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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 fearing 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. Hello,

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and welcome to Why I'm Voting. I am

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joined today by the incredibly and marvelously

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talented Jackie Cruz, who you

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have seen as an actor on shows like Orange

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is the New Black and on Good Girls.

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She is multitalented though, because she is also

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a singer and a saw writer, and right now

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she is doing an Instagram show called Live with

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Jackie every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and she

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is taking time out of all of that creativity

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to sit with me today on Why I'm Voting and

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talk about the importance of voting Jackie,

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thank you for joining me. Thank you so

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much for having me. My great pleasure. I assure

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you right from the beginning.

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Do you remember when as

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a kid you actually learned about the democratic

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process and your place in it as a voter, you

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know what. I was raised in the Dominican

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Republic, so I never really understood

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the power that US Latinos

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have in the voting, the strategy

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of us pretty much, you know, being

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right now the number

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one minority, thirty

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two million, you know, eligible

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voters. You know, I never knew that. So

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like for me, I grew up, you

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know, in the d R, and then I came here during high

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school, and um, when

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I did vote for the first time, I did vote

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for Obama, But I got into it a little

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later in life because I wasn't really well

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educated about the American

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elections living in the Dominican Republic.

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But when I came here, you know, I

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definitely understood the power of

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the Latino vote and how we

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can make a change. And it definitely

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starts definitely with your local

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elections, you know. So I'm

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I've been working a lot with a nonpartisan

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voter registration organization named Voto

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Latino to help you know, get the word

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out and increase voter turnout among

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you know, my community, latin X

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are so huge and

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growing voting block right now. Absolutely,

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and I'm hoping, you know, that more

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latin X voters will activate

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and realize that this is is

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something available to them to make their voices

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heard. Do you remember when

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you actually realized, like I have to

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register and be part of this. Yeah, it

2:50

was like I'm getting chills right now, because

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it was around the Obama elections,

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and I just knew that, like I

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had to get out there because you

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know, there's a lot of us that can't

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vote that you know, because of immigration.

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There's their status. So we

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have to vote for for them too, you

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know, because um, those

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are our our people. And I

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just got really excited knowing that, like

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I can make a difference just by going

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out there and and voting and

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voting for someone that I really believe in. So

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that was an exciting year for me. I think

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I was like I

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remember just going and just just being

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really proud, and and then you know,

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Obama winning and it was just it

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was a victory for for all of us. You know, you

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mentioned a little while ago, and I am so glad you

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did your local elections

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and community elections. Will you

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talk about how you go about

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doing research for those because they don't get

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the same level of press as like a

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Senate or a presidential race does. Yeah.

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I just feel like, you know, some campaigns

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they tend not to realize, you know, the potential

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of the Latino vote, you know, and

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they need to strategize in their local elections.

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I don't know, I feel like, you know, just

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look up where you're from, look up

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you know how you can you know,

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make a difference in your community. I

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just you know, it's really hard for us because

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there's not anyone knocking at our door because

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I'm telling you, they don't tend to realize our potential,

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so they don't realize how important

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our vote could be. So yeah,

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I do. I do feel that, you know, just

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finding out who your representatives

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are finding out you know, we all care about

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a lot of things in this world,

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like let's say we're worried about

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climate change, about you know, paying off

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student loans, about health insurance. You

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know, we have to vote for the leaders that are committed

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to solving these problems. And that also,

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definitely I feel like is intact

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with the local elections. You know, some

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people just don't even think about that,

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you know, and then just worry about, you

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know, that big election, and I feel like sometimes

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it's too late to get the leader that

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that we hoped for. Yeah, it's so important

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for people to realize how how much those

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local elections actually impact their daily

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lives in a way that the trickle down

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of a bigger election doesn't always hit them until

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it's way later. You know, we tend

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to face a lot of issues, you know, racial

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profiling, you know, housing

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affordability and unsafe workplaces,

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you know, immigration raids. Like these issues,

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they need to be addressed, and they

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will be addressed with Latin X voices

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on the table. You know. That means we have to

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turn out and vote and support those candidates

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that understand our community and

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and want to face those issues with us. One

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of the things that sometimes de Rail's potential

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voters is the sense of ampathy that like

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the decisions are already kind of in place,

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Like an elections results are something of a lot.

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What do you think

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and how do you convey the idea that

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even if you think that you know how an election

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is going to go, you still need to get out and vote. I live

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in a you know, a community. I have

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friends that are Latino and they don't

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even want to go out there. They're like,

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no one listens to us, nobody cares about us,

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nobody Our vote doesn't count. And

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that's I feel like, a manipulative way

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of controlling maybe the Latino vote,

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to make them believe that our vote doesn't

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count. We're important in this country. We're

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literally the highest minority

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voting this election. That's

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crazy. Every thirty seconds and eighteen,

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you know, there's a Latino who turns eighteen who

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can vote. I just think that we

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just we need to be a little bit more

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like knowledgeable and like you said

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that, the local campaigns, but also the

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candidates need to really like know

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that we have a big potential of helping

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them win if we choose them, you know what

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I mean, if they are going to help us, they

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have a big potential of winning. And

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I feel that if we stay home

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and we don't make that choice, even

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if you think that, oh, everyone's gonna

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vote for this person, that is exactly how they

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win because you stayed home because

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you just you think that and every if everyone's

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thinking that people were not

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going to make change, and especially like the vote

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Latino is so important

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and and you know, especially the women. I think

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the Latinas there. You know, I

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grew up in a matriarch, so like you

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know, we hold our family together. We

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you know, we're we're more educated, and

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I feel like we as Latinas,

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I don't know, can encourage

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encourage our fellow like men

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out there too to believe that get

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out of bed and go vote, even

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if you believe that your vote doesn't count.

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It's just it's ridiculous, and

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I just think it's ignorant. And I think that

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our people need to know how important

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we are, and we're not going to know that unless

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we use our voice perfect. This is a

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weird year obviously because of the pandemic,

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but normally is your preference

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to do a mail in vote or to vote early,

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or to go day of and be part of that like election

7:52

day excitement. I love being a part of the

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election day excitement. Recently, I

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did have to do a mail in because I

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moved from New York to l A. So

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it was complicated. I wasn't going to make it on

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time because of work too, So

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I definitely did the mail in, but

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I really really love going there and being

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a part of it and looking at the people and

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seeing my people, and like trying

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to get other people like me as

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a Latin X you know, to to come and vote

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and you know, being an example. So

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yeah, I do love the excitement of getting

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out there and doing it and wearing

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my little sticker and you know, just

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telling our people that it's our turn.

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We could have the biggest turn out if we we continue

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to spread the word and acknowledge

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that that our voices need

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to be heard. We have so many issues that

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we need to work on, and there are a lot

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of us who, like I said, who can't vote, but

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they deserve a voice in our government.

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And if you are eligible to vote, vote

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for those who can't, because we

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need leaders who care about them

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too, you know what I mean. I'm glad that you like to

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vote day of I do too. I think it's really fun. Do

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you have any rituals though that go along

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with that? Like what is your election day play out? Like?

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Do you watch the polls come in all day? Do

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you ignore it? Do you have lucky

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clothes? Yes, we watched the polls all

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day all day. I remember last

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time I watched it with some of my cast members

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just on phase time, and we

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were like, we can still do this, We can

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still do this, Like it's it's an exciting

9:20

day, you know, and um, I do

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I watch the polls and I you know,

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I watch it with the people that Like

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last time, I watched it with Diane Garrido and

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we you know, we walked the Women's March

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and right after the election

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day, so we were really like focused

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and there were tears. It

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was just like a really dramatic, you

9:40

know day for us. But yeah, we

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were on the phone NonStop.

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I like to share with the people who believe in

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our power. You know, you obviously

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are very very much an

9:52

activist, particularly in getting

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the Latin X voter out there and doing

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their part. So if you have that

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platform to tell them one last

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thing, to really try to inspire

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them and encourage them to make use

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of this, right, what would that one last thing be? Well,

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you know, um, since I've been working a lot with

10:11

Vote the Latino, you know, maybe not

10:13

a lot of people are into politics.

10:15

You know, I wasn't until I wasn't

10:18

even into fighting for

10:20

freedom. Until we have to. It's

10:23

it's not a choice. Anymore. You know,

10:25

your your your bosses into politics, your

10:27

landlords into politics, your assurance companies

10:30

into politics, and every day they're

10:32

using their political power to keep your

10:34

paid low, raise your rent, deny your

10:36

coverage. And when you don't vote, decisions

10:39

will be made that affect you. So

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we have to go out there and and

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vote more than ever, especially

10:46

now, especially when our people are hurting, you

10:48

know, and in those in those cages

10:50

that that you know. And I could

10:53

cry right now because I

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I just I believe that there

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has to be a change. And and if we don't

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go out there and and make it happen, no

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one else is going to fight for us but us. I

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so appreciate your impassioned words on this.

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Again, in case anybody missed it, that is voto

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Latino dot org and you can go register

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there. Thank you so much for taking this

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time to talk with me today about just how important

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it is for people to use this

11:18

very simple but vital right. Yeah,

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absolutely, it's time for

11:22

for inclusivity. It's time, you

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know, for our government to be accountable. Let's

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all start registering to vote

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two days please. If you haven't, you

11:31

still can't, Hey,

11:36

are you not registered to vote? Yet, but you

11:38

think it's something you want to do, you may

11:40

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 headcount dot org or fair

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vote dot org. Why I'm Voting

11:54

is an I Heart Radio production. For more

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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