She grew up watching her dad, Tom Hofeller, do his thing as a political operative and mapmaker. When he died in 2018, Stephanie found a series of documents that have become the “Smoking Gun,” lifting the veil on voter suppression tactics. “I remember him explaining that if we take control of the state legislatures, we'll get the redistricting. I said that's brilliant. You know that it's going to destroy the Republic, right?”

A Peruvian immigrant who became an American after living through a childhood governed by dictators, Maria represents all of us and the promise of American democracy. She holds a mirror up to the great American experiment and tells us point blank: “this is not how democracies are supposed to work.”

At at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice Allison focuses on fighting for fair maps, against voter suppression, and works to expand access to voting. “Voters have a right to choose their representatives, not have the representatives choose the voters. Democracy doesn’t work if we don’t say some things are out of bounds.”

An historian, author and educator with a focus on systemic racism, Carol is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University. “This is a war for America's soul. That's how I see what this fight for the right to vote is – that the people will be heard and the people will win.”

A neurologist whose political hobby is tracking elections and analyzing political maps. Sam founded the Princeton Gerrymandering Project and the Electoral Innovation Lab which applies law, science and math to strengthening U.S. democracy. “It would be nice if math could save democracy.”

A moderate Republican with a soft spot for environmental issues, Chuck was part of a bi-partisan group advocating for independent redistricting. "We've cut out the middle of the political spectrum. People are complaining about the system being broke in Washington and what I'm trying to tell them is it's broken in North Carolina.”

A scholar, academic and advisor specializing in democracy, elections and governance, Kareem is focused on the relationship between race and politics in representative institutions. “We are becoming a much more diverse country than we ever have been. There are people who just are either uncertain, afraid of, or resistant to that truth.”

As Executive Director of Common Cause North Carolina, Bob has fought tirelessly against partisan gerrymandering. Much of his time is spent building statewide grassroots campaigns for good-government reforms. “Folks are so divided, they have no incentive to reach across the aisle and compromise, and It can be gridlock.”

Ari is a senior reporter at Mother Jones, whose stories have appeared in The Nation magazine, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian. He wrote Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America. “The will of the people is not being translated into political power. We are moving toward a point where America might not be a democracy. That was unthinkable ten years ago.”

Sarah is co-founder of Defending Democracy Together and is the publisher of The Bulwark. She’s committed to solving some of the country’s most intractable problems through cross-partisan coalitions. “There are easy things we can do to fix voting rights. But that assumes that you have two parties who want every eligible voter to be able to vote. Right now, we have one party that does not want every eligible voter to vote.”

A “Lincoln Republican” who has spent his career championing voting rights, Michael is the former Lt. Governor of Maryland. He was Chairman of the RNC during the pivotal 2010 election, which saw a record turnover for the Republican Party in both federal and state legislations. “Don’t tell me the vote doesn’t matter. If it didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be trying to change the rules.”

Mike is a Senior Fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists and an associate professor of political science and public policy at California Polytechnic State University. “State legislatures are now using the gerrymandering process to effectively control the composition of Congress, which is in direct violation of our most basic constitutional principles.”