Suffragists fought hard for the vote. They also knew that gaining access to the ballot was not the end of the struggle for political representation. This week Amended host Laura Free introduces a special episode from Civics 101, a podcast about how democracy works, to help us understand what a vote really means. The United States is a representative democracy. The idea is that we’re a government by the people (we vote officials into office) and for the people (the officials in office are supposed to represent our interests). But Civics 101 hosts Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice learn that it’s not so straightforward around here. Our guides to American voting are Nazita Lajevardi, author of Outsides at Home, Kim Wehle, author of What You Need to Know About Voting and Why, and Andrea Hailey, CEO of vote.org.  Visit amendedpodcast.com for a transcript of this episode and additional resources. Listen to Civic Action: Voting, Part 2 here (or wherever you get your podcasts).  Civics 101 Credits: This episode of Civics 101 was produced by Hannah McCarthy with Nick Capodice. The staff includes Jackie Fulton and Felix Poon. Erica Janik is the Executive Producer. Maureen McMurray is the Head of Content Development. Music in this episode by Silicon Transmitter, Patrick Patrikios, Jesse Gallagher, Astron and The Mini Vandals. Voting and educational resources available at civics101podcast.org. Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and is a production of NHPR, New Hampshire Public Radio. The Amended Team: Production Company: Humanities New York Laura Free, Host & Writer Reva Goldberg, Producer, Editor & Co-Writer Scarlett Rebman, Project Director Kordell K. Hammond Nicholas MacDonald Joseph Murphy Sara Ogger  Antonio Pontón-Núñez Michael Washburn Art by Simonair Yoho For this bonus episode of Amended: Audio Editor and Mixer: Logan Romjue  Music: Michael-John Hancock, Live Footage and Emily Sprague Amended is produced with major funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and with support from Baird Foundation, Susan Strauss, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Phil Lewis & Catherine Porter, and C. Evan Stewart. Copyright Humanities New York 2020