WETA productions PBS News Hour, PBS News Weekend and Washington Week with The Atlantic offer thoughtful and trusted coverage of election events, key issues, the candidates, and election-related news.


In addition, PBS has announced a broad schedule of news, public affairs, and documentary coverage of the 2024 presidential election. We have collected all current programming information here, and will continue to update this page as new programs are announced.

Convention Coverage

Republican National Convention

Monday, July 15-Thursday, July 18 from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on WETA PBS and WETA Metro, and live streamed on the PBS News Hour website and YouTube page.

 Tune in each evening, July 15-18, to PBS News Special: Republican National Convention, the PBS News Hour team’s live coverage from Milwaukee anchored by Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett. The program will feature reporting from News Hour Capitol Hill and Trump campaign correspondent Lisa Desjardins and senior correspondent Judy Woodruff — and analysis from Jonathan Capehart, David Brooks and Amy Walter, among others.
 

Democratic National Convention

Monday, August 19-Thursday, August 22

WETA will present PBS News Special: Democratic National Convention, providing coverage of the Democratic Party’s event in Chicago over four nights.

Other Programming

Firing Line: Counting the Vote
Premieres: TBD

In this documentary, Margaret Hoover embarks on a journey to explore the varying voting systems across the United States. Her aim is to examine the states that have the most efficient and inclusive voting systems, while shedding light on states facing shortcomings and challenges in their voting process. Through personal stories and expert voices, Firing Line seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of the most powerful tool in our democracy.

FRONTLINE’s The Choice 
Premieres: Tuesday, September 24, 9:00pm

FRONTLINE’s critically acclaimed series “The Choice” returns with interwoven investigations of the presidential and vice presidential candidates. 

Independent Lens: One Person, One Vote?
Premieres: Monday, September 30, 10:00pm

At a time when many Americans question democratic institutions, One Person, One Vote? unveils the complexities of the Electoral College, the uniquely American and often misunderstood mechanism for electing a president. The documentary follows four presidential electors representing different parties in Colorado during the intense 2020 election.

VOCES: Battleground Texas 
Premieres Monday, October 28, 10:00pm

On the eve of the upcoming 2024 Presidential election, filmmaker Hector Galan takes viewers inside the largest Latino voter registration mobilization in Texas history, led by a new generation on the frontlines of one of the most crucial battleground states that neither political party can ignore.

Stream On Demand

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America at a Crossroads with Judy Woodruff

PBS News Hour

In "America at a Crossroads with Judy Woodruff," a PBS NewsHour special, the PBS NewsHour's Judy Woodruff traces the roots of our divisions, exploring recent American political history, how partisan divisions became more personal, the impact it’s having on the country’s ability to deal with real challenges and the implications for a coming election year.

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Firing Line forum: Examining The Electoral College

Firing Line

Margaret Hoover moderates a forum at Hofstra U. on whether the Electoral College should be abolished. Save our States founder Trent England argues to keep it while the New York Times’ Jesse Wegman supports replacing it with a national popular vote.

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The Fight Against Voter Suppression (A Brief History)

FRONTLINE

Reporter Alexis Johnson takes you on a graphical visual journey through a brief history of voting rights in America, and the impact voter disenfranchisement has had on Black voters in particular. This FRONTLINE Short Doc goes inside the fight over the right to vote, explores how the roots of voter suppression trace back to post-Civil War America, and examines what’s happening now.

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Breaking The News

Independent Lens

Who decides which stories get told? A scrappy group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists buck the white male-dominated status quo, banding together to launch The 19th*, a digital news startup aiming to combat misinformation. A story of an America in flux, and the voices often left out of the narrative, the documentary Breaking the News shows change doesn’t come easy.

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Women and the Vote

Women and the Vote

Filmed on Election Day 2020 in cemeteries across NY state, WOMEN AND THE VOTE is a mosaic on the past 100 years of women's political equality, the present moment, and the future. Interviews with visitors in The Bronx, Sleepy Hollow, Auburn, Rochester, and Buffalo intertwine with rich historical elements to generate connections between New York's suffragist legacy and contemporary voters.

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Why Do We Have Political Parties?

Origin of Everything

John Adams warned us. George Washington begged us not to. Despite numerous warnings, here we are on the cusp of the 2020 election with two major parties locked in a perpetual struggle for power. Today Danielle looks at the emergence of the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans shortly after the United States's foundation and how these early parties evolved into the Two-Party System we know today.

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Is The Electoral College Killing Democracy?

Above The Noise

There’s been 5 times in U.S. history where the guy who became president lost the popular vote, but won the electoral vote. And two of those times were just in the last 20 years. And with a new presidential election coming up, there’s lots of chatter about the value of the electoral college with critics asking is it time to get rid of the electoral college?