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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Tens of thousands of Americans with disabilities have lost their voting rights, often after a court assigns them a legal guardian. Now, some of those affected are petitioning to get back those rights. -
The new program did work for millions of families. The idea was that people would be encouraged to find work if they knew their monthly checks would end, but instead, some have been left high and dry. -
Twenty years ago, President Clinton signed a bill to get more poor families off benefits and into jobs. And while many low-income families have become more independent. many others were left behind.
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The recent hacking of Democratic Party emails has raised questions about the vulnerability of other election-related technology and what potential problems could arise on Election Day. -
A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down a North Carolina law that requited voter identification. The unanimous decision found the law was "passed with racially discriminatory intent."
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Donald Trump talked about how "the system is rigged against our citizens, just like it was rigged against Bernie Sanders — he never had a chance." -
One of the country's strictest voter ID laws violates the Voting Rights Act, according to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. It says the Texas law discriminates against the state's minority voters.
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Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe restored voting rights to more than 200,000 ex-offenders. Now, the state's Republicans are suing the governor, who they say overstepped his authority. -
Ahead of November, a number of important voting law cases are still up in the air nationwide. Here's a breakdown of where some of the big cases stand. -
Many communities have enacted nuisance laws to make sure renters aren't disturbing their neighbors. Trouble is, victims — especially of domestic abuse — often end up penalized for calling the police. -
In a recent poll, both Democrats and Republicans expressed low levels of trust in their party's nominating process for presidential candidates. We hear from voters around the country.
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This year's primaries have been filled with complaints about the voting process. The controversies raise questions about how confident Americans are that their votes will count in November.
