Journalism Fellow Helps with Ukrainian Democratic Elections

Andriy Kovalenko, a Muskie Fellow studying journalism at Duke University, contributed to the development of Ukraine’s democratic process by serving as a volunteer election worker at the Ukrainian Embassy during the country’s parliamentary elections in March. Andriy spent the weeks leading up to the March 26 vote participating in meetings to discuss election day logistics and answering inquiries about voter registration from Ukrainian citizens that reside in the United States. On election day, Andriy worked for 26 consecutive hours at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, DC, where voters from all over the United States cast their ballots. His tasks included handing out ballots, counting and destroying all unused ballots, and then counting and tallying the votes. After reporting the winners to the Central Election Committee, Andriy and his fellow volunteers packed the ballots to send to Ukraine. Andriy described this period as “an interesting experience I will never forget.”