Here's the thing, voter suppression doesn't have to be the most dramatic thing.

It doesn't have to be people dragged away in handcuffs.

It doesn't have to be people with guns at polls to be effective.

It can be really effective by making voting really inconvenient at scale. Hello and welcome to the politics girl podcast. I'm your host Lee McGowan. Let's get into it.

Well, it's the first show of the new year. And what a year it's going to be. We barely made it three days into this year, and our president

was bombing Venezuela and abducting their president and wife. As someone put it so well online,

man, the FIFA Peace Prize used to mean something. But I think if this behavior tells us anything,

it's that Trump and his administration are in it for themselves, not the world order, not the

American people, themselves, and they will do anything and everything to get what they want.

This is also an election year. A year I think many of us understand is make it or break it for our

country, and for those of us paying attention, I think we understand it's not going to be as

easy as just voting these people out,

because they have no intention of ever giving up power. As today's guest, Mark Elias, wrote on New Year's Eve, this was a tough year for democracy. But as we enter 2026, we must do it with hope

and optimism. No one, as Marcus said, is coming to save us. We are it. and we don't have the luxury of giving up or becoming cynical or nihilistic. Donald Trump and his enablers want us to feel powerless and overwhelmed. They want us to feel as if they are inevitable and our resistance is futile. Mark wants you to feel the opposite, and I want you to know how he best recommends we do that.

If you don't know Mark Elias, he is an American lawyer and the founder of the Elias Law Group,

a mission-driven firm committed to helping Democrats win, citizens vote, and progressives make change.

He is also the founder of Democracy Docket, the leading progressive source for information,

analysis, and opinion about for information, analysis, and

opinion about voting rights, elections, and democracy. Mark has continued to protect our rights

and votes, even as everyone around him seems ready to capitulate. In fact, he was just

arguing on our behalf in front of the Supreme Court last month. So without further ado, please welcome

my guest, creator of Democracy Docket, founder of the Elias Law Group, and Democratic Super Lawyer Mark Elias.

...