90+ reads to get you up to speed for Election Day – Politics Weekly

If you’re like me, before Election Day you’ll pull together all the information you want to study so that you can understand ballot initiatives and the background and positions of various candidates. You’ll sit down, plow through it and then you’ll be able to vote knowing what you need to know to make an informed decision.

We’ve done a version of that for you here at The Conversation, although the focus isn’t on specific candidates, it’s on our democracy. Last week in this newsletter I mentioned how much of our election coverage concentrated on the fundamentals of an election – campaigning, conventions, platforms, the right to vote, how we vote. We call these “civics lessons,” and we’ve collected almost 90 of them for you to read, divided by subject, right here.

This week we’ve had stories on how the history of polling in modern presidential elections means there could be a big surprise when the votes are tallied, how the Lincoln Project’s anti-Trump ads fit into the long tradition of political satire and how it’s been a nasty year for women in politics, with sexist attacks that amount to political violence.

And after you’ve done all your homework, think about baking this great apple cake with some fall apples – that’s what I’ll be doing this weekend. Yes, that’s a whole stick of butter in it.