EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK: We’re participating in Democracy Day!

On Sept. 15, TCB, along with dozens of other news outlets across the country, will be participating in Democracy Day, a collaboration between newsrooms who promise to publish stories relating to elections, democracy and voting.

We’ve been hard at work interviewing, collecting data and writing about first-time voters, how childcare affects voting, voting while unhoused and more. In fact, we’ve already published a few stories here and here.

As a democracy-focused publication, it’s important to us to share information and stories that shed light on the real impacts that voting has on people’s lives and what people are thinking about as they cast their votes. It’s also important for us to share the barriers that can keep people from voting.

So on Sept. 30, we’re also hosting our first election event of the season — Elections 101!

We’re inviting the two county Board of Elections directors to come and talk to readers and the community about the voting process, how ballots are printed, how they’re counted, how to vote absentee and more.

We’re also planning future election events for next month so stay tuned.

We’re excited about our direction of voter-focused coverage and hope you’ll read the stories and join us for the event.

As Judge William H. Hastie, the first Black man to serve as the governor of the US Virgin Islands said, “Democracy is a process, not a static condition. It is becoming, rather than being. It can easily be lost, but never is fully won. Its essence is eternal struggle.”

It takes all of us to uphold this thing we call democracy, and it’s on us to be a part of the struggle.