The Unstoppable Vote is a limited five episode documentary podcast about the resilience of American elections and the people who run them in the face of natural and human-made disasters.
It is narrated by Books & Ballots co-host Kyle Yoder and features Books & Ballots co-host Karen Brinson Bell helping tell the story of Hurricane Helene in 2024 in Part 1.
Give it a listen, and share it with folks who have questions or worries about whether and how the amazing community of election officials across the country will meet every challenge in 2026 and every election in the future. It is truly inspiring!
Available wherever you get your podcasts, including:
Episodes
Part 1 – After the Storm
After Hurricane Helene decimated western North Carolina in 2024, election officials raced to rebuild before a national election just 39 days away. Twelve years earlier, Hurricane Sandy had done the same to New York City — this time with only eight days before the vote. What was learned during Sandy and built by election officials in the years that followed made extraordinary resilience possible after Helene.
Featuring the voices of Karen Brinson Bell of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Buncombe County elections director Corinne Duncan, and MIT election scholar Charles Stewart III.
Part 2 – Unnatural Disasters
Election Day 2024 was hit not by natural disasters but by unnatural ones—more than 200 bomb threats in polling places across the US. A week earlier, ballot drop boxes had been set on fire. If chaos was the intention, it failed—the system absorbed the disruptions so cleanly that most voters never noticed.
Featuring the voices of Gabriel Sterling of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, and CEIR Executive Director David Becker.
Part 3 – Hyperlocal
A massive fire destroys nearly every piece of voting equipment in the third largest county in the country—just 67 days before a national election.
Featuring the voice of current Harris County TX Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth and the story of former Clerk Beverly Kaufman.
Part 4 – When the Disaster is Everywhere
Despite a deadly pandemic that reached every precinct, city, and state in the middle of a presidential election, election officials in 2020 delivered the highest-turnout election in American history.
Featuring Rhode Island Director of Elections Rob Rock, Weld County, Colorado Clerk Carly Koppes, MIT’s Charles Stewart III, and CEIR’s David Becker.
Part 5 – Unstoppable
Not even a foreign army’s presence on American soil or a devastating civil war has delayed or canceled a federal general election. And for more than a century and a half, it has been a crime to deploy armed agents to the polls.
Featuring author and political scientist Donald Zinman, MIT political scientist Charles Stewart III, and CEIR Executive Director David Becker.