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Welcome to Why I'm Voting, a production

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of I Heart Radio. Listen.

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You already know this, but it's an election year.

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You might already be tired of hearing about it.

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But here's the thing. Democracy

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doesn't work without you. I'm

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Holly Frying, and I'm sitting down with

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many of my fellow podcasters, from Will

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Ferrell to Stephanie Rule as well as

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other luminaries to find out about

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their relationships with the ballot box and

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ultimately just to find out why they

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vote. I hope you're

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exercising your right to vote, and if

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you're not, I hope that their stories inspire

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you today

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on when I'm voting. I have a particular

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treat because I am joined by a super

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pro at talking to people, Emmy Award

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winning journalist Carlos Watson. He

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is the founder of Ozzie Media, which launched

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in He is also the host

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of The Carlos Watson Show, which is a daily

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talk show on the Ozzi YouTube

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channel and just a really smart

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and delightful, personable gent So Carlos,

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thank you so much for being here. It is a

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total pleasure. I'm I'm smiling

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talking to you and being with you. Yay.

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You are the progeny

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of two teachers, so I have a feeling

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you got an education about

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how the government and democracy works

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at home as well as possibly

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in school. Do you remember when you first

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realized that you had a part to play in the democratic

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process. Yea. You know, it's interesting. I

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think as a young black kid growing up in

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Miami and the seventies and eighties, we

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weren't that far away from the sixties civil rights

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movement. My parents, who had

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been young teachers and students, certainly were

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involved and affected by My mom had grown

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up in the segregated South, and so there

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was a real sense that voting mattered,

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That voting mattered in terms of making sure

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people at opportunities, Voting mattered in

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terms of making sure that things were as fair as they could

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be. Voting mattered in terms of hoping

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that your world could be creative and better. So

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I would say probably an elementary school, I

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started to hear more about it, and I think my

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mom and dad would take me with him to the polls

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on voting days. Believe it or not, No, A

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lot of people have told me that, which I love. Did

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you register right away when you were eighteen? Um?

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Not? Only am I the son of two teachers, but I'm the son

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of a political junkie. And my dad

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loved politics growing up. And

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to his credit, he not only made sports

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fund and he not only made you know, comedy

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shows fun. But my dad made politics interesting,

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which is a real art when you're

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trying to make it interesting for six seven eight year

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old who just wants to, you know, watch

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football and comedies. But

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but he really did. So. Yeah. I

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was into it early and registered

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to vote as soon as I turned eighteen. Do you

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remember the first time you voted and what it felt

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like. I did. It felt special,

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maybe a little surreal. It was a

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presidential election, it

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was Papa Bush and Mike

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will do Cacus, and it was exciting.

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I felt probably more than a lot of

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other things I did. I all of a sudden, felt

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like I was an adult, So it was special.

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You are such an informed person

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as a journalist. You are on top of all

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of the news, and I am guessing that

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you probably actively participate in

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your local elections as well as the regular

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four year big ones. What is your

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research process like to make sure that

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those candidates that are maybe smaller

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in scale in terms of their reach for their campaign

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are matching what you want

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in terms of your leadership. How do you

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do that research and find those people in their platforms?

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You know, when it comes to research, I do two

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things. One is, here in California, we

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get a very cool voters pamphlet where

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all the candidates have to write a little something describing

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themselves, describing what they care about. And

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actually, as a family we sit around and

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read it and trade notes and

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kind of think about that. And then secondly,

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I'm definitely someone who still goes online

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and love to learn about someone who's running

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for the city council, who's running for

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the State Assembly, which is our state house here

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in California, or the state Senate, and

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just try and get smart. And then lastly, I

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also tend to care a lot about who else

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has endorsed them. So, you know, your

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mom used to say to you, you know, you can tell who

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you are by the company you keep. You know. I

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also not that I'm not willing to let someone ride

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on their own, but I'm also curious about who they're

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riding with. Yeah, that's perfect. There

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is this sort of problem in terms

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of voter apathy where people tend to

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think like the elections already decided. I

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don't have to go to the polls or mail in my

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ballot. What are your thoughts on skipping

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an election because you think it's a done deal? You

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know, I bet you people don't believe that anymore. I

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mean, I mean the goods is that

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that everybody knows that the

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thinnest of margins can make a big,

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big difference, And so I hope everyone

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goes out there. I know that these days, with COVID

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and all the craziness, one of the things that

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more and more people hopefully will do is vote by mail,

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assuming that their state allows that. I

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know other people, if they are going to have to vote,

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are gonna one make sure or they're safe and are going to try and

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have to figure out work. And so sometimes

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the question is do I wait in line? But the question

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is should you wait in line for clean air? Should

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you wait in line for a job? Should you

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wait in line to make sure the kids have good

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schools? So if those mattered

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to you and more, then I

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hope people you know, will invest a little bit

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of time to do something that you know has

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been around for a while. Now. You mentioned

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that this is a strange year that

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hopefully most people will have the opportunity

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to vote by mail. But if this were

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a normal year where we are not trying

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to work our way through a pandemic, would

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you normally prefer to vote by mail, vote

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early, or do you like to go day of? You know, these

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days, I like to vote by mail, and I like to vote

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early because I feel like so many

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things happen, you know, will I have to travel

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out of town. I've got an older dad

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who I take care of. Will he get sick? And will

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something happen? So it won't be easy? And

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so I like to vote early and hopefully

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make sure things get properly counted

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and checked on. So I'm I'm one of those vote

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by mail people. I love it. Do

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you have any rituals

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around the way election day plays out for you?

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It may be different because you're a journalist and you kind

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of have to keep an eye on it, But would you

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normally be watching the returns

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all day long? Do you have a lucky

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garment that you like to wear on that day?

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What do you do? How does election day play out?

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So Election Day, if I if I am in

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town, even if I voted by mail, I still

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drive by my polling place because I'm just curious

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to see, first thing in the morning, are there are

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a lot of people A few people's are a long

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line? Is there not? I'm one of these weird

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people. I'm curious about who's volunteering, who's

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actually making sure everything's happening fairly.

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So I just I want to kind of eyeball that a little

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bit. I definitely am checking online

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regularly throughout the day, and it's

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someone who's helped co anchor an

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election night for CNN. I did

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that a few presidential cycles

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ago. It's super exciting, and

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it's something that I know lots of families

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are sitting around and watching together, and

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so you know, when I'm not anchoring

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or having to do something like that, I love to be

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with my family and watching the returns

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together. Now. I love that you brought up that co

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anchor gig because I wonder if doing

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that and realizing in

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real time, like how fast things are moving, how

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important it is to share that information, if

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that later just informed the way you

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look at the process when you're not working

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that night and when you're just watching it as a

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like a voter in a concerned citizen. It

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definitely does I mean, well, I would say a couple

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of things. One both understanding

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how much things can vary. So I've seen elections

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where it looked like one person was gonna

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win and then it swung the other way. I've seen

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elections where someone has conceded

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and then all of a sudden, hang on a second, it's closer

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than you think. And I've just I've

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seen people get it wrong dramatically.

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So I remember in several

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former presidential campaign managers

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told me with a lot of confidence, just like the New

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York Times told us all that one

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candidate, Sectory Clinton, was gonna win, and

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she didn't. And it was just a reminder

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that even the most informed among us have

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to be humble and have to see

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it play out. The last question is you

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encounter someone in your day to day life

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who is a little cavalier and they're like, ma, I

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could vote, but I'm not. What is the one

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thing you tell them just to try to make

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them understand how important it is to get out there

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and do this thing, you know. I think it depends on

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who it is, and I think I probably

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think a lot about what people care about,

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whether they're very self focused, whether they're very focused

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on their kids, whether they focus

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on parents or community. But if

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I'm really having a heart to heart, I

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say, look, getting a

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chance to live in a democracy is not

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something that many people around the world get to do.

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And it's a privilege, it's an honor,

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it's special. It can mean the difference

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between slavery and not. It could

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mean the difference between war and not. It

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can mean the difference between making

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sure that your grandpa and your grandma have

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somewhere safe to live in their old age or

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not. And so I I care a ton

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about that, and I probably put

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a little, uh a little guilt on them.

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I'd i'd say, I'd say, I'd

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say, you owe it to this good society,

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that um that has taken you

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in. You owe it to show up. It doesn't take

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that much time, doesn't take that much energy, and you owe

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it. You deserve the best, and we all deserve

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the best. So you know, show up, vote, Stop

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making excuses. Hey

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are you not registered to vote yet? But you

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think it's something you want to do. You may

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still have time. Voter registration

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deadlines vary by state, so to find

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out the scoop for where you are, check out

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a nonpartisan registration voting

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site like head count dot org or

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fair vote dot org. Why

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I'm Voting is an I Heart Radio production.

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For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,

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visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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or wherever it is you listen to your favorite shows.