The last step that “One Person, One Vote” director Maximina Juson needed to complete her documentary on the Electoral College was to film the ceremonial certification of the states’ electoral votes. She’d spent the previous months following Colorodo-based electors from the two major political parties, as well as a pair representing the Green Party and Kanye West.

At the time, Juson recalled to Salon, “I didn't have major funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, but I had frequent flyer miles” and her equipment. She imagined she’d capture some footage on the ground in D.C. of protests and counterprotests, and that would be that.

We know now that January 6, 2021, turned out much differently than anyone predicted. “Never in a million years did I imagine that I would be witnessing the first non-peaceful trends transfer power in American history,” she said. “After years of researching the electoral college and then to be delivered to a moment where the history was unfolding before my very eyes was, there's just no words for it.”

But it also speaks to the timeliness of this project – a documentary that explains on a granular level how the Electoral College works, why we have it, and why it’s so difficult to get rid of. This institution affects all Americans, yet so few of us understand its intricacies. And after she finished editing her documentary, Juson realized that it served another purpose, too. “What we haven't seen in the analysis of January 6,” she said, “is what the Electoral College did to bring us to that moment.”

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Juson says her debut feature is informed by her being the child of a peacekeeper.” My mom worked for United Nations peacekeeping mission,” she said. "I went to the UN school, and I graduated inside the UN headquarters.”

This informs the push for understanding reflected in “One Person, One Vote,” which resists what might be a common urge among fellow documentarians to paint one party as less reasonable than the other. Instead of featuring politicians, Juson focused on the regular people who form the grassroots of political movements.

Premiering a little over a month before the 2024 presidential election as part of PBS' "Independent Lens" lineup, “One Person, One Vote” joins several documentaries about the political system. Most profile its major players and the societal........

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