Pam Fessler
Pam Fessler is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, where she covers poverty, philanthropy, and voting issues.
In her reporting at NPR, Fessler does stories on homelessness, hunger, affordable housing, and income inequality. She reports on what non-profit groups, the government, and others are doing to reduce poverty and how those efforts are working. Her poverty reporting was recognized with a 2011 First Place National Headliner Award.
Fessler also covers elections and voting, including efforts to make voting more accessible, accurate, and secure. She has done countless stories on everything from the debate over state voter identification laws to Russian hacking attempts and long lines at the polls.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Fessler became NPR's first Homeland Security correspondent. For seven years, she reported on efforts to tighten security at ports, airports, and borders, and the debate over the impact on privacy and civil rights. She also reported on the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, The 9/11 Commission Report, Social Security, and the Census. Fessler was one of NPR's White House reporters during the Clinton and Bush administrations.
Before becoming a correspondent, Fessler was the acting senior editor on the Washington Desk and NPR's chief election editor. She coordinated all network coverage of the presidential, congressional, and state elections in 1996 and 1998. In her more than 25 years at NPR, Fessler has also been deputy Washington Desk editor and Midwest National Desk editor.
Earlier in her career, she was a senior writer at Congressional Quarterly magazine. Fessler worked there for 13 years as both a reporter and editor, covering tax, budget, and other news. She also worked as a budget specialist at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and was a reporter at The Record newspaper in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Fessler has a master's of public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree from Douglass College in New Jersey.
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An NPR analysis finds that more than 50,000 absentee and mail-in ballots were rejected this year for arriving late. While it's a relatively small number, they could prove crucial in a close election. -
The former Pennsylvania governor tells NPR that he worries the president is hurting his own cause by talking down absentee voting because in many cases, it helps Republicans. -
The grant program is scheduled to run through this year's election and continue to the 2022 midterm races. Organizers say they want to sign up and mobilize more black and Latino voters. -
Recent primaries have exposed an overtaxed voting system and raised questions about how much can be fixed by November. -
Some voters in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Maryland did not receive the absentee ballots they had requested, leading to long lines at the limited number of polling places that were open. -
Among the main targets are requirements such as signing a ballot envelope, or getting a witness or notary to sign it. Small details matter a lot and could affect the outcome in November. -
Most places where Americans usually register to vote have been closed since March. It's led to a big drop in new registrations right before an election that was expected to see record turnout. -
Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams campaigned on fighting voter fraud but says it isn't very common. He's now trying to make "the concept of absentee voting less toxic for Republicans." -
With mail-in voting set to grow due to the coronavirus, experts warn that the companies that print ballots could get overwhelmed. One of the country's biggest vendors is ramping up capacity quickly. -
A slew of lawsuits about mail-in voting have been filed in recent weeks. Some challenge efforts to make it easier to get absentee ballots; others call on states to do more to make voting accessible.
