 42 jurisdictions in the 2016 general election concluded there were approximately 30 instances of non-citizens voting. So there’s data out there,” Thomson said. 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Guests:

• David Becker is the executive director for the Center for Election Innovation & Research. He’s also the author of “The Big Truth” and host of the podcast The Count.
• Dale Thomson is a professor of political science at University of Michigan – Dearborn. He is also the director of the Ottawa Internship Program.

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

Despite often being a loyal voting bloc for Democrats, Black Americans are politically diverse. Garrison Hayes, a journalist for Mother Jones and the Reveal podcast, has been spending some of this year talking to Black Republicans to determine what draws them to the GOP — and, in many cases, to Donald Trump. He joined Created Equal on Thursday to discuss the motivation behind their votes, and what they hope to gain from this election.

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Hayes explained that many of the conservative Black voters he met at the Republican National Convention aligned with the party’s flagship issues of the importance of the Second Amendment, opposition to abortion, and protection of individual freedoms. He also explained that all of them outwardly supported Trump’s candidacy and that many espoused a feeling of being taken for granted by the Democratic Party.

He also discussed a growing tide of Black conservatives and Republicans who are unwilling to vote for Trump because of his lack of racial sensitivity and his stances on issues facing Black communities.

“For many Black Republicans there is this lifecycle, where you may hold your policy ideas or your interests politically. But when those political interests come into conflict or tension with your personal racial identity interests, you often are left as a Black Republican with a decision to make,” Hayes said.

Guest: 

• Garrison Hayes is a journalist and video correspondent for Mother Jones and the Reveal podcast.

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

Teachers in classrooms are dealing with an especially tough set of circumstances. Many are dealing with the after effects of the pandemic on student mental health and taking responsibility for keeping kids safe from violence.

A panel of educational professionals joined Created Equal on Wednesday to discuss the teacher shortage in Michigan, its effect on students, and some possible solutions.

Subscribe to Created Equal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Amber Arellano, the executive director of Education Trust-Midwest, explained that many Michigan K-12 schools, especially in rural, urban, and working-class districts, are reporting difficulty in filling teaching vacancies as well as teaching staff leaving and retiring early.

Madeline Mavrogordato, an associate professor of K-12 educational administration, explained that Michigan is on the extreme low end of starting teacher salaries. This results in new teachers having to pay a wage penalty to pursue a teaching career.

In addition to legislation to increase teacher salaries, the panel emphasized the importance of guaranteeing teachers’ access to appropriate resources to support the populations represented in their classrooms and offering professional development opportunities to early-career teachers.

Armen Hratchian, the executive director at Teach for America Detroit, discussed how the shortage could be mitigated by investing in school and district leadership.

“It’s not just about the educator, it’s those leaders who are creating conditions for educators to thrive,” Hratchian said.

Guests:  

• Madeline Mavrogordato is an associate professor of K-12 educational administration at Michigan State University.
• Armen Hratchian is the executive director at Teach for America Detroit.
• Amber Arellano is the executive director of the Education Trust-Midwest, a nonpartisan education research and policy nonprofit.

When Donald Trump says, “Make America Great Again,” what era is he referring to and which demographic is he appealing to?

Robert P. Jones, author of the New York Times bestselling book “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy,” argues that the slogan is aimed at white Christian voters who fear a lose of cultural control.

Subscribe to Created Equal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

He joined Created Equal to discuss how white Christian nationalism has steered U.S. history and politics. Jones detailed the hidden roots of white supremacy in American society; defined white Christian Nationalism and revealed its anti-democratic nature; and gave his thoughts on what needs to be done to move toward a country that truly values all its citizens equally.

“We’re living in a real moment of reckoning, and part of that reckoning is telling the truth about what happened,” Jones said.

Jones will be giving a talk on democracy, social values and the American story at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 23-24, at the University of Detroit Mercy.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Jones.

Guest:

• Robert P. Jones is the founder of the Public Religion Research Institute and author of “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future.”

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

Jeremy Hobson is the host of The Middle, a National Public Radio call-in show about the geographic middle of our country and how it’s overlooked, but it also reaches into the realm of politics and culture and philosophy to find places where Americans can connect.  

Subscribe to Created Equal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

He joined Created Equal to help define the American Middle and discuss how it’s perceived, the impact of social media on our national discourse, and the important election issues to watch out for.

Later this week, Hobson will join Ian Hanomansing — co-host of CBC Radio’s The National and host of Cross-Country Check-Up — at WDET Studios for a live, international call-in version of Cross Country Check Up and The Middle. 

The broadcast, titled America Votes: A Cross-Border Conversation, will air across Canada and the U.S. from 4-6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, pre-empting WDET’s regular programming.

Guest: 

• Jeremy Hobson is the host of the NPR call-in show The Middle and the former host of Here and Now and the Marketplace Morning Report. 

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

The two major-party candidates for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat faced off in a substantive, sometimes combative debate hosted by WXYZ-TV on Monday.

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Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin and former Republican congressman Mike Rogers debated issues including education, immigration, abortion and electric vehicles. It was the final scheduled U.S. Senate debate of the election season.

Dennis Darnoi, a political consultant, says this election is uniquely focused on the two candidates’ principles instead of their party affiliations with President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump. 

“Both of them have long records upon which to run, they have reputations within the party and within the state. So, it’s not as if they are new candidates that no one’s ever heard of,” Darnoi said.

Slotkin and Rogers are vying for the open seat to replace longtime Michigan U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who is retiring at the end of her fourth term.

Guests: 

• Dennis Darnoi is a political consultant for Densar Consulting. 

• Zoe Clark is the political director at Michigan Public. 

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.