Richard Chew is joined by Emily Williams, host of the Webby Award-winning podcast "Beyond Voting." The conversation focused on voter engagement, civic education, and sustaining political participation beyond elections. 

Here are a few key points from the conversation:
- Williams described the Chicago: Are We Voting? campaign, a collaboration between Beyond Voting and Queer News Podcast that connects with Chicagoans about voting plans, key issues, and barriers to participation.
- In conversations with Chicagoans Williams has found that people generally understand the stakes of the midterms, plan to vote, and want to encourage others to participate.

"Because of the extreme circumstances that we have encountered over the last two years as a country," she told WCPT, "people have a better sense of how government works and what needs to change. People are rallying around term limits; people feel a lot of conviction that we have to instate term limits for our members of Congress, also on the Supreme Court. People are feeling even more conviction around Medicare for all, for example, ensuring that people can actually benefit from our government's programs and their policymaking, because over the last two years, people have really felt as though the everyday American has not benefited from American policy. And so there's a lot of conviction about that. And what I've also found is that people are also feeling as though they want to connect with other Chicagoans, with other Americans, and encourage them to vote, encourage them to get out and make their voices heard." 

- Williams emphasized that Gen Z is not necessarily disengaged but often feels unprepared to participate in democracy; weakened civics education has contributed to this gap.
- Voters, she said, should verify registration and polling locations, review the full ballot, research candidates and judges, and understand local ordinances before voting.

Catch "Chew's Views with Richard Chew” weekdays from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/chews-views).

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