The Improvement Association - Trailer

Hey there, Serial listeners, it's Sarah Koenig.

I want to tell you about our newest show from the team here at Serial Productions.

It's called The Improvement Association.

Zoe Chase is the reporter.

You might know Zoe's voice from This American Life.

She's the one telling political stories that are so entertaining,

you forget their political stories,

which I guess tells you what I think of most political stories.

But Zoe's stories, always a lot of fighting,

a lot of strong, specific personalities. They're fun.
This one's no different. It deals with election fraud, or really accusations of election fraud.
The whole story takes place in this rural county in North Carolina, Bladen County. And not to get grandiose, but for me, watching what unfolded there over the past 10 years was like a portal to understanding our current situation as a country.
You can listen to all five episodes of the Improvement Association right now. They're right here on your serial feed.
So convenient. Here's Zoe with a trailer.
If you know Bladen County, North Carolina, it's probably for its high-profile election-related corruption. So you were filling in the ovals and voting for other people, right? Yes, sir.
You were voting other people's ballots. Yes, sir.
Right. I assume you knew that it was not legal to vote other people's ballots.
Right. We were paid to do.
I understand you, but you were paid to do something that you knew was wrong. Yes, sir.

In 2018, Republican Mark Harris beat out his Democratic opponent for a congressional seat,

only to have the victory reversed after his campaign was investigated for absentee ballot fraud.

Democrats like to talk about this scandal because it's Republicans who did it.

Republicans like to talk about this scandal without talking about who did it because it proves election fraud is real. It can happen.
I like talking about this scandal because there's a story behind it that most people don't know, and it helps explain how we got here. Here being how we, the United States, have become nearly undone by endless accusations of fraud and stolen elections.
Down in Bladen County, where the congressional scandal took place, there are many people who believe the journalists, the authorities, all of us. We got this whole story wrong.
They say the real election cheaters are still at work in the county. Bullying, tampering, stealing votes.
The story behind this one election, the only time in recent history that a congressional election was thrown out for fraud, is actually the story of a series of elections, of election fights, fueled by personal grudges and petty beefs and family history and history history. And it's about the oldest fight of all.

The fight for the Black vote.

This is strictly opinion. You know that, right?

Yeah.

It was almost like they realized that we weren't dumb.

Like, okay, they smart.

You may be too smart for their own good.

From Serial Productions, I'm Zoe Chase.

Coming in April, it's the Improvement Association,

a true story about election fraud.