This series began in the past, to better understand the origin and history of our ongoing fight for voting rights. And as Turnout comes to a close, we consider its future. Where do we go from here? What lessons can we take with us, and what impact might this election have on our ongoing push for a more inclusive democracy and a more perfect union. In this last episode of Turnout with Katie Couric, we hear from some of our previous guests — including Wendy Weiser, Gilda Daniels, and Tyler Okeke — about the biggest takeaways from the 2020 election and their impact on our democracy. But first, an interview with someone whose job it is to lay a civics foundation for the next generation of voters. Greg Cruey is a middle school social studies teacher in War, West Virginia — a one-time coal mining center that is now one of the poorest areas in the country. Because Mr. Cruey explains our voting system, our elections, and our democracy to his 6th, 7th, and 8th graders each year, we wanted to hear how he might put our 2020 experience into context.

Read more about the people and organizations mentioned in this episode:

What it’s like to teach children about the election, and its results, in deep-red Trump country, by Hanna Natanson (Washington Post)

Wendy Weiser is the Vice President for Democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School

Gilda Daniels is an associate professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, as well as litigation director at Advancement Project national office and author of ‘Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America.’

Tyler Okeke is a Vote at 16 Youth Organizer with Power California and a second-year student at the University of Chicago.