0:03

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,

0:45

and welcome to Why I'm Voting. This is

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honestly a very exciting moment for me because

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I have a guest on who I have watched you a lot of

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amazing things. It is Laurie Hernandez.

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You know her name because she was part of the gold

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medal winning USA women's gymnastics

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team at Summer Olympics.

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She also took home a silver medal on balance

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beam with those Olympics, and that business was

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amazing to behold um. Since

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then, she has competed on Dancing with

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the Stars and One and she

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appeared on a number of other television shows, but

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now she is returning to gymnastics, which makes

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my heart very happy. Lorie, I

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am so thrilled to have you, it's not even

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funny. So thank you, thank you, thank you for joining

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me today. Thank you so much for having

1:24

me. I'm so excited to talk with you today.

1:27

I'm really really excited because you have

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accomplished a great deal, and yet you

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are just a youngster. This is actually your first

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presidential election coming up. Yeah.

1:36

Yeah, I turned eighteen.

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That was my first time voting. But yeah, like you said,

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in terms of kind of first time presidential

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votes, this is my first one. I'm very

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excited. I'm

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excited for you because

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you have been a gymnast for so long, like

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you have lived a life of great focus. So

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I'm wondering if you can recall pretty

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easily when you first learned about

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vote and that you had a pretty

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major part to play in the democratic process.

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Yeah, I mean, well, so my

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parents they felt it was very important for

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me my siblings to understand the gist

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of what's happening and then allow us to kind

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of do our own research and figured it out because

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they wanted they didn't want it to be biased.

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But also they were like, you better

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care about other human beings, and we were like iconic,

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so we were all able to do our own research

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and test things out. And sure enough, Thanksgiving

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is a very enjoying time of year because we all agree. So

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the envy in my heart over that statement alone,

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I'm so sorry. I think it's

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great. I love that you have that with your family. As

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you said, you have voted in a local election, but

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this is the first presidential On a scale

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of one to ten, how excited are you, I'm

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I'm at a ten, just because I

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think, well, here's the thing. Gen

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Z is seen as kind of like not

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caring, apathetic, not very

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in tune with what's happening around them,

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And I would like, just

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genuinely everyone to take a rain check on

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that and to to re reevalue

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reevalue that statement, only

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because we're a lot more in tune with

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what's happening in the world than you think, and

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we're finding very witty ways to fix it,

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which is so exciting to watch and be

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a part of. Um. Yeah,

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but in terms of just being like

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a part of gen Z and in getting

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to vote, I feel that we

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all have a very big voice, and

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we plan on using it. So that's why I'm excited.

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I love it now you mentioned

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and it's interesting to me to think about because I feel

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like for most people, their first election is a presidential

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but you have done a local one, so

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you kind of got over what I think most people

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find to be the scariest part, which is like getting

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in the voting booth and realizing

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they're all of these little elections that you maybe

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didn't realize we're playing out. You didn't know

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all these people. Do you have any nervousness

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going into this one now that you've got like the local

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one under your belt. I think the local home was actually

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really helpful because it helped me understand

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an idea of what I was walking into. Even

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though I'm sure they won't you be too similar,

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but they they'll have their their

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ties. I remember going to the

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local polling place and you know, you

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sit in this little like divider

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table, sing imagig,

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and I remember going through the boxes

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and googling like every other word

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because I had no I

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had no idea like and it was

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terrifying to me because I was like, Okay, how

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can I understand this in my

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own language while like googling everything.

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So it was very important

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for me to actually understand what I was

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checking off in the boxes. And I hope

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that whoever's listening, I encourage you

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to, like, just if you don't know something, take

4:47

the time to look at it. Don't just fill it out because you want to be

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done with filling it out. Like actually understand

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what you're voting for, you know, like

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take a stand, don't pull an air and Burton. Now I'm

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kidding, I love Hamilton's, but yeah,

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I'm just saying, like, in terms of making that

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you understand what you're checking off, I was

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terrified of that, but I got through it. I'm alive,

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so perfect. I will say. At

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my polling place, they don't

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let you take your phone in, Like you have to

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turn it off. So you

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gotta be a little ahead of the game

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and get a sample ballot

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and look that stuff up beforehand because they will dog

5:19

you for the phone. It's happened to be before you

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know. I think, did I fill

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out? There was one that

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I had to fill out at home, and then one that I

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did at the polling place. The polling place they took my

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phone. The one that I took at home. I

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was googling everything and I had my parents on speed

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dogs. But that's great. That's like turning

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to your resources to get the information you need.

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That's exactly what a voter should do. How

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are you prepping for the local elections on

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the ballot this time? Are you basically like looking

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ahead and getting all the information? Now? Are you

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doing a mail in? And you're kind of going to do the same

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you know, open book version a little bit of both.

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I'm keeping my eye out, you know, in the

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city that I live, and I'm in New Jersey right now, but i live

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in California, So I'm keeping an eye out

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for everything that's happening out there and making

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sure that I'm at least in tune with

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like all the stuff that I need to be

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in tune for. But then, especially when it comes

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time to vote, that's where the Google kind

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of slips on in. I love it. Now,

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I am maybe guessing that you are probably

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mailing in this time or are you going to actually

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get to go on election day and do the

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thing festival style? Festival

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style, like the way you said that, it sounds like a music

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festival, but it's politics.

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Um. Yeah, I'm definitely

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gonna be doing vote by mail just because

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it's Yeah, but seeing

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everything that's happening with the post

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office, and that's just all terrifying

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to me. So I have to double

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check my resources in this sense

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of making sure that where I'm

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putting my vote by mail ballot is

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actually going to get sent to the right place and it's not

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just going to be tossed to the side. I'm pretty

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terrified of that. For those who aren't aware, vote

6:54

early, Vote early, give them time to route

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that stuff. Vote

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early, that's the best. Yeah. Do you have any

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plans to celebrate your first big election

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experience? Oh? I

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mean, I'm one to celebrate

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all the things, like,

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oh man, I got a new pair of shoes. I guess

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we all have to have some people over like,

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so I wouldn't be surprised if we had like a mini

7:19

voting party or something. I mean, me and my friends

7:21

have been talking about doing theme parties for a while, so who

7:23

knows. I hope you have a huge

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blowout and you send me pictures, because I'm sure

7:27

it is going to be a blast when it comes

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to election day. Are you going

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to be glued to the television watching or you

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more the kind of person that's like I did my part. I

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will find out when all of the votes are counted. I hate

7:39

my answers neutral again, but yeah, a little bit

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of both. I'm probably going to be glued to the screen knowing

7:43

me. But with social

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media nowadays, which a lot of it is, but

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for the most part, you can be informed if you can

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fight the right sources and you understand, you

7:53

know, the truth behind them, as long as you're looking

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into that and looking for that. Yeah, a little bit of both.

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I'll be tuned into that and making sure I'm checking

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into social men because I know a lot of people have either

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got awful opinions or really great opinions

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and I want to see it all. So you

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know you'll be getting them in real time if you just keep

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an eye on social media. So you're

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all set for my last question.

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As you said, like your age group

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is actually very very active

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and motivated, despite what people

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in my age group might sometimes think,

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which is incorrect. But I'm wondering if

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you encounter someone who is, you know, a peer

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of yours who is maybe like, maam, I'm not going to

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do this voting thing. What is the one

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thing you would hope to convey to them that would

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maybe get them inspired

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to make that effort to mail in that ballot

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or to get to the polling booth. So I

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may or may not will not

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confirm or deny that. On

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my private story on Instagram and Snapchat,

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I put like, if you register to vote, I'll

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I will literally buy you coffee.

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And so I got a bunch of that. I

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got a bunch of people swiping and sending

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me screenshots of their voter registration

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for this year, and I was like, well, I guess

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you get free coffee now, congrats, like and

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you know, I just was hoping that's

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like it's another one was like I have a

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really close friend of mine who's just kind of very

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easy going about it, and I'm like, come

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on, you have to and she's like, you

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know, I don't know. And I was like, I will literally

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buy you dinner for a week, please

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do it. Like I'm just trying to pull

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a teeth at this point, my goodness.

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But I guess, uh, you know, if

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buying dinner isn't enough to convey, then

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uh, let's look at the very small fact

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that our country and the people inside

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of it are relying us to do the right thing. So

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you know, just that small little detail. Yeah,

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you guys are the future, so you want to build

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the future that you want to have. It's more

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important than anything. I think. We're people

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who are just now at that precipice

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of being active voters to really get engaged.

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So I appreciate that you are out there

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proselytizing and encouraging

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your friends and bribing them with treats buying.

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Listen, bribery isn't

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the worst thing sometimes.

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In this case, we'll just call it like reward

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motivation. That sounds a little better and less

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dicey. I think reward motivation.

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Oh, my therapist would be so proud of me. Right now. It's

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just a little, you know, a little nudge

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in the right direction. That's of it. So

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there you have it. You have been nudged

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by Laurie Hernandez, So get

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out and vote because she says so, and she'll

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buy you coffee. I'm

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gonna owe so much coffee to the world, right,

10:33

You're just gonna have to buy like a blanket amount

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of coffee from every major coffee vendor

10:38

in the country and be like, wow, there will be a

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code you'll distribute. I'm sorry that I've

10:42

accidentally set you up for doom, but Laurie,

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thank you so much for chatting with me about

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this. You are so delightful and

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this has been just like the funnest interview

10:52

every Thank you so much.

10:54

Who knew talking about vote and could be so

10:57

much fun? Hey?

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Are you not registered to vote yet? But you

11:04

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

11:06

still have time. Voter registration

11:08

deadlines vary by state, so to find

11:10

out the scoop for where you are, check out

11:13

a nonpartisan registration voting

11:15

site like headcount dot org or fair

11:17

vote dot org. Why I'm Voting

11:19

is an I Heart Radio production. For more

11:22

podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit

11:24

the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

11:26

or wherever it is you listen to your favorite shows.