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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 inspired

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you. Hello,

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and welcome to Why I'm Voting Today. My

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guest is Sammy j. And Sammy is one

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of the youngest members of the I Heart Radio podcasting

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family, so she's kind of my colleague,

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even though this is the first time we get to meet. And

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on her show, Let's Be Real, she talks about

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all kinds of people, many of whom

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are famous, and part of her whole

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approach to that show is pulling back the veil

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of celebrity and showing them as real people and

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just having people relate to one another. And

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today she is joining me, and I

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am very very excited because

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she is a first time voter. So

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Sammy, welcome, Thank you so much for

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joining me. I am so happy

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to be here. Like I was just saying to Um,

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I'm going to my senior year of high school, I am

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about to turn eight. Team to be a a first time voter. And

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we actually listened to one

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of your episodes for my history class assignment.

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So this is very full circle firm that is high praise.

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Indeed, my first question

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is, and you are younger than most of my

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interviewees, so you might have a closer

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memory of this. Do you remember

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when you first realized as a kid that

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you were going to get to participate in government

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with your vote. I don't know if there's a specific

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moment when I was like, oh my goodness, I

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get to vote, But I think as I've gotten

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older, I've just learned so

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much more about the government and what's

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important. I took the US government classes

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year. I found it fascinating and just really

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understanding my rights not only

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as a human being, but also how

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effective and how I can make change. Now

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because you are a first time voter again, I'm so

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excited to be talking to someone that is like, right

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here on the precipice, I am so excited.

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What is your level of excitement about

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getting to vote for the first time on a scale of one

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to ten? Probably I have

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been bringing this up. I remember right after

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the election I figured

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out that like, oh my goodness, I'll

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be able to vote in the next elections. And

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when I realized that, I was like, oh my goodness,

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we got to make this happen. And I think it's just

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I think this is one of the coolest elections to

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be a part of. Yeah, I mean it's great. I have

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been personally, I am so inspired

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watching people your age get

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really excited and amped up

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to be part of this process and to

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make their voices heard, Like, to me, that's so

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exciting. Have you thought about what

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it's going to feel like to vote for the first time. Do

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you have any expectations about casting

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your ballot? Are you nervous about it at all?

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So? I think I'm nervous about and I think with the status

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of the country that we're in, I don't know how

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it's going to be done, because I don't know

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if it's going to be done in person or mail. I've heard some

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talk about that, but I think it's

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just gonna be like a sigh of

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relief to knowing that I

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am a part not only doing my civic duty, but

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I am hope making a change and the change

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that I want to see in the world. Now, what is

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your research process like? Do you have a research

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process that you've already started as a voter to

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make sure that the candidates that you're selecting are

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the ones that best match your ideals and

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your goals. Yes. Actually, I've been really

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into politics for a really long time, and

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especially around sixteen

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election. I started, well, my mom

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is a news junkie, and it kind of became

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our thing to talk about what's been happening with the news.

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And then especially after the sixteen

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election, you know New York, it's kind of a bubble.

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That's where I live, and it's a very democratic

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state, and I realized, you know, everyone

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thought that are you was going to win, but

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then you realize we were just in a bubble. So

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I've spent the past four years really

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trying to learn from

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different news outlets here there are different perspectives,

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so then I can gather my own and unfortunate where

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my parents they want me to

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form my own opinion, and I always ask questions,

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which I think is really important. So I've definitely done research

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from watching different forms of new shows with

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some I believe something I don't. Twitter

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has definitely been

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an outlet for that, and also just keeping

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a relevant topic between me and

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my friends. I love hearing that your friends

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are talking about this too. For the smaller elections,

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like your local elections county and city

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and state, some of those are also going to be on the

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ballot. How are you prepping for those since

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they're not probably getting talked about on Twitter

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nearly as much. Well, I think, especially

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with the coronavirus, this election isn't

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really being talked about as much because you

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know, a pandemic has hit

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us. So I think what I've

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just been doing YouTube has been a really

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helpful resource for me. I watched video

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elect watch congressional hearings, which is a

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weird thing that I like to do. I

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don't know, I just find it really interesting how the

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process is um and

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so besides that, I'm also just really,

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like I said, looking at the different values

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and really stinking with what I believe.

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I think it's all nonpartisan. If you vote

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doesn't matter who you vote for, then you are doing

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the civic duty that you're supposed to that we're

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lucky enough to do. Yeah, we are very fortunate

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to have this as a right. This is,

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of course, as you've mentioned, in pandemic years.

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It's a little weird. But I wonder

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if you just had a choice, would you rather do mail

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in early voting or voting day of or

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have you thought about that Since you don't have experience

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under your belt, you may not have a solid feeling.

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I don't really have a solid feeling. I

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do like the idea of mailing in votes. With

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everything that happened with you know, interference

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in our last election, I feel much

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safer things being done by paper instead

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of electronics. Since you are as

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excited as you are, which I cannot again

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applaud you enough for your I don't think

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you understand how excited I am. I have

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a sense of it, like I'm

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very excited. Do

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you have any plans to celebrate this first

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voting experience or are you like

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making plans for what you're going to do on election day?

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I don't really have any plans

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specifically. I know like election

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day it's going to be a day filled with anxiety

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for me because you know, the ballots

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can go in late. So though I'm gonna I kind

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of just want to have the day remain

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the same for me because I feel like the

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pent up anxiety of it will just be too much

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for me to handle. Because again, this is

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a very important election. No matter who you vote

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for, it is a very important election with everything going

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on in our country. So I'm just

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gonna try. I'm going to get the sticker. I'm

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going to post in the sticker that I voted. I think

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that's what I'm most excited for, and I'm

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just gonna go about my day and

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just try and keep it as normal as possible. So

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wise for your age if you

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could tell someone and you may encounter this

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in your day to day life, particularly like people in

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your age group who are not as enthused

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about this whole process as you are at

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using their opportunity in their right

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and if you could tell them one thing to convince

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them like you really need to activate and go do

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this, what would that be? Well, I'd say a few

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things. Not only are we lucky

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enough to be able to vote and have

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the freedom that we do in America,

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I think especially for women this selection is

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really important because it's a

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huge factor and what's going to happen to our rights

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personally. And if you look back at, you

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know, the nine twenties, I believe when you know

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women were protesting, they fought

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for their lives. They risk their lives to give

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us a chance to be able to use

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our vote. So if you're not going to

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do it, if you think it's boring, just do it

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for the people that have fought for you to

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be able to history reference.

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I love it, Sammy.

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Thank you so much for spending time

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with me today and for sharing your passion, because

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it is so thrilling to know that, like the

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people coming behind us are carrying

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the torch. It's really really marvelous. Thank you,

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thank you, thank you well, thank you for having

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me on your show. I'm really excited,

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like you know, about this election. But also I

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think my generation is really cool and I

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think we're gonna make a big impact, and if we get everybody

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to understand that, I think

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we'll make a difference. I concur and I

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hope that this conversation has maybe

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inspired a few people on the fence to

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get out there and take advantage of their right

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to vote. Thank you again, absolutely,

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thank you. 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

8:47

is an I Heart Radio production. For more

8:49

podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit

8:51

the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

8:53

or wherever it is you listen to your favorite shows.