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Chuck Bryant On The Why I’m Voting Podcast · Stuff You Should Know

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  Speaker 1: to learn more. Welcome to Why I'm Voting, a production
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  Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Listen. You already know this, but
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  Speaker 1: it's an election year. You might already be tired of
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  Speaker 1: hearing about it. But here's the thing. Democracy doesn't work
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  Speaker 1: without you. I'm Holly Frying, and I'm sitting down with
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  Speaker 1: many of my fellow podcasters, from Will Ferrell to Stephanie Rule,
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  Speaker 1: as well as other luminaries, to find out about their
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  Speaker 1: relationships with the ballot box and ultimately just to find
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  Speaker 1: out why they vote. I hope you're exercising your right
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  Speaker 1: to vote, and if you're not, I hope that their
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  Speaker 1: stories inspire you. So today on Why I Am Voting,
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  Speaker 1: I am joined by the fabulous and delightful Chuck Bryant,
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  Speaker 1: host of stuff you should know and also movie crush
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  Speaker 1: in general, all around guy who has kindly agreed, Uh,
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  Speaker 1: that should have been all around good guy, but whatever,
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  Speaker 1: he's definitely an all around guy, all around good guy
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  Speaker 1: to join us and talk about his relationship with voting
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  Speaker 1: a little bit. So right out of the gate, do
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  Speaker 1: you remember when you realized as a kid maybe the
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  Speaker 1: voting was a thing and something that you could potentially
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  Speaker 1: participate in one day. Well, Holly, here's my story. I
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  Speaker 1: grew up in a house that did not really talk politics.
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  Speaker 1: It was politics free zone except for the occasional grousing
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  Speaker 1: of my dad. I guess about something, but it was
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  Speaker 1: just not something that was very big in my family
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  Speaker 1: for some reason. And you know, of course I learned
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  Speaker 1: about all that kind of thing in Civics class and voting,
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  Speaker 1: but it didn't really hit home. I kind of got
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  Speaker 1: a late start as far as personally being involved politically.
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  Speaker 1: That didn't come around until until later, like towards the
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  Speaker 1: end of college. So you didn't register right away like
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  Speaker 1: when you were eighteen. I didn't, And I may have
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  Speaker 1: been completely wrong about this, but if I remember correctly,
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  Speaker 1: I think I remember that, and it may have been true,
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  Speaker 1: but uh that if you registered to vote, you are
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  Speaker 1: also registered for the draft. And even though it's silly
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  Speaker 1: to think that there would even be a draft anymore,
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  Speaker 1: I think I remember at the time being like, I'm
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  Speaker 1: not registered me for me, and and I don't even
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  Speaker 1: know if that was true, So it was it was
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  Speaker 1: very shameful looking back. But I also didn't know anything
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  Speaker 1: about anything back then, so I don't know if I
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  Speaker 1: would have been a responsible voter even Yeah, I think
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  Speaker 1: there's no shame in acknowledging. Like when you're kind of
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  Speaker 1: still a dumb kid, you're not really ready to make
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  Speaker 1: decisions anyway, and maybe aren't ramping up to vote. Do
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  Speaker 1: you remember what made you finally decide to register to vote? Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: you know, in college, I think for a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people is when a lot of that stuff becomes a
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  Speaker 1: little more to the forefront, a little more spiritually awake
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  Speaker 1: and politically awake and all that good stuff. And I
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  Speaker 1: remember very distinctly, and I guess my sophomore year in college,
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  Speaker 1: maybe my second or third year, when the first Gulf
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  Speaker 1: War happened, and sitting around and watching that on CNN
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  Speaker 1: and having a roommate who was now an attorney that
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  Speaker 1: was pre law back then that was very political, and
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  Speaker 1: his name was Rob Elz and Rob we're still friends.
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  Speaker 1: He really kind of brought politics to the apartment. And
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  Speaker 1: my other roommate, Eddie Cooper, also we're both ahead of
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  Speaker 1: me politically, and that's when I first started kind of
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  Speaker 1: realizing that it's important to be involved and to be
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  Speaker 1: aware and to know what the hell is going on.
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  Speaker 1: Do you remember the for time that you actually voted, Like,
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  Speaker 1: do you have any memories of that first ballot experience?
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  Speaker 1: I do. The first election I participated in was my
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  Speaker 1: final year in college because I spent six years. There
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  Speaker 1: was the nineties six election, which I guess was Bill
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  Speaker 1: Clinton Part two. I'm remembering, right, yeah, yeah, that track
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  Speaker 1: and that wash. I think you know, Nader was involved
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  Speaker 1: back then. I think Ross Perrot was having his second
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  Speaker 1: go around, and that's when I cast my first vote,
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  Speaker 1: as you know, as a Democrat, and I've been a
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  Speaker 1: lifelong Democrat since then. What is your research process like
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  Speaker 1: or do you research for elections? Like I know for me,
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  Speaker 1: like some of the local politicians, like they're not getting ads,
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  Speaker 1: I gotta do some some leg work to make sure
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  Speaker 1: I know who I'm voting for. What is your process like? Well,
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  Speaker 1: I mean you and I are both sort of professional researchers,
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  Speaker 1: so we know our way around the internet when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to finding the good research. I like to think,
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  Speaker 1: you know, with with the presidential candidates and all, it's
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  Speaker 1: the way it's constructed in this country. You kind of
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  Speaker 1: have a choice of one or two things usually, and
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  Speaker 1: that's always easy for me. But as you go down ticket,
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  Speaker 1: I do research. I just try to you know, Facebook
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  Speaker 1: a lot of times is where not what people are saying,
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  Speaker 1: but people linking to some good information is a good
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  Speaker 1: place to get stuff. I always try to read up
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  Speaker 1: on the measures, the local measures that are going to
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  Speaker 1: be on the ballot, whether it's can you drink on
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  Speaker 1: Sundays in Georgia too, things that are a little more substantial.
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  Speaker 1: But I try to kind of investigate and I ask
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  Speaker 1: around to people that are smarter than me. I don't
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  Speaker 1: think there's any shame in seeking out opinions of people
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  Speaker 1: that really know their stuff. You know. Yeah, this kind
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  Speaker 1: of brings up the things. So you do, obviously vote
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  Speaker 1: down ticket, but do you make sure that you hit
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  Speaker 1: like the local elections that maybe aren't part of a bigger,
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  Speaker 1: you know, every four every two year situation. I do
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  Speaker 1: now and for the past probably fifteen years or so.
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  Speaker 1: Because I got a late start. I thought, you know,
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  Speaker 1: you go in and you vote for the president, and
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  Speaker 1: that's doing your civic duty. And then the more I
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  Speaker 1: grew up and became a you know, a sentient, responsible adult,
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  Speaker 1: you realize I think, like we all do, and like
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  Speaker 1: you probably have, that a lot of those local elections
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  Speaker 1: really really matter as far as what impacts you and
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  Speaker 1: the people that you love and people in your community.
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  Speaker 1: So that is definitely something that came on later in life,
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  Speaker 1: but now those are very important elections for me. My
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  Speaker 1: husband and I always make voting a date. Oh that's fine,
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  Speaker 1: where we always like go to breakfast or we go
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  Speaker 1: have lunch afterwards, whatever our schedule will permit. Do you
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  Speaker 1: have any rituals around voting. Well, I try to vote early,
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  Speaker 1: um in the pre voting, just because I don't like
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  Speaker 1: standing in lines and stuff. Although I will say I've
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  Speaker 1: had some great experiences standing along lines to vote, some
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  Speaker 1: great feeling of community, because I think that's one of
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  Speaker 1: the kind of the fun things about voting. Is you
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  Speaker 1: vote in your district and you're voting with your neighbors.
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  Speaker 1: And I live in a very mixed race neighborhood in Atlanta,
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  Speaker 1: and going in to vote and standing in those lines
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  Speaker 1: to vote for President Obama, it was a great feeling
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  Speaker 1: and you could you could feel it in the air,
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  Speaker 1: and there was just a good spear of community and friendliness.
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  Speaker 1: And so I don't mind those lines because it can
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  Speaker 1: make me feel closer to my my fellow person and
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  Speaker 1: my neighbor. But um, I also do like to try
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  Speaker 1: and early vote as well, just to get in and out.
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  Speaker 1: It sort of depends if I missed my window. It's
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  Speaker 1: not like, you know, I don't hang my head. I
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  Speaker 1: just go like, all right, I'll go stand in line. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I like the line too, because I feel like it
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  Speaker 1: makes you remember that you're not just voting for yourself,
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  Speaker 1: You're voting for the well being of everyone in your community. Totally.
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  Speaker 1: That's a great way to look at it. Now. You,
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  Speaker 1: like me, came to voting a little bit later. You
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  Speaker 1: weren't right out of the gate at eighteen. But I
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  Speaker 1: feel like kids today are better informed certainly than I
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  Speaker 1: was at that age. So if there are any people
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  Speaker 1: out there, whether they're young or even older, that maybe
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  Speaker 1: aren't using their right to vote. If you could tell
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  Speaker 1: them one thing, what would it be. Well, I feel
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  Speaker 1: like subsequent generations behind us are more politically active than
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  Speaker 1: we were maybe, But then I also sometimes see the
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  Speaker 1: voting numbers and see things like, you know, the younger
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  Speaker 1: generation isn't voting like they should. So I'm not quite
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  Speaker 1: sure how to reckon that. I would say, you know,
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  Speaker 1: take a look at the world around you, and if
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  Speaker 1: you don't like what you see, it's kind of one
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  Speaker 1: of the only things that we have. We can protest,
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  Speaker 1: and we can petition, we can lobby and make calls
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  Speaker 1: to congress people and senators, but your vote is really
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  Speaker 1: the only thing where you know that you're on record
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  Speaker 1: of having cast your official say on something. Uh, And
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  Speaker 1: that's important, you know. I don't want to get sidetracked
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  Speaker 1: about the electoral College and some states people might not
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  Speaker 1: think they're vote counts, but it does, especially because of
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  Speaker 1: the ballot measures and the local elections and council elections
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  Speaker 1: and stuff like that. It always counts. It's your duty.
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  Speaker 1: And lastly, you know, as we go forward and we're
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  Speaker 1: getting older and maybe becoming jaded old hags at least.
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  Speaker 1: I but I wonder what it is that keeps you
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  Speaker 1: motivated to vote knowing that, like, it's not the same
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  Speaker 1: as when you're a kid and you're predicting or or
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  Speaker 1: determining your future for quite as long a run, Like,
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  Speaker 1: what is it that keeps you mailing in that ballot
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  Speaker 1: or going to the polls even when it's a pain
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  Speaker 1: in the butt. I have a daughter now, a five
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  Speaker 1: year old daughter, and that's a big part of it.
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  Speaker 1: I want to ensure her rights to have control of
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  Speaker 1: her own body. I would feel, you know, the same
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  Speaker 1: way if I had a son, obviously, but it does
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  Speaker 1: hit home a lot more when you have a daughter,
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  Speaker 1: I think. So a lot of this is to set
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  Speaker 1: an example for her, to take her with me if
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  Speaker 1: you know, she's getting to the age where obviously not
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  Speaker 1: during a pandemic, but she'll be going to vote with
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  Speaker 1: me the next time it's safe to do so. And
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  Speaker 1: I want to teach her about that kind of stuff
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  Speaker 1: because I wasn't really taught that stuff. So I think
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  Speaker 1: it's a very selfish thing to only think about while
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  Speaker 1: I'm here. Let me vote for the things that are
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  Speaker 1: important to me. It's it's about the future and making
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  Speaker 1: sure the planet's taken care of and making sure that
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  Speaker 1: everyone has their rights enshrined and into law. And uh,
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  Speaker 1: to not vote is um, it's lazy, it's cynical, I think,
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  Speaker 1: inc and I'm trying to rid myself of that cynicism,
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  Speaker 1: which is tough as you get older. But it's set
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  Speaker 1: an example for my daughter. I guess it is the
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  Speaker 1: easiest answer, perfect one. In my opinion, You're continuing the
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  Speaker 1: chain of voters. I love it. I'm trying to chuck.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for chatting on me today, but
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  Speaker 1: also just thank you for voting. Thank you. And I
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  Speaker 1: wear that sticker all day, I know. Uh, that's a
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  Speaker 1: big part of it. That Georgia Peach it is. It's cute.
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  Speaker 1: You got to post it on one of the social
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  Speaker 1: meds as well. Yes, that's how people know. So thank you, Holly.
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  Speaker 1: It was a pleasure to talk to you again. It's
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  Speaker 1: always a delight for me. I feel spoiled I've gotten
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  Speaker 1: to do to chat with you recently. Let's keep it
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  Speaker 1: up and let's keep voting everybody. Yes please, Hey are
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: you not registered to vote yet? But you think it's
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: something you want to do, you may still have time.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Voter registration deadlines vary by state, so to find out
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: the scoop for where you are, check out a nonpartisan
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: registration voting site like head count dot org or fair
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: vote dot org. Why I'm Voting is an I Heart
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