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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For all the focus in 2016 on the cyberattacks against the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, less attention was paid to what was happening in the states. -
"One has to wonder what they're worried about," President Trump said of states that haven't shared data with the commission. "There's something, there always is." -
The panel has faced credibility problems right from the start and the concerns have only grown after it asked all 50 states to send detailed voter registration records. -
Many election experts and voter advocacy groups say matching efforts to identify inaccurate or out-of-date registrations are flawed and could lead to legitimate voters being taken off the rolls. -
The states say that they won't comply with a White House commission request for the personal data. Even a commission leader isn't able to turn over all of his own state's records.
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The panel looking into voter fraud allegations wants names, addresses, birthdates, party affiliation and elections voted in since 2006 for every registered voter in the country. -
Most Democrats say that "everything possible" should be done to make it easy for citizens to vote. Most Republicans don't agree.
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Security experts estimate it would cost roughly $400 million to replace voting machines and add paper audits. It's about the same amount the Pentagon spent on military bands last year. -
The House and Senate Intelligence Committees heard from intelligence and election officials about Russian efforts last year to hack into U.S. elections and the future threat of more cyber attacks on voting systems.
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Russia's efforts to interfere with last year's elections will be front and center during two hearings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
