Communiqué

THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE,

“ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE?”

PREMIERES SEPTEMBER 30 at 10:00 pm

ON PBS’S INDEPENDENT LENS

New Documentary “One Person, One Vote?” Unveils the Complexities of the Electoral College, From Origins in Slavery to Today

Pulling the curtain back on the Electoral College and examining the system that governs presidential elections in the United States, “One Person, One Vote?”, will premiere on INDEPENDENT LENS on September 30, 2024, ahead of the 2024 presidential election. The Electoral College documentary follows Derrick Wilburn, a Republican activist and founder of the Rocky Mountain Black Conservatives; Polly Baca, a Mexican-American Democratic Party elder; Patricia McCracken, a student and first- time voter affiliated with the Green Party; Kit Maclean, a humorous yet bona fide elector for Kanye West; and Dean Jelani Cobb, an expert in film and staff writer at The New Yorker, while providing historical context by exploring the Electoral College’s origins in slavery. “One Person, One Vote?” offers a nonpartisan understanding of the institution, revealing its origins in a bygone era and its centrality to questions of the modern day.

“One Person, One Vote?” debuts on PBS’s INDEPENDENT LENS on September 30, 2024, at 10 p.m. The film will be available to stream on the PBS App.

Directed and produced by Maximina Juson, produced by Daresha Kyi, and co-produced by Christie Herring, the film dissects the uniquely American and often misunderstood mechanism for electing a president, the Electoral College. An array of voices throughout the film representing all sides of current electoral college events is intercut with commentary from dynamic subject matter experts including Lead Historian Dr. Paul Finkelman, Columbia School of Journalism Dean Jelani Cobb, and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Carol Anderson, who place the Electoral College in its historical context.

Visit the “One Person, One Vote?” page on INDEPENDENT LENS to learn more about the film.