Filmmaker to share ‘untold story of the Electoral College’ with Badger Club
In 1984 I had the wonderful opportunity to spend part of the year working in England.
Not only did I experience life in a different country, but I was delightfully out of the country during a presidential election. However, the day after the election I found myself needing, and failing, to explain the Electoral College to totally baffled friends and acquaintances.
Although I knew a good deal about it, Maximina Juson’s documentary “One Person One Vote?” confirms that a good part of my understanding of the electoral college was incomplete and some parts wrong.
Independent film maker Maximina Juson will share “the untold story of the Electoral College” at the December 12 Columbia Basin Badger Club Forum.
Her documentary “One Person, One Vote?” describes how the Electoral College works, why it was established, and how it impacts our elections. One film review had the lead “Finally, a film that explains the Electoral College in an engaging way” commenting that “Not only is Juson’s documentary non-partisan to a refreshing degree, but it is also big hearted and even humorous at times.”
As described in the film, the origin of the Electoral College arises from smaller population states being afraid of being controlled by larger population states.
Although southern states had about the same population as northern states, 1/3 of the population was enslaved and not entitled to vote.
The Electoral College was an uneasy compromise that allowed the constitution to be sent to the states for ratification. The college has impacted, in multiple ways, the history of our country, including the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
During her Badger Club presentation Ms. Juson will outline the highlights of her film and answer questions including her experiences on January 6.
Forum participants are encouraged to watch the documentary before the meeting. It was shown on PBS program “Independent Lens: One Person, One Vote” on Monday, Sept. 30 on PBS and remains available to stream via the PBS App and PBS’ YouTube channel.
Juson says her debut feature is informed by her being the child of a peacekeeper. “My mom worked for United Nations peacekeeping mission,” she said. “I went to the UN school, and I graduated inside the UN headquarters.”
This background informs the push for understanding reflected in “One Person, One Vote,” which resists what might be a common urge among documentarians to paint one party as less reasonable than the other.
Maximina Juson is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of HUMovies, a film production company in Los Angeles. Her debut feature film, One Person, One Vote? is a National Endowment for the Humanities grant recipient that world premiered at the Pan African Film Festival, taking home the Programmers’ Award for Best Documentary Feature.