Who Designs Democracy? | Screening & Keynote with Maximina Juson
Hi everyone,
The response to One Person, One Vote? from audiences across the country and across generations has been incredible. Yet there’s still a lot of work to do to help more Americans understand how our presidents are actually elected.
Many of you have reached out asking about screenings and talks connected to One Person, One Vote?. I’ve finally created a dedicated page for institutions interested in hosting a screening and keynote conversation about the design of presidential elections and democratic reform.
If you’re connected to a university, conference, or civic organization that might be interested, please feel free to share.
These are conversations Americans need now more than ever.
Yours truly,
Maximina
Award-Winning Filmmaker. Civic Educator. Executive Director, Civics Is Sexy
PBS / Independent Lens | National Endowment for the Humanities
Decoding the Architecture of Democracy
Who Designs Democracy?
The Architecture of Presidential Elections and the Mechanics of Reform.
Does your vote count?
Democracy is often debated in ideological terms. Yet the Electoral College reminds us that the structure of a system can matter more than the rhetoric surrounding it. Why? Because the rules of a system shape the incentives of everyone operating within it, from candidates and parties to voters themselves.
In this screening and keynote engagement, award-winning filmmaker Maximina Juson uses her nationally broadcast PBS/Independent Lens documentary One Person, One Vote? as a starting point for examining how the design of presidential elections influences campaign strategy, political behavior, and civic life.
One Person, One Vote? is an entertaining, illuminating, and nonpartisan film unveiling the complexities of the Electoral College–the uniquely American and often misunderstood constitutional mechanism for electing a president.
Most Americans are confused by the Electoral College and have never met a presidential elector. The film follows four from Colorado state – a Republican, a Democrat, a Green Party elector, and a bona fide elector for Kanye West.
One Person, One Vote? puts a human face on the Electoral College, exploring its constitutional origins, how it operates in practice, and contemporary reform efforts such as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. The film is nonpartisan and interwoven with historical vignettes featuring leading scholars who examine the Electoral College’s roots in the political compromises of the founding era—including the role of slavery—and its lasting impact on American politics and society.
The Who Designs Democracy? keynote extends the conversation beyond the film, examining how the current electoral structure shapes presidential campaign strategy and influences our broader civic life.
It also explores the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact as a contemporary case study in democratic redesign: an agreement among participating states to award their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner once states totaling 270 electoral votes have joined the compact.
Together, the screening and keynote reframe civic discourse through the lens of institutional structure rather than partisan sentiment, asking:
How does electoral design shape political incentives?
What behaviors do institutional structures reward or discourage?
How does electoral complexity affect democratic legitimacy and public trust?
When does institutional redesign strengthen democracy and when does it destabilize it?
Through historical grounding and contemporary analysis, the talk demonstrates why structural literacy is essential in an age of institutional strain.
F.A.C.T.S. — Structural Media Literacy for the Information Age
In addition to keynote and screening engagements, Juson offers F.A.C.T.S. (Finding Accuracy & Clarity in Today’s Social Media), developed through Civics Is Sexy.
A compelling gamified experience, F.A.C.T.S. examines how narrative economies, emotional amplification, and algorithmic incentives distort public understanding of democratic systems.
Participants explore:
• Emotional Capitalism — how attention is monetized, and outrage becomes currency
• Crowd Psychology — how group dynamics influence perception
• Disinformation Dynamics — how distortion spreads without overt falsehoods
• Narrative Framing — how language shapes institutional legitimacy
Rather than focusing on partisan content, F.A.C.T.S. equips audiences with analytical tools to evaluate how democratic conversations are constructed and manipulated.
This module can be delivered as:
• A post-screening activation
• A seminar add-on
• An executive roundtable briefing
• A standalone institutional session
Engagement Formats
Available formats include:
• Film Screening + Keynote
• Graduate-Level Lecture + Faculty Dialogue
• Law & Policy Colloquium
• Conference Plenary
• Executive Roundtable
• Keynote + F.A.C.T.S. Briefing
Each engagement is tailored to audience composition and institutional objectives.
Audience Outcomes
Screenings of One Person, One Vote? spark lively discussions as audiences begin connecting the Electoral College’s historical foundations to the political incentives shaping modern presidential campaigns.
Participants leave with:
• A deeper understanding of constitutional design and institutional incentives
• Insight into how structural complexity influences public trust
• Analytical frameworks for evaluating democratic reform proposals
• Tools to assess media narratives surrounding elections
• Greater structural clarity in navigating contemporary civic discourse
This work is nonpartisan and systems-focused.
About Maximina Juson
Maximina Juson is an award-winning filmmaker and civic educator. Her documentary One Person, One Vote? premiered on PBS/Independent Lens and was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, reaching more than 2.7 million viewers nationwide.
She is the founder of Civics Is Sexy, a civic storytelling initiative focused on media literacy and democratic design.
Her work examines the machinery of modern democracy through structure rather than ideology.
Select Credentials
National Broadcast: PBS / Independent Lens
Funded By: National Endowment for the Humanities
Audience Reach: 2.7M+ viewers nationwide
Executive Director of Civics Is Sexy — a national civic storytelling initiative
Select Institutions and Convenings
Columbia Journalism School
New York University
UCLA
CSU, Fresno
Rollins College
El Camino College
ACLU
NAACP Hollywood Bureau
and more
Who This Engagement Is For
This screening and keynote engagement is particularly well-suited for:
• Universities and colleges seeking programming on democracy, constitutional design, media literacy, and civic engagement
• Law schools and public policy programs examining institutional design and democratic reform
• Journalism and media studies departments exploring the relationship between political systems, narrative framing, and public understanding
• Civic organizations and foundations focused on democratic participation and structural reform
• Conferences and leadership forums looking for a nonpartisan, systems-level exploration of how democratic institutions function and evolve
Each engagement is tailored to the audience and institutional context.
BOOKING
Inquiries, email: whodesignsdemocracy@civicsissexy.co
Limited engagements available annually.