2024 is going to be a big year in politics. There are local and state elections and a much-anticipated presidential election. In July, Milwaukee will host the Republican National Convention, drawing the world's attention to Wisconsin and its role as a swing state.
As a public radio station situated in one of the most-watched cities this election year, how can we best serve our community?
Over the past two years, members of the WUWM team have participated in trainings with Election SOS, Advancing Democracy and Hearken about how to better engage with and serve communities through our journalism.
WUWM plans to utilize that training with a number of special projects this year.
Our mission for election coverage is to equip Milwaukee-area residents to make decisions and affect change. We want to answer your election questions and help you better understand the people around you. Here's what we're working on.
Election survey
We've created a simple election survey to gather information about how Wisconsinites are feeling ahead of the presidential election in November, as well as local elections. We also have space on the survey for you to submit election questions.
The responses to the survey will be key in driving our coverage. We'll answer your questions, pursue stories based on issues you care about and ask candidates to respond to your concerns.
We're also using the survey to connect directly with voters for interviews — but it is up to you whether to participate.
Voter roundtables
WUWM plans to hold roundtable discussions, talking to groups of voters in depth. We want to hear from Wisconsin residents about what's driving their voting decisions.
People are complex, and you can't always show that complexity in a typical radio story. That's why we're organizing roundtables — to dig into what Wisconsinites are thinking, and hopefully to help people with different views understand each other a little better.
Those conversations will be broadcast on Lake Effect and shared online.
Voter Guide
As we've done in years past, WUWM is putting together online voter guides ahead of the spring and fall primaries and general elections.
The voter guides include information on how to vote, in English and Spanish, information about candidates and answers to your election questions.
Explainer stories
We've received a lot of questions through our election survey, and one way we plan to answer them is through stories and interviews with experts to explain the answers.
For example, the questions we've received about redistricting led to a weekly Lake Effect series and liveblog about where the fight to redraw Wisconsin's electoral maps stands.
We're also working on explainers about what's on the Feb. 20 primary ballot, what you need to know about the mechanics of voting and more.
Community-informed stories
Through our election survey, we're hearing from people about topics they're interested in: get-out-the-vote efforts and election integrity, for example.
We're looking for trends in what people want to know and are planning stories based on those topics.
With all of these projects in the works, we hope our election coverage is more useful, and more nuanced, in 2024.
To help inform our coverage, please fill out our election survey or email wuwmnews@uwm.edu.
