There is no doubt that the 2020 elections were the most stressful in American history.

There was the pandemic. The political atmosphere. The distrust in voting officials. Social Media. And a guy named Trump.

Documentarian Sarah Archambault, a self-proclaimed “Civics Nerd”, was taking a look at the voting process, particularly how those involved would adjust to the stress attached to making the system work accurately and fairly.

She started with the working title, “No Time to Fail”, which turned out to be a double meaning of what the documentary divulged.

There was no time to fail in pulling off a major election under the cloud of COVID, where record numbers of voters chose mail ballots and early voting over showing up at the polls on election day.

And there was no time to fail in one, if not THE most important election of our time

Archambault’s perspective was to show the people involved, choosing the Cranston and Providence election teams as they prepared the unprecedented system of increased mail ballots and early voting opportunities.

Nick Lima, Director of Elections for the City of Cranston, was a central figure in the documentary, as he was filmed during the entire process. Lima explained in the Q and A session following the movie that his staff was under tremendous stress during the voting period, much of it due to the misinformation coming out of social media and distrust of many voters toward the system and those who worked within it.

The stress was vividly captured on camera at Providence City Hall, where Kathy Placencia, Administrator of Elections, demonstratively showed her frustrations trying to explain the process to both volunteers and the plethora of questions she fielded from frustrated voters.

Watching the movie can’t help but gain sympathy for those involved in the process who were under tremendous stress to pull off what Archambault called the Big Win, where in spite of a certain element claiming fraud and mismanagement, the voters of Cranston and other communities around the country, were shown through audits and other investigations, that the system worked. Not perfectly. But it worked.

The Q and A closed with the key question asked: What can we do to segment of our society that claims fraud?

Lima and other panel members emphasized the need to get the word out. Show the facts. See and show the documentary.