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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. So

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today on Why I

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Am Voting, I am joined by the

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fabulous and delightful Chuck Bryant, host

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of Stuff you Should Know and also movie crush

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in general all around guy who has kindly

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agreed, Uh, that should have been all

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around good guy, but whatever, He's

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definitely an all aroun guy, all around

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good guy to join us and talk about his

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relationship with voting A little bit

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so right out of the gate, do you remember when

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you realized as a kid, maybe the voting

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was a thing and something that you could potentially

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participate in. One day well,

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Holly, here's my story.

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I grew up in a house that did not really talk

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politics. It was a politics free zone

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except for the occasional grousing of

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my dad. I guess about something, but it was

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just not something that was very big

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in my family for some reason. And

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you know, of course I learned about all that kind of thing in Civics

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class and voting, but it didn't really hit

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home. I kind of got a late start as far as personally

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being involved politically. That

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didn't come around until until later, like toward

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the end of college. So you didn't register

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right away, like when you were eighteen. I didn't, And

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I may have been completely wrong about this,

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but if I remember correctly, I think

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I remember that, and it may have been true,

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but uh that if you register to vote,

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you are also registered for the dreft

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aft. And even though it's silly to

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think that there would even be a draft anymore,

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I think I remember at the time being like,

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I'm not for me

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and and I don't even know if that was true. So

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it was it was very shameful looking back. But I

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also didn't know anything about

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anything back then, so I don't know if I would have

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been a responsible voter or even Yeah, I

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think there's no shame in acknowledging,

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Like when you're kind of still a dumb kid,

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you're not really ready to make decisions anyway,

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and maybe aren't ramping up to vote. Do

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you remember what made you finally

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decide to register to vote? Yeah, you

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know, in college, I think for a lot of people is

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when a lot of that stuff becomes a little more to

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the forefront, a little more spiritually

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awake and politically awake and all that good

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stuff. And I

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remember very distinctly, and I

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guess my sophomore year

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in college, maybe my second or third year, when

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the first Gulf War happened, and

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sitting around and watching that on CNN

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and having a roommate who was now

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an attorney that was pre law back

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then that was very political, and his

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name was Rob Elz, and Rob we're still

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friends. He really kind of brought politics

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to the apartment. And my other

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roommate, Eddie Cooper, also we're both

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ahead of me politically, and that's when I first started

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kind of realizing that it's important

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to be involved and to be aware and to

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know what the hell is going on. Do you remember the first

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time that you actually voted, Like, do you have any memories

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of that first ballot experience?

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I do. The first election I participated

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in was my final year in college

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because I spent six years. There was the

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nineties six election, which I guess

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was Bill Clinton Part two. I'm remembering,

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right, Yeah, yeah, that track and

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that wash. I think you know Nader

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was involved back then. I think Ross

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Perrot was having his second go around.

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And that's when I cast my first vote,

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as you know, as a Democrat, and I've been

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a lifelong Democrat since then. What is your

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research process like or do you research for

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elections? Like I know, for me,

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like some of the local politicians, like they're not getting

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ads, I gotta do some some legwork

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to make sure I know who I'm voting for. What

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is your process like? Well, I mean you and I are both

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sort of professional researchers, so we

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know our way around the internet when it comes to

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finding the good research. I like to think, you

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know, with with the presidential candidates and all,

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it's the way it's constructed in this country.

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You kind of have a choice of one or two things

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usually and that's always easy for me. But

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as you go down ticket, I do research. I

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just try to you know, Facebook a lot of times

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is where not what people are saying,

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but people linking to some good information

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is a good place to get stuff. I always

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try to read up on the measures, the local measures

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that are going to be on the ballot, whether it's

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can you drink on Sundays in Georgia too,

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things that are a little more substantial. But

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I try to kind of investigate, and I ask around

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to people that are smarter than me. I don't think there's

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any shame in seeking out opinions of people

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that really know their stuff. You know, yeah,

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this kind of of the things. So you do

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obviously vote down ticket, but do

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you make sure that you hit like the local elections

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that maybe aren't part of a bigger, you

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know, every four every two year situation.

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I do now and for the past

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probably fifteen years or so.

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Because I got a late start. I thought, you know,

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you go in and you vote for the president, and that's

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doing your civic duty. And then the more I

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grew up and became a you know, sentient,

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responsible adult, you realize,

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I think, like we all do, and like you probably have, that

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a lot of those local elections really

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really matter. As far as what impacts

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you and the people that you love and people

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in your community. So that is definitely

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something that came on later in life, but now those

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are very important elections for me. My husband

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and I always make voting a date. Oh

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that's fun, where we always like go to breakfast

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or we go have lunch afterwards, whatever our schedule

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will permit. Do you have any rituals

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around voting, Well, I try to vote early,

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um in the pre voting, just

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because I don't like standing in

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lines and stuff. Although I will say

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I've had some great experiences standing in long

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lines to vote, some great feeling of community,

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because I think that's one of the kind

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of the fun things about voting is you vote in your district,

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and you're voting with your neighbors. And I

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live in a very mixed race neighborhood in Atlanta,

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and going in to vote and standing in those

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lines to vote for President Obama,

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it was a great feeling and you could you could

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feel it in the air, and there was just a good

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spirit of community and friendliness. And

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so I don't mind those lines

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because it can make me feel closer

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to my my fellow person and my

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neighbor but um, I also do like

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to try and early vote as well, just to get in

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and out. It sort of depends if I

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missed my window. It's not like, you know, I don't hang

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my head. I just go like, all right, I'll go stand in line.

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Yeah. I like the line too, because I feel like

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it makes you remember that you're not just voting for

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yourself, You're voting for the well being of everyone

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in your community. Totally, that's a great

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way to look at it. Now. You, like

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me, came to voting a little bit later. You weren't

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right out of the gate at eight team, But I feel

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like kids today are better informed,

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certainly than I was at that age. So if

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there are any people out there, whether

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they're young or even older, that maybe

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aren't using their right to vote, if you

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could tell them one thing, what would it

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be. Well, I feel like subsequent

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generations behind us are

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more politically active than we were. Maybe,

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But then I also sometimes see the voting

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numbers and see things like, you

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know, the younger generation isn't

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voting like they should. So I'm not quite

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sure how to reckon that. I

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would say, you know, take a look at the

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world around you, and if you don't

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like what you see. It's kind of one of the only

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things that we have. We can protest,

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and we can petition, we can lobby

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and make calls to congress people in Senators,

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but your vote is really the only thing

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where you know that you're on record

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of having cast your official say

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on something. Uh, And that's important, you

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know. I don't want to get sidetracked about the Electoral College

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and some states people might not think they're vote

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counts, but it does, especially because

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of the ballot measures and the local elections

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and council elections and stuff like that.

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It always counts. It's your duty.

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And lastly, you know, as we go forward and

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we're getting older and maybe becoming

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jaded old hags at

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least. I but

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I wonder what it is that keeps you motivated

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to vote knowing that, like it's not the same

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as when you're a kid and you're predicting or or

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determining your future for quite as

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long a run. Like, what is it that keeps you mailing

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in that ballot or going to the polls even when it's

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a pain in the butt. I have a daughter now, a

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five year old daughter, and that's a big part of it.

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I want to ensure her rights

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to have control of her own body. I would

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feel, you know, the same way if I had a son, obviously,

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but it does hit home a lot more when you have a daughter,

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I think. So A lot of this is

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to set an example for her, to take

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her with me if you know, she's getting

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to the age where obviously not during

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a pandemic, but she'll be going to vote

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with me the next time it's safe to do so. And I want to

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teach her about that kind of stuff because I wasn't

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really taught that stuff. So I think

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it's a very selfish thing to only think about while

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I'm here. Let me vote for the things

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that are important to me. It's it's about

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the future and making sure the planet's taken

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care of and making sure that everyone has their

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rights enshrined into

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law. And uh, to not vote

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is um it's lazy. It's

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cynical, I think, and I'm trying to rid

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myself of that cynicism, which is tough as you get

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older. But it's set an example for my daughter. I

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guess it is the easiest answer, perfect

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one. In my opinion, You're continuing the chain of voters.

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I love it I'm trying to chuck. Thank

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you so much for chatting with me today, but also just thank

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you for voting. Thank you, and I wear that sticker

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all day, I know. Uh, that's a big part

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of it. That Georgia peach it

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is. It's cute and

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you got to post it on one of the social meds

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as well. Yes, that's how people know. So

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thank you, Holly. It was a pleasure to talk to you

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again. It's always a delight for me. I

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feel spoiled I've gotten to do to chat with

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you recently. You know, Let's

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keep it up and let's keep voting everybody. Yes,

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please, 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 fair

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vote dot org. Why I'm Voting

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is an I Heart Radio production. For more

10:28

podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit

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the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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or wherever it is you listen to your favorite shows.