Is Common Ground Possible When It Comes to Trustworthy Elections?

In my volunteer role with Braver Angels, I recently helped organize a Boston workshop for citizens from both sides of the political aisle. One participant observed that people have reached a point where, “we trust social media more than our neighbors” but, after much discussion, participants came to agreement on a number of points. These included the need for transparency, counting all votes on election day, high school civics courses, having an educational voting curriculum/campaign, using paper ballots, and remedies to manage long lines when they happen.

Comments at the end included: “I am feeling like we are all Americans,” “We agreed on more things that I would have thought, and people in this room were hungry,” “I am more hopeful about the future, that reds and blues can talk to each other,” and “We both love the country and can work together.”

Braver Angels (https://braverangels.org/) is a national citizens movement that brings Americans together to bridge the partisan divide and strengthen our democratic republic. You can read more about this workshop in this recent publication:  https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/whats-behind-our-common-ground-workshop/.