As The South Votes: The Podcast

Since the end of Reconstruction, voter suppression has been a tool of white supremacy in the South.

With new political maps in place that are likely to limit the Black vote, we face more of the same in the 2022 election. That's why Scalawag and Anoa Changa are teaming back up for a new podcast series covering Southern communities working to drive change at the ballot box and beyond.

Southern organizers know the monumental challenges their communities face. Through micro-interventions, these groups are providing a home base for community members to feel connected and supported as they take on entrenched power systems.

In the new 2022 season of As The South Votes, we talk about what's working, what's not, and what lessons Southern organizers have learned in their efforts to make the region we love a more just place.

Listen to the episodes:

How we organize around elections: Lessons from Mississippi organizers

As The South Votes, Episode 1. For Southern electoral and civic engagement organizers, there is no off-cycle.

Catching up with Mississippi Votes about what it means to organize young leaders to shift the balance of power in a state still combating deeply entrenched white supremacist power.

Listen to the episode.

How we fight gerrymandering in the South

As The South Votes, Episode 2. What gerrymandering looks like in the South—and what we can do about it before it's too late.

Putting redistricting in context, with a spotlight on the legal challenges to some highly questionable maps that have been allowed to go into effect for the upcoming election.

Listen to the episode.

How we build political power: Lessons from Texas and Florida organizers

As The South Votes, Episode 3. Instead of simply focusing on get-out-the-vote campaigns behind particular candidates, these groups are building for the long haul.

Organizers in Texas and Florida share what it means to build power outside of traditional electoral campaigns.

Listen to the episode.

How we save ourselves: Interventions beyond the ballot box

As The South Votes, Episode 4. 'Don't boo, just vote' is a tired refrain. It takes more than an election to save ourselves—let alone Democracy.

Groups that employ continued, year-round civic engagement in the South walk us through the connection between electoral power and creating real opportunities for our communities to thrive.

Listen to the episode.

As The South Votes: Live midterm election results

Follow along with live-updated maps for all U.S. House and Senate midterm elections by state—and check out Scalawag's deeper reporting about voting, electoral justice, and organizing in the South.

November 8, 2022November 8, 2022

If you want to get involved with electoral action, As The South Votes is the resource you need, whether you're just getting started or have been on the frontlines for years.

Together, we can expand who thinks of themselves as an organizer, and build collective power across the South. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to join us in this work.

Further reporting:

The Dems think they're entitled to the youth vote. They aren't.

This political moment calls for us to see beyond what generations before us have deemed possible and escape the hamster wheel of political viability. More importantly, it will require young people to become architects of the society we deserve and continue to be defiant to the status quo, which includes saying goodbye to the broken…

Election myths "The Left" tells (about) the South

It is, after all, the subjugation of the Black South through slavery, eugenics, and Jim Crow legal doctrine that inspired the likes of Hitler and the architects of South African apartheid. To stop the spread of fascism, one would have to stop America. Neither party is interested in stopping fascism.

Mel Manuel hopes to unseat ultra-conservative Rep. Steve Scalise

Manuel's key platform issues include universal basic income, a single payer health system, reproductive rights, gun control, environmental protections, investing in public education, and equality for everyone—with a focus on people of color, women and the LGBTQ+ community.

We Are The BreadCrumbs: What Trans Alabamians Already Know About The Election

"The point is that even 'progressive' candidates have also proceeded to do what Alabama legislators have continuously strategized in the past four years: to make the rights and healthcare of transgender folks a topic to be questioned when it shouldn't be questioned in the first place. Waiting around for candidates to see trans folks as…

Annunciation House and the Illegal Humanitarian

How anti-migrant sentiment and false narratives are shaping border work

Senate Bill 4, the proposed legislation introduced the day before the Annunciation House lawsuit, would change the landscape of humanitarian work at the border and shift some of the legal pretenses of Paxton and his allies into legal reality.

On Being Undocumented in Houston's Gaza Solidarity Student Movement

I have had years to acclimate to the helpless rage that comes with my legal status. But as we approach this election, among the fear and worry, there is something new.