Speaker 1: Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm going to downplay this and say I'm a
Speaker 2: little excited to have some good old political talk in
Speaker 2: this good old political season with somebody who knows what
Speaker 2: they're talking about. And it's excited to get people out
Speaker 2: and vote, ladies and gentlemen, voters and voters. Introducing Adrianne Shopshire,
Speaker 2: the executive director of B Pack.
Speaker 3: Hi, Adrian, how are you doing?
Speaker 4: I am doing well, Thank you?
Speaker 2: Are you like the rest of us, We're a little
Speaker 2: more excited than maybe we were in uh let's say
Speaker 2: early August.
Speaker 4: Yes, well, if I could quote Michelle Obama at the DNC,
Speaker 4: hope is making a comeback.
Speaker 3: So yes it is. And let's talk about you and
Speaker 3: your place in this process.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about b packs because I like to have
Speaker 2: conversations too on a very basic level. So everybody understands
Speaker 2: the language. So b pack Black Progressives correct.
Speaker 4: Black Coggre'sive Action Coalition.
Speaker 2: Action Coalition, and you guys are a pack correct in
Speaker 2: the formal sense of the word pack.
Speaker 4: So there are two different organizations that work together. So
Speaker 4: b pack is our nonpartisan entity. We make sure that
Speaker 4: people do the education with folks to make sure that
Speaker 4: they understand how to vote, where to vote, understand the issues.
Speaker 4: We talk about what's at stake with folks. Black pack
Speaker 4: is the actual pack, and so that work is much
Speaker 4: more partisan. We're talking about candidates. We're making sure that people,
Speaker 4: you know, understand not just what's at stake, but how
Speaker 4: dangerous some candidates might be versus others.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just thinking to myself, Okay, so I'm
Speaker 2: going to try to make this really an easy conversation
Speaker 2: for you to stay nonpartisan. However, this election kind of
Speaker 2: makes it a little hard. But I'm sure you understand
Speaker 2: that as.
Speaker 4: What do I do?
Speaker 3: So let's talk about a voting plan. What is it?
Speaker 3: What should it look like in the season.
Speaker 4: Well, so we know that the last few elections that
Speaker 4: we have had in this country have been chaos, both
Speaker 4: leading into them and in twenty twenty coming out right,
Speaker 4: and so what we always encourage people to do is to,
Speaker 4: like you make a plan for doing anything else that
Speaker 4: you put a plan together for how you're going to
Speaker 4: get your vote cast, and then figure out if there's
Speaker 4: something you need to do to make sure that your
Speaker 4: vote actually gets counted. If you end up in that category.
Speaker 4: So what we say to people, particularly right now because
Speaker 4: election laws have been changing in states, right we know
Speaker 4: there's been a lot of attempts to suppress the vote,
Speaker 4: and particularly suppress the black vote. And we know that
Speaker 4: right now in states across the country, there's lots of
Speaker 4: shenanigans going on where people are actually kicking us off
Speaker 4: the rolls. So some folks are you going on randomly
Speaker 4: to just check and make sure their voter registration status
Speaker 4: is still intact and finding out that they've been removed
Speaker 4: from the role.
Speaker 3: Okay, so let's start there.
Speaker 2: Yes, how do we make sure that our registration is intact?
Speaker 2: And is that state by state or is that a
Speaker 2: general answer?
Speaker 4: It is state by state. But BPAC has a toolkit.
Speaker 4: It's Bpacdemocracytoolkit dot Com. That's b as in boy P
Speaker 4: as in paul Ac, Bpacdemocracytoolkit dot Com. And you can
Speaker 4: go there and it will guide you through some steps
Speaker 4: to be able to check your status. So you can
Speaker 4: check your registration status. You can get registered if you
Speaker 4: need to. So these are all the steps when you're
Speaker 4: building a plan. Check your registration status, if make sure
Speaker 4: you're registered, register if you need to register, find out
Speaker 4: where your polling place is. Decide if you want to vote,
Speaker 4: if you are allowed, if you want to vote by
Speaker 4: mail or get an absentee ballot, then apply for that
Speaker 4: appsentee ballot so you make sure that it comes to
Speaker 4: your house. We encourage people to vote by mail or
Speaker 4: vote by apps and tee if it's available to them,
Speaker 4: because it just gets voting out of the way, right, Okay,
Speaker 4: So can I just say to you, I was just
Speaker 4: having this conversation with a girlfriend because we were talking
Speaker 4: about early voting.
Speaker 3: We were like, oh, we should, we should really go
Speaker 3: vote early.
Speaker 2: But we're a little what's the word worried conspiracy theory
Speaker 2: esque and somehow in our minds we think that actually
Speaker 2: showing up on the day to the machine will will
Speaker 2: make it more efficient than sending in the mail and
Speaker 2: maybe it'll get lost or you know, just because of
Speaker 2: the last few years, and what we've been told is
Speaker 2: can you make us more comfortable with that action?
Speaker 4: So your ballot is going to get counted, whether you
Speaker 4: send it in the mail or whether you show up
Speaker 4: an early vote in person, or you show up on
Speaker 4: election day and you can track your ballot. Right, So
Speaker 4: you can track your ballot make sure that it got there. Right.
Speaker 4: In most states, you should be getting sent a notification
Speaker 4: saying that they got your ballot. But if you didn't,
Speaker 4: you can follow up with them and make sure that
Speaker 4: your ballot got to them or make arrangements. Right if
Speaker 4: they didn't get it, make arrangements to make sure that
Speaker 4: your voter is cast. I know a lot of people,
Speaker 4: I mean, for our.
Speaker 3: Community, I didn't even know about this.
Speaker 4: I'm so voting is a community action. We like to
Speaker 4: take collective action and demonstrate our political power. That's what
Speaker 4: voting is for us. And so election day becomes really important.
Speaker 4: It is a singular community action. And so I think
Speaker 4: that's why a lot of people like to vote on
Speaker 4: election day. That's important. But what we know is that
Speaker 4: a few things. One is that your vote's gonna get
Speaker 4: counted right, whether or not you do it on election
Speaker 4: day or you do it during early vote, or you
Speaker 4: do it by mail, and again we can track it.
Speaker 4: The other is that we know on election day there's
Speaker 4: a lot of challenges. In the States, there was a
Speaker 4: lot of craziness at the ballot box, whether it was
Speaker 4: you know, mysterious mysteriously you know, the charging cords for
Speaker 4: voting machines disappearing in Georgia right whether it is you know, things.
Speaker 3: Are happening right now as we speak.
Speaker 2: I was just watching the news, like things are happening
Speaker 2: to disrupt our vote right now.
Speaker 4: Lines are long and you end up an hour or long.
Speaker 4: So what we suggested people is avoid all of that.
Speaker 4: If you can get your vote at early, avoid the lines.
Speaker 4: We also know that there are proud boys showing up
Speaker 4: at polling sites trying to intimidate and threaten people, right,
Speaker 4: and so for our community, it's it's not only important
Speaker 4: to get our ballots, our votes in as soon as
Speaker 4: we can if we have the option, but it's also
Speaker 4: a safety issue, right like, let's get let's just cast.
Speaker 2: Our votes, and let's go with our elders maybe and
Speaker 2: maybe you accompany your elders and volts.
Speaker 4: That's right to your first point. Getting a plan in
Speaker 4: place is a good idea. Make sure register to vote,
Speaker 4: make check your voting status, and then decide how you're
Speaker 4: going to vote in person, by mail, absentee ballot. Decide
Speaker 4: what you're going to do and stick to that plan,
Speaker 4: and then you can track. Then you'll be able to
Speaker 4: track your vale, your ballot but there's also, of course
Speaker 4: all of the election protection folks that are out there
Speaker 4: if you decide to go on election day, right, there's
Speaker 4: a number of organizations that can help make sure that
Speaker 4: your ballot is counted.
Speaker 3: I'm sure they'll really be out to this year, so.
Speaker 2: That's right, Yes, absolutely, I wanted to ask you some
Speaker 2: questions to some basic questions too, about some concerns that
Speaker 2: others may have when it comes to their loved ones
Speaker 2: in different situations when it comes to voting.
Speaker 3: I know these are some of my concerns as well.
Speaker 2: If you can just give us a tip for these
Speaker 2: different kinds of situations, like, for instance, do you have
Speaker 2: a tip for returning citizens or convicted balance who are
Speaker 2: now released. Is there something that they should know about voting?
Speaker 4: So folks really need to check with their their boards
Speaker 4: of the rules in their states because they are different.
Speaker 4: And so whether it's you yourself you're returning citizen, or
Speaker 4: you have a loved one who's returning citizen, make sure
Speaker 4: you check what the rules are in your state, because
Speaker 4: we don't want anyone getting in trouble right for doing
Speaker 4: something they thought they had the right to do. And frankly,
Speaker 4: let's just talk about why folks who do their time
Speaker 4: don't have a right to vote on that part like that.
Speaker 4: So there's a you know, like there's we can think about,
Speaker 4: you know, what we need in terms of in terms
Speaker 4: of a federal law. Right, certainly we know that states.
Speaker 2: You know, but I believe I live in a state
Speaker 2: that allows such things. Try to live in a political
Speaker 2: correct state.
Speaker 4: Now there's only a couple of states that just don't
Speaker 4: allow it. But folks need to check the rules because
Speaker 4: we don't we wouldn't. We don't want people getting in trouble.
Speaker 4: But we also want people who have the rights who do.
Speaker 3: Know that they and to know that they have the.
Speaker 4: Right and to be able to cast their ballot.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you about another group of people who
Speaker 2: are experiencing this for the first time, parents who are
Speaker 2: sending their eighteen year olds off to college. Can we
Speaker 2: talk about them, because I would like to know was
Speaker 2: there something that they should have been doing before they left,
Speaker 2: or is there there's something that they should be telling
Speaker 2: them now, Like can you give me some words about well.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think there's there's two categories I think
Speaker 4: for for eighteen year olds. One, either you are an
Speaker 4: eighteen year old who already registered, right, and you were
Speaker 4: excited to turn eighteen year registered to vote. There are
Speaker 4: eighteen year olds who have not yet registered and are
Speaker 4: about to go off to school. So when I know
Speaker 4: that when we sent our daughter away to school, we
Speaker 4: took her, you know for whatever that move in week.
Speaker 4: We they have the big you know, on the yard,
Speaker 4: the student organizations out you know, trying to recruit people
Speaker 4: to the organizations also have voter registration stations, and so
Speaker 4: we looked for when we took her, we looked for
Speaker 4: the voter registration station, and we got her registered right
Speaker 4: there for the first two days, right that we were there.
Speaker 4: So if you're sending your child away, your eighteen year
Speaker 4: old who is not registered, make sure that when they
Speaker 4: get on campus there will be lots of campus organizations
Speaker 4: registering folks to vote. They should look for those organizations
Speaker 4: and they can should get themselves registered where they're going
Speaker 4: to school. If they're already registered and they're gonna stay
Speaker 4: registered in their home state, then they're probably gonna need
Speaker 4: to get an absentee ballot, and so they need to
Speaker 4: figure out how they do that so that they can
Speaker 4: still make sure that they vote at home. Or they
Speaker 4: can reregister if they want it, if they're already registered.
Speaker 4: If you in California and you go to Spelman.
Speaker 2: You better register in Georgia. You listen if.
Speaker 4: You're reregister when you get to Atlanta asrier.
Speaker 3: That's actually some good advice.
Speaker 2: It's like you sent your kids to one of these
Speaker 2: battle ground stays, you know, let them register battleground stage. Yeah,
Speaker 2: another group's expats, can we talk about how soon they
Speaker 2: should be looking into getting their paperwork together to make
Speaker 2: sure Number one, I guess checking their registration and making
Speaker 2: sure they're correct.
Speaker 4: But then they need they need a voting plan, So
Speaker 4: every everybody, all those categories that, yeah mention, all those
Speaker 4: folks need a voting plan. So you're living abroad, yes,
Speaker 4: you should be checking your registration status. You also need
Speaker 4: to figure out how to get your absentee ballot so
Speaker 4: that you can get it in right, so everyone can
Speaker 4: go again, and folks can go to be packed amocrasytoolkit
Speaker 4: dot com and follow the steps to get the information
Speaker 4: that you need or all this is there, yeah, Or
Speaker 4: you can go to the Secretary of State website in
Speaker 4: your state right and find out what the rules are
Speaker 4: in North Carolina, ballots go out September six. We just
Speaker 4: need to be getting information out to people because if
Speaker 4: I get my ballot and I haven't thought through everything, right,
Speaker 4: If I'm in North Carolina, I have the president, I
Speaker 4: have a serious governor's race, I have a state Supreme
Speaker 4: court race, right, And I may not know when I
Speaker 4: get my ballot next week that I need to vote
Speaker 4: for that black lady for Supreme Court, right, that I
Speaker 4: need to make sure that black man who's running for
Speaker 4: governor and is completely insane does not win, right. And
Speaker 4: I need to make sure that I understand that I
Speaker 4: am comfortable with my vote for president.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you mentioned a couple of states because I
Speaker 2: wanted to ask you about that, like what states you
Speaker 2: really need to be on alert for these.
Speaker 4: When we're thinking about what's really important. If you are
Speaker 4: in Georgia or you were in North Carolina, these states
Speaker 4: are critical states. And we got to make texaes too, right.
Speaker 3: I think they're trying to get your boy out.
Speaker 4: Ted Cruz. Yes, yes, yes, yes, Texas right, every all
Speaker 4: the states are I mean, I just want to be clear.
Speaker 4: All the states are important for different reasons, and part
Speaker 4: one of the things that is important for people to
Speaker 4: remember is that the presidential matters. There's also a bunch
Speaker 4: of down ballot races, right, we got congressional races, we
Speaker 4: got house races, we got talking.
Speaker 2: About the down ballot, right, I didn't realize they were
Speaker 2: all on us.
Speaker 4: Yep. So there is a lot of really important elections
Speaker 4: happening besides the presidential and we need people to pay attention. Yeah,
Speaker 4: the voting process is just longer, and so we don't
Speaker 4: have all of the time in the world. So folks
Speaker 4: really need to get their plan together now because they
Speaker 4: have access to in some places, right in some states,
Speaker 4: they have right now the ability to cast So folks
Speaker 4: need to get a plan together, regardless of what sort of.
Speaker 3: They are what they're doing. Yeah, thank you so much, Adrian.
Speaker 2: I know that you are heavily encouraging people that if
Speaker 2: they can early vote, vote and if they can, you know,
Speaker 2: mailing their votes to do so. However, if some people
Speaker 2: want to wait until the party day, I'm curious on
Speaker 2: does BPAK have resources for it just in case they
Speaker 2: don't feel safe, who they can reach out to before
Speaker 2: they decide to go out and vote in things of
Speaker 2: that nature, or just organizations that are supporting.
Speaker 4: So the you know. So one of the things that
Speaker 4: I would say first is that I understand that. And again,
Speaker 4: because we as a community see voting as a collective,
Speaker 4: active power, and so I wanted to show up and
Speaker 4: be there with everybody right to get your pictures on
Speaker 4: their mind, right, do all those things, put it up
Speaker 4: on social media. I did my part. I get that. Plus,
Speaker 4: the stakes of this election are such that however you
Speaker 4: decide to vote, you need to vote right. When we
Speaker 4: think about, you know, what our future looks like as
Speaker 4: a community, when we think about what is at stake
Speaker 4: for our children, when we think about what is at
Speaker 4: stake for generations yet unborn. The fact that we take
Speaker 4: right now will set in place what is going to
Speaker 4: be possible for generations down the line. And so this
Speaker 4: election is so critical that however we decide to cast
Speaker 4: our ballot, we need to get that ballot cast. What
Speaker 4: I would say is that for folks that are concerned,
Speaker 4: you know, we have partners in organizations in states across
Speaker 4: the country, right, and we are on the ground right
Speaker 4: in states around the country, So people can certainly reach
Speaker 4: out to us. But we also know that there is
Speaker 4: an election hotline and the election hotlines will pop up
Speaker 4: in states around the country so that if you get
Speaker 4: to a polling place and stuff's not looking right, you
Speaker 4: can call right, you can call if you have trouble voting.
Speaker 4: The election hotline numbers change from year to year, so
Speaker 4: I'm gonna ask that folks just pay attention. We'll have
Speaker 4: it on our website for sure. Folks can go there
Speaker 4: and get the number as they start to pop up.
Speaker 4: But there are resources, and there is support, and there
Speaker 4: is help if people are concerned about what's going to
Speaker 4: be happening at their polling place. I would say that folks, though,
Speaker 4: should vote early if they can buil your balady, and
Speaker 4: if you have that option, show up to the pole
Speaker 4: as a last resort. But if people want to do that,
Speaker 4: and I get it.
Speaker 2: You're making perfect since you're just changing my voting plan, Adrian,
Speaker 2: that's all. You're making perfect sense.
Speaker 4: I just you know, we tell people and take take
Speaker 4: some water, right, take it, take the next because you.
Speaker 3: Don't want some water for somebody else too.
Speaker 4: That's right, because we don't know how I got to
Speaker 4: be on that line, but just get there. Because this
Speaker 4: election is and we say it all the time every
Speaker 4: election is the most important election. Point forward. Every election
Speaker 4: is the most important election because we're trying to hang on. Yes,
Speaker 4: we're trying to hang on.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Adrian Shropshire. I'm happy I pronounce
Speaker 2: your name correctly the first time around.
Speaker 3: I fl the executive director A B. Pat doing the work.
Speaker 2: I wish you and I wish us the best of
Speaker 2: luck in this election.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Hey, thank y'all for listening to Kuslove Supreme.
Speaker 2: This podcast is hosted by an Afro, a mouth, an engineer,
Speaker 2: and a man with too many jobs aka A mere
Speaker 2: Quest Love Thompson, Why Yah, Saint Clair, shugar Ce Mandell
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Speaker 2: people who do all the real work Britney Benjamin, Jake.
Speaker 3: Payne and Yes, why you is Saint Clair? Edited by
Speaker 3: another person who does the real work, Alex Conroy and
Speaker 3: those who approved the real work. Produced for iHeart by
Speaker 3: Noel Brown.
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