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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. Welcome

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to Why I'm Voting Today. I am joined

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by the legendary singer songwriter

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Melissa Ethridge. You know her from her

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body of work, which is significant, but

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also she's got some new projects going. In June,

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she staged the Heal Me Concert on her

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website Melissa eth Ridge dot com um from

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her new home studio to raise money for the

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opioid crisis, and now you can actually

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see her weekly on her website as part

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of her new initiative Ethrite TV. But

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she is also a voter. Melissa,

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thank you so much for being with me today. Oh, it's

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my pleasure. Anytime I can talk about

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this and get people out there to vote, I'm all for that. I

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love it. I will ask you first if you

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can recall when you first learned

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about voting and that you were going to be

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a participant in this grand experiment

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of democracy. Well, I grew

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up in Kansas, you know, right in the

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middle of the country, and my

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father was a Republican and

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my mother was a Democrat. I

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know, it was funny because this is in the sixties

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and seventies, when my mother

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came from sort of that southern Democrat

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and my father came from the the

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labor you know unions,

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you know, working man Republican back

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when they was like that back then. And

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I used to watch each of them. They were very

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interested and involved and they always voted.

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And I remember watching the Democratic convention

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with Humphrey and then I watched the Republican

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conventions with Nixon, and

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I just was kind of raised both ways,

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and I was just fascinated. My

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father also taught American government

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in high school, so I learned, you

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know a little bit about American government, how it worked.

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So I had that sort of nice solid Foundation

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and then but I didn't think. I didn't know how

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to register. I didn't know how to do anything. I went after college

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and was like votings for other people,

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you know. And when I finally got to Long

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Beach, California, when I was about twenty

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one twenty three, I started

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to get involved with There's a strong women's community

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there and they were very politically active.

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And I remember in the bars women

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going around saying, are you registered to vote?

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And they came and registered

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me and said this is how you do it. And

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my first vote was for du

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Caucus. You

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know, yeah, Michael de Caucus. Yeah,

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yeah, that's so cool that you got registered

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in a bar. I kind of love that.

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Hey, they knew where to go get the you know, that was the only

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place that the women sort of gathered like that. You

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know, I love it. Do you remember

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when you made that vote in the election,

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Like what it felt like to you. Did you have

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any strong feelings about it that you had finally

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done something kind of cool. It was in the

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eighties and I was, you know,

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a big part of the gay community, and AIDS

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was just starting to rip through

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our community, and it's when

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our sort of fun, loving gays

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were on the outside of everything, nothing, we

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don't belong anywhere. We all

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had to come together and

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say, no, we need to

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get our government to acknowledge

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this plague that's killing

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us. And so there was a big, strong

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movement back then, and we've gone through those Reagan years

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and I remember thinking, yeah, this, this is

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important, this is us coming together. So

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yeah, I do, I do remember it now. You,

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of course have presumably voted in

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many presidential elections since then, but I'm wondering

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if you also make sure that you hit your

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local elections that happen more frequently. Absolutely,

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over the years, I have learned just

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how important it is that

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all politics are local, from

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the school board, you know, on up

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you know, to through the city council's

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all the way up through you know, your local

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representatives and your state houses

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too, then the national representatives.

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But it's just it's so important

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each of those votes, and I know that you know,

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they count on some of us, not you know,

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ever come turning out unless it's a presidential

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vote. So it's really important to vote

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every election. What do you do to make

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sure you're informed for those local elections because

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it's usually a little bit harder to get information

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about those candidates than it would be for one of

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the big four year events. Yeah.

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Here in l A. I used to read

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the l A Reader and the l

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A Weekly. They used to really have great, you

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know, editorials, and they were very progressive.

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So whoever they endorsed, I would take

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that list and go. But now

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you know that really doesn't exist. So I follow,

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you know, certain websites and stuff

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where you can really at this point, I'm so

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involved with local politics that

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that I just know I actually know the people. At

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this point, you can get involved with local politics

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by supporting your local politicians,

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yes, exactly. One of the things that

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we've talked about with a lot of our guests is the fact

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that some voters feel

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a little bit apathetic about casting

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their vote, either because they feel like none

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of the candidates really are what they want, or

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that they think the election is already pretty much

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decided. Everybody knows how it's going to go. But

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I would like to get your take on why

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it is still important to get out there and cast

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that vote, because

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it doesn't work otherwise. Yes,

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it seems like you're one little drop in an ocean,

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but you're part of that ocean, and

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it's the reason that democracy

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works, that majority works,

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that to either look at the

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candidates and find the one

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that at least is leaning

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toward the direction that

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you feel your community or yourself

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needs to go, or get

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involved yourself. I've seen that happen so many

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times with people like I don't see a candidate that represents

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me, I'm gonna run And those are

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my favorite kind of candidates. That that happened.

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You know that the last four years, that's really

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been happening now, and so that's exciting. And

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you just have to you have to

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believe. You have to understand that, yes,

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you're one in a billions of

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people, but we are all

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connected. And that's how it all works

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is when we all gather together and

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feel that power of the people. There

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are forces who are counting on

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you believing that your vote doesn't matter.

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You know that you can't become part of

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that. You have to understand that

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the people's will is

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the way this whole thing works, and that's

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the way it's set up. I love it. We

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are living in a very strange time. Obviously

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has been a surreal year for pretty much

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everybody, so it's changed the way people

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vote. Obviously, more people will

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hopefully be able to mail in their vote. But

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I wonder if it were a normal year, is your preference

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to mail in your vote or vote early

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or do you like to go day of? I love to

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go day of. We have a nice place

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where we vote here where I live. We

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have a nice little city hall. It's a

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cute little town I live in, so I really

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enjoy showing up and seeing

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everybody and being here. I am, but

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I do travel a lot, and when I am not

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in my town, I will definitely vote

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my mail. Do you have any rituals

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around voting? Do you like to watch

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the whole thing unfold over the course of election

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day? Do you like to stay away from it? Do

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you have any like activities that you

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make sure to do that day as a form of good luck? What

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is that day play out like for you? Well, I used

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to love to watch it all day long until

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about four years ago, when it's

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been rough the last four years. I'm

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very interested and I'd love to

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follow politics as long as I can keep

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my heart up and okay, yeah

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that's the trick. If you could tell

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someone out there, because you are Melissa Ethrid's

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you have a lot of sway and you are a

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leader in many regards and an activist. So

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if you can tell someone who maybe isn't

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using their right to vote to be that

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voice, that part of the ocean, what

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would the one thing be that you would want to tell

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them? Ah, there is no one that

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is insignificant, and there is no

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one that doesn't matter. This

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whole world has always changed

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and been built on small

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groups of people getting together and creating

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change. That's the way it happens. That's the way

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it's done. To change.

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All the power that you have inside of you, if

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you can change it. From I am insignificant,

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I don't matter. Two, I

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am one of a greater whole, and

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I do adder. Not only will that

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serve your community, but it serves

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you. It serves you and your health

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and your mental state. It's good to

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know that you are part of a community, that

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your voice matters. You love

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it. There, you have it direct from

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the voice of Melissa Ethrid. Your

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vote matters. Melissa, thank you so much

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for joining me today. This has been a real treat for me.

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It's my pleasure. Thank you so much for all

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that you do. 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 site

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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

9:48

podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit

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the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

9:53

or wherever it is you listen to your favorite shows