Nineteen candidates. Two levels of government. And nothing less than every single seat in the Virginia General Assembly. All of this hangs in the balance for our upcoming November 7th election.

Even though it doesn’t have the hype of a presidential election, this year’s state and local elections matter just as much. Whoever voters elect this year will help make decisions on a bunch of issues that impact young people right here, right now, in Virginia–things like school curriculum, gun safety, trans student policies, and a bunch of other stuff. So if you have opinions on any of these things (and we know you do), well... as Troy Bolton says in the beloved High School Musical, it's time to get your head in the game.

In this special mini-episode of The Amp, your host Vale Kerns will tell you everything you need to know to vote in the 2023 elections.

Important links:

• Get over to vote.arlingtonva.gov to find your polling location and a sample ballot
• Check out the Arlington League of Women Voters' elections guide
• If you search for your zip code on ballotopedia.org, you can read up on all of the candidates you'll be choosing from

Special thanks in this episode to Gabriel Cohen, Cody Finnegan, Timothy Scanlon, Byron Schwind, and Nikolai Bauman.

Music in this episode's from Blue Dot Sessions and Gabriel Cohen. Music supervision, editing, additional writing and post production by Gabriel Cohen.

This podcast is brought to you by Arlington Independent Media's Youth Journalism Initiative. To join us or to support our local reporting work here in Arlington VA, visit our website.

In this very special behind-the-scenes episode, interns from AIM's summer audio intensive reflect on their reporting experience and tell the story of how a new podcast was born.

To watch our host Nadyah's video about internet conflict (and a bunch of other great video work from Arlington Amp producers), check out this playlist.

If you like what you heard this season, please help us get the word out! Tell a friend, then rate and review this podcast right here in your podcast app (especially if it's Apple or Spotify). This is massively helpful in getting new people to find our show.

If you've scrolled down this far, you clearly must be wondering how you can "money bomb" us. Thank you so much! You can donate to support our local reporting work right here.

Very special thanks to Linda Lawson, Ashton Roberts, Javier Martinez, and Michelle Nowden for our awesome AV setup.

Music in this episode: Kid Kodi from Blue Dot Sessions

This podcast is brought to you by Arlington Independent Media's Youth Journalism Initiative. To join us or to support our local reporting work here in Arlington VA, visit our website.