About High Turnout Wide Margins

Co-hosts Brianna Lennon, county clerk in Boone County, Missouri and Eric Fey, director of elections in St. Louis County, Missouri, talk to subject-matter elections experts and local election administrators to ask the questions that are most meaningful to their work and talk with colleagues about how to best approach issues like voter education, cybersecurity, and integrity.

The High Turnout Wide Margins Podcast began like many things do in these modern times, as a conversation on social media back in 2020. 

Fey and Lennon originally produced the podcast themselves and then in 2022 they joined forces with KBIA, an NPR affiliate at the University of Missouri to produce the podcast. 

The second season won four prestigious awards: a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, a National Headliner Award, aPublic Media Journalist Association Award, and a Missouri Broadcasters Association Certificate of Merit.

The importance of High Turnout Wide Margins is two-fold. The first, as well as the original goal of the podcast, is to give voice to the actual people running elections at the local level. The podcast has become a must-listen for state and local elections officials and has even been used in the training of elections staff throughout the country. 

Second, HTWM educates and provides valuable insight into the process of elections for everyday voters. While voters may be aware of the electoral college, Congress, etc., this podcast draws back the curtain so that the day-to-day work of election administration can be understood more thoroughly.