WEBVTT - TURNOUT Episode 1: ‘Democracy is a group sport’ 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.120 My name is Hannah, I'm Dan, I'm Ben, and we 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.080 are Group Love. If you're dealing with stress or anxiety, 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:08.520 or just need some help, cal Hope is here for 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.399 all Californians with free mental health resources to help you 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.560 navigate this uncertain time. Go to cal Hope dot org, 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:16.959 to lat Chat with one of their incredible listeners, or 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:21.400 call their warmline at one three three three one seven Hope. 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:25.239 That's one eight three three three one seven h O 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:32.560 p e hopeless here in California. I'm Colleen with joined 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.400 me the host of Eating Wall Broke podcast while I 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:39.239 eat a meal created by self made entrepreneurs, influencers, and 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:41.920 celebrities over a meal they once eight when they were broke. 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.360 Today I have the lovely aj Crimson, the official Princess 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:49.680 of compin Asia, Kidding and Assia. This is the professor. 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.520 We're here on Eating Wall Broken. Today, I'm gonna break 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.200 down my meal that got me through the time when 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:57.760 I was broken. Listen to Eating Wall Broke on the 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.720 I Heart Radio app, on Apple, pod Cast, or wherever 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:03.840 you get your podcasts. I'm Tanya Sam, host of the 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:07.360 Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood. This daily podcast will 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.280 help give you the keys to the Kingdom of financial stability, 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.959 wealth and abundance. With celebrity guests like Rick Ross, Amanda 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.520 Sille's Angela Ye, Roland, Martin, JB. Smooth, and Terrell Owens. 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.240 Tune in to learn how to turn liabilities into assets 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:25.200 and make your money moves up in Billy Boy. Subscribe 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:27.480 to the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenland on the 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.319 I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts, 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:33.760 and make sure you leave a review. So our most 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:40.000 urgent request to the President of the United States and 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:45.160 every member of Congress is to give us the right 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:47.800 to vote. The right to vote is very basics. We're 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.440 going to neglect that right in there. All of our 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:53.400 talk about freedom is the right to vote has never 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:59.640 been just granted freely. It has always been fought for. 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.200 We do not want our freedom gradually what we want 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:05.520 to be fretting now it's been fat for her on 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:09.600 the streets. It's been fat for This is not a 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:14.320 partisan issue, is wrong. This is an American issue, deadly wrong. 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.959 To deny any of your fellow America the right to 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.639 vote in this kind because our democracy is found it 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:25.560 or ensuring that every eligible citizen has access to the 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:29.519 ballot box by John We've got to fight even harder 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:32.880 for the most powerful tool that we have, which is 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:37.840 the right to vote. This is how in America we 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:47.959 get voting right. I'm Katie Curic and this is Turnout, 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:53.400 a podcast exploring America's voting record, past, present, and future. 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.680 Voting is a cornerstone of our democracy. We the people 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.400 have a say and who governs us and what happens 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.639 in our communities and in our country. But the reality 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:07.720 of how voting works in America and who gets to 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.640 do it has never been as fair or as clear 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:15.120 cut as the story of this nation promised. In fact, 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:18.920 the act or even attempt to vote is often described 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:23.480 as a fight, a struggle, sometimes even a war. But 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:26.880 how did this happen? And who has been waging this battle? 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.560 Who's been fighting to make every generation's path to the 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:34.480 ballot a little less arduous? And who among us has 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.480 taken up the baton? These are the questions at the 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:39.920 heart of this series, and the only way to start 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:46.480 is at the beginning. For all of our imperfections, the 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:52.640 nation was conceived in an experiment of liberty that would 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:59.040 remove the American experience from the monarchs, the nobles, the 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:02.760 inherited power or of the old world. And who better 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:06.240 to begin with? How are you John all right trying 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:10.720 to save America? You know then one of this country's 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:15.720 leading historians and biographers, John mitchum I invited him into 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:19.080 my zoom studio to find out what our founding tells 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:24.760 us about the continuing war over voting, religious liberty, freedom 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:28.600 of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press. These 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:33.200 were essential liberties that the founders believed in were willing 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:36.400 to die for. What were the hopes and dreams, John, 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:40.280 of the founding fathers. The hope was that we would 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.920 be a popular government, not necessarily a democracy, but a 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:47.839 government that literally was based on the authority, the ultimate 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:52.240 authority of the people. And so the work of Philadelphia 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:57.280 in seventeen eighty seven through the ratification in seventeen was 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:02.799 to find a way for the people to be sovereign. Comma. 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:07.560 But and so much of America hangs on the comma. 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:12.320 But they believed that the people could ultimately be trusted 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:16.040 to choose their rulers. They did not believe that the 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:20.760 people themselves could rule from day to day. And they 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:26.000 believe that those rulers would be manifestations of the people themselves, 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:30.880 and the people were subject to appetite and ambition, and so, 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.800 as Madison said, ambition had to be made to counteract ambition, 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.120 which is why you have the electoral College, you have 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:42.719 the Senate, you have divided kinds of representation to try 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:45.960 to find a way to achieve that most elusive of things, 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:52.000 which was balanced. When the founding fathers set up the system, 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.160 it was predicated on a lot of these ideas of 0:05:56.320 --> 0:06:00.880 limited government, a social contract, popular sovereigntry. But it was 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:05.279 far from a perfect union. How so, well, let's see, 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.120 if you were an enslaved person, you were counted as 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:11.800 three fifths of a person, which was particularly insulting when 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:16.880 you think about it, because you were being counted as 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:20.840 a unit of power for those who owned you. That 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:25.360 was a major imperfection. The perpetuation of slavery, the removal 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:30.680 of Native people's women until n we're not granted the suffrage. 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:36.880 So that's an imperfection. So we defined we, meaning white men, 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:43.240 defined citizenship quite narrowly and largely for ourselves. So that's 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:47.560 the largest imperfection. And all in these other implications all 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:55.919 flowed from that. Why were the founding fathers so narrow minded, John, 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:02.200 we see them as limited, We see them as actively 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:04.920 standing in the way of the creation of a multi 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:10.160 ethnic democracy in our native region. You're from Virginia, from Tennessee. 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.800 We did not have a presidential election without some form 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:21.760 of apartheid until nineteen sixty. But I'm careful about glibly 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:25.559 condemning the past. King George the Third of England said 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:30.679 of George Washington in seventy three, if Washington actually gives 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:34.880 up command of the Continental Army and retires, he will 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:38.640 be the greatest man in the world. Because the voluntary 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:43.440 surrender of power to these republican lower case our institutions 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:48.800 was for its time quite radical. The story of the country, though, 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.960 and the reason you're doing this is it has been 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:58.680 an unfolding story, bloody, tragic, slow, painful and provisional, but 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:03.880 an unfolding story of applying the implications of that initial 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:07.480 declaration in seventeen seventy six that we were all created 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.920 equal and should therefore be treated equally. Was the fight 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.040 for voting rights, John, there from the very beginning, and 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:19.320 who were the people who were waiting in Abigail Adams 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.200 wrote a letter to John Adams in seventeen seventy six 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:27.400 saying to her husband, remember the ladies trying to seek 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.800 more rights for women. There was an immense amount of tension. 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:35.240 Seneca Falls was eighty eight. The rights of black people 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:39.480 to vote was even more complicated because of the slave states. 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:44.760 That was an immensely complicated political situation. But the Fifteenth 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:49.040 Amendment tells you that during the reconstruction years after the 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:53.920 Civil War, there was a full expectation on behalf of 0:08:54.080 --> 0:09:00.440 the national authorities that the suffrage was a fundamental element 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:04.960 of citizenship. When you look back at Susan B. Anthony 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.840 and Elizabeth Katie Stanton and Alice Paul and Frederick Douglas, 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:12.520 these generations of reformers, you know, we look at them 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.760 now and they're kind of statues and postage stamps. These 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:20.120 were human beings struggling trying to get just enough attention 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:23.880 and to convert that attention into real reform. And so 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:26.199 the story of the country, in many ways, is the 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:32.240 story of this remarkably tumultuous battle for power from generation 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:36.439 to generation coming up. Voting rights is about power. Voting 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:39.200 rights has always been, and we will always be about power. 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.040 Some of the weapons waged in America's voting wars. That's 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:54.079 right after this. Hi, my name is is Lindsay Louis. 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:57.160 Call Hope is here for you with free mental health resources. 0:09:57.360 --> 0:09:59.599 Go to cal Hope dot org to chat with a 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:04.880 live person called their warmline at one eight three three Hope. 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:09.840 I'm Tanya Sam, host of the Money Moves Podcast powered 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.679 by Greenwood. This daily podcast will help give you the 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:16.120 keys to the Kingdom of financial stability, wealth and abundance. 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.560 With celebrity guests like Rick Ross, Amanda Sells, Angela Ye, 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.679 Roland Martin, JB. Smooth, and Terrell Owens. Tune in to 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.480 learn how to turn liabilities into assets and make your 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:30.440 money move up and parties. Subscribe to the Money Moves 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.040 Podcast powered by Greenland on the I Heart Radio app 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.760 or wherever you get your podcasts, and make sure you 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:41.600 leave a review. The NFL podcast Network is your home 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.440 for all things football. Do you love hearing analysis around 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.199 the league with a touch of mirth, or maybe you 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:50.640 enjoy breaking down X and os in the college scouting scene. 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:55.640 Did you breathe, sleep, and eat fantasy football? Perhaps you 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.880 love the funny headlines that emerge each week. What if 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.079 you want in depth new coverage with reporters, or what 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:06.079 if you want to know exactly how each team got 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.200 its name While you're in luck because the NFL Podcast 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.720 Network has a show for everybody. Our best network, because 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:15.480 the NFL's best talent, bringing you right into the action 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.920 each week. There's always room to add more football into 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:22.319 your podcast rotation, and our vast group of shows will 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:24.960 surely keep you up to date with everything you need 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:28.160 to know surrounding the National Football League. Listen on the 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.640 I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:39.559 your podcasts. When I'm talking about vote suppression, I'm talking 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:47.040 about intentional or reckless steps to deny eligible voters the 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:50.160 right to vote and their ability to vote. Wendy Wiser 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:53.280 is the director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:57.840 Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank focused on defending 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:02.000 systems of justice, vote rights and elections being a big 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:05.040 part of that. There are a variety of tactics that 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.600 have been used, some using the arms of the state, 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:14.599 some using private vigilantes, but any attempt to interfere with 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.520 the ability of an eligible person to vote and to 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:19.559 make it hard for them to do so, or to 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:23.959 prevent them from doing so. Is vote suppression and is 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:28.080 anathema to our constitutional system into our system of government. 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:32.120 Voter suppression is not new. Guilded Daniels is a voting 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:36.280 and civil rights expert, an author of Uncounted, The Crisis 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:41.120 of Voter Suppression in America, which just came out this year. Historically, 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:47.320 we have seen literacy tests, whole texes, vouchers, fell in disaffranchisement, 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:52.320 voter intimidation, economic terror. When I tooked to my grandmother, 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.360 asked her, you know why didn't she vote before the 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:57.800 nineteen sixties, right, She was in her forties when she 0:12:57.880 --> 0:12:59.800 voted for the first time, and she said, black people 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.160 didn't vote. In Black people didn't vote because they can 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.840 lose their land, they can lose their lives. They were 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:10.320 all these barriers. The thing is, these voter suppression tactics 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.520 aren't just a relic of the past. They're as current 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.720 as the phone you're probably using right now to listen 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:21.200 to this podcast. What has changed, says Gilda Daniels, are 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:26.079 what these voter suppression tactics are called. Today. We see 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:32.720 restrictive voter I D laws, voter purges, proof of citizenship laws, 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:38.600 voter deception. We still have Felion disenfranchisement, which certainly became 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:43.120 a source of voter suppression at the turn of the 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:47.120 twentieth century. We see it in the twenty one century 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:49.880 as well, where there are more than six point one 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:53.080 million people who do not have the right to vote 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:59.439 because of Fellon disenfranchisement. Voting rights is about power. Voting 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:01.480 rights is a whole aways been and will always be 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.760 about power, and to the extent their people with the power, 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:07.480 and they understand the power of the vote. Whether those 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:09.959 persons or Republicans or Democrats, what the name of the 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.040 party is doesn't matter. People who have power want to 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:17.400 keep it and want to keep folk from They want 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:21.240 to keep folk from exercising that saying power. But just 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.040 as there have always been those who try to suppress 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.880 the vote, there have been those fighting to reclaim it, 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:31.280 to expand that power among the people. That Wendy Weiser 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:36.440 says is what democracy is all about. If democracy is 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:41.720 a a group sport, it requires us to all participate 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:45.440 and defend it, and if we don't invest ourselves in it, 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:50.800 it won't be able to hold itself up without us. 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:56.280 The right to vote has never been just granted freely. 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.040 It has always been fought for, and when think it 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.680 about what most impedes access to the ballot, Wendy says, 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.240 we have to consider the very thing that grants us 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:10.720 that access in the first place, voter registration. The United 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:15.680 States does have among the lower voter participation rates among 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:19.800 the world's major democracies. One of the reasons actually is 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:25.320 our voter registration system. We actually are unique in the 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.560 world for the most part, requiring voters to take the 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.960 affirmative step of registering themselves to vote rather than the 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.400 government signing them up, and then to keep their registration 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.120 up to date. There is a strong argument to be 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:42.000 made at voter registration itself was created as a way 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.520 of suppressing the vote. This is Charles Stewart, founder and 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:49.040 director of the m I T Election Lab. What if 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:50.560 you just all you had to do was to show 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.600 up the vote. That's a good question. Why do people 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.360 have to register to vote in the first place. It 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:59.760 turns out voter registration is also a relic of the 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.840 ass that's still in use today. Voting has always happened 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:07.600 in this country, even before the revolution in the early 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.520 seventeen hundreds, Voting was a social occasion with drinking and dancing. 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:14.480 When it came time to vote, the colonists who were 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:19.080 eligible would gather together and signify their choice by standing 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:23.160 or saying something. But that's the thing. It was always 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:27.240 those who were eligible participating, which was for a long 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:32.040 time just white male landowners. As more and more people 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.400 came to the New World, colonists wanted to ensure the 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:40.040 electric continued to be just white male landowners, so they 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:44.040 started to make it more official. In Massachusetts, in seventeen 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:48.000 forty two, voters had to present physical proof of land 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:53.280 ownership before they could take part. By eighteen hundred, Massachusetts 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:57.080 made that process unofficial law, and it became the first 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:01.760 voter registration law in the country. Registration laws didn't really 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:05.640 catch on until after the Civil War, when formally enslaved 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.919 black people as well as immigrants started flooding northern states 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.320 and cities. The registration laws that got enacted in the 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:17.040 eighteen eighties in eight nineties were almost all in the 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:21.119 cities were always all intended to keep immigrants from southern 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:27.080 Europe from voting. They're enacted by legislatures, state legislatures dominated 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:30.240 by rural interests and trying to keep the city vote 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:35.359 down by nine hundred. Registration laws spread west, south and 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:39.800 into rural areas, always with the intention of keeping certain 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.480 people out of the voting process. So the history of 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:47.639 voter registration is one of exclusion, which begs the question 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.280 in the twenty one century, why have registration at all 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:56.359 if you care about access to the polls? Coming up 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:01.040 a governor who had that very same thought, we want 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.159 people to participate. There should not be a litmus tests 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:10.159 for participating in this very fundamental act of democracy, the 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:13.399 act of voting, and how her state finally turned the 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:25.040 tide on voter registration. My name is Hannah, I'm Dan, 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:28.040 I'm Ben, and we are Group Love. If you're dealing 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:30.880 with stress or anxiety, or just need some help, cal 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:33.520 Hope is here for all Californians with free mental health 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.639 resources to help you navigate this uncertain time. Go to 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:38.600 cal hope dot org to lave chat with one of 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:42.040 their incredible listeners, or call their warmline at one three 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:46.320 three three one seven Hope. That's one eight three three 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:52.159 three one seven h O p e Hopeless here in California. 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.560 Get the t you need on the podcast to teas 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.919 in a pod. Join ex housewives Teddy Mellencamp and Tamored 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:04.120 Judge as they watch recap armchair Quarterback and breakdown all 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:10.320 things real housewives. Who better to rehash housewives than you know? Right, well, 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:14.600 obviously two girls that are no longer on there we 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:17.400 loved it might be a little better. Listen each week 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:20.600 as Teddy and Tamara watch and recap as only they can, 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.600 giving you all the inside dirt. Each week, we're going 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:28.280 to be recapping whatever housewife is currently airing. So lucky 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:30.879 for Tamarra, we're gonna start, Oh my god, I know 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:33.399 with Orange County. They've lived it, they've been through it, 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:36.600 and they share exactly what it's like. No holds barred 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:39.600 because it takes a housewife to no housewife, and X 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:42.320 is no best. When I watched the shows that I'm 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:45.200 not on, I generally watch as somebody who's curious and 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.400 likes to see different lifestyles and see different behaviors. Listen 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:50.200 to two teas in a pod on the I Heart 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:53.359 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:57.440 This is Roxanne Gay, host of the Roxanne Gay Agenda, 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.760 The Bad Room, and his podcast of Your Dreams now, 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.000 what is the Roxanne Gay Agenda, You might ask what. 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:07.160 It's a podcast where I'm going to speak my mind 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:10.440 about what's on my mind, and that could be anything. 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:14.840 Every week I will be in conversation with an interesting 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:17.360 person who has something to say. We're going to talk 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:22.120 about feminism, race, writing in books, and art, food, pop culture, 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:26.920 and yes, politics. I started show with a recommendation. Really, 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:29.680 I'm just going to share with you a movie or 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:32.520 a book, or maybe some music or a comedy set, 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:35.399 something that I really want you to be aware of 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:38.840 and maybe engage with as well. Listen to the Luminary 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:43.720 original podcast, The Roxanne Gay Agenda, The Bad Feminist Podcast 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.320 of Your Dreams, every Tuesday on the I Heart Radio app, 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:54.920 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:57.800 wanted to look for a model of a state actively 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:01.119 trying to open access to the ballot box, look no 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:06.119 further than Oregon. In Oregon, we actually really believe that 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.160 your vote is your voice, and every single voice matters. 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:12.200 Governor Kate Brown has been leading the state since two 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:16.159 thousand fifteen, but her passion for voter access can be 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:19.320 traced back to the nineteen nineties and the beginning of 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:24.399 her career in public service. It actually began with my 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:28.600 first election to the Oregon State House, and I literally 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:32.840 won that election by seven votes. And I have to 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:36.119 tell you, over twenty years later, I have people come 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:38.040 up to me on the street and they now call 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:41.960 me Governor. Of course, heay, Governor Brown. Governor Brown, I 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:44.920 was your seventh vote. I was the reason that you 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.879 won your race. And it's absolutely true. Everyone who voted 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:52.080 for me, everyone who volunteered for me, they were the 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:54.800 reason that I won that race. And so I am 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:58.840 living proof that every vote matters and that every vote 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:01.359 needs to be counted. And I brought I have brought 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:03.440 that with me every step of my career in the 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:07.560 legislature as Secretary of State and certainly as Oregon's governor. 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.600 And two thousand eight, Governor Brown was elected Secretary of State, 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:14.520 and that role she was in charge of Oregon's voting 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:18.240 process and was focused on removing barriers to the ballot. 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:21.280 Oregon was the first state in the country to be 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:25.280 all vote by mail. The creators of vote by Mail, 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:30.760 their vision was that every eligible Oregonian should be able 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:33.600 to have a ballot be put in their hands, that 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:38.000 every Oregonian should receive a ballot in the mail, and 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:42.560 we wanted to frankly extend that vision and make it 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:47.800 more accessible to register to vote. We implemented online voter registration, 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:53.240 and then the concept of automatic voter registration came about, 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:58.040 and we wanted as many people to participate as possible. 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:02.120 We wanted it to be an inclusive process, not an 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:06.760 exclusive process. So we moved forward with a proposal that 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:12.720 literally automatically registers every eligible Oregonian through our Department of 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:16.520 Motor Vehicles, and then folks who don't want to participate, 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:19.959 they can sign a letter and opt out. As a result, 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:25.920 we have over of eligible Oregonians registered. We went from 0:23:26.000 --> 0:23:28.639 being one of the lowest states in the country in 0:23:28.800 --> 0:23:31.720 terms of people of color being registered to now the 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:35.800 second in the entire country. We also see that the 0:23:35.920 --> 0:23:40.720 electorate has diversified. We have more people of color, we 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:46.200 have more folks from more rural communities registered, and honestly, 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:49.680 we just have the bash folk of Oregonians registered. And 0:23:49.800 --> 0:23:52.680 that's a really good thing. Why is this working so 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:57.119 well because it's easy, I think so. I literally had 0:23:57.280 --> 0:24:01.680 legislators asked me, it's already so easy to register to vote. 0:24:02.160 --> 0:24:05.000 Why would we make it easier? And the answer to 0:24:05.119 --> 0:24:09.040 that is really simple, because we can. We want people 0:24:09.080 --> 0:24:13.200 to participate. There should not be a litmus tests for 0:24:13.440 --> 0:24:18.040 participating in this very fundamental act of democracy, the act 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:21.200 of voting. Was it a struggle? How hard was it 0:24:21.320 --> 0:24:24.200 to get get it past? Hi? You're laughing at me? 0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:29.119 It was absolutely a struggle. I first introduced the legislation 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:32.960 in it crushed my heart when it failed on the 0:24:33.080 --> 0:24:37.200 state Senate floor by literally one vote. But we worked 0:24:37.240 --> 0:24:40.800 hard during that election cycle and picked up another Democrat 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:45.960 in the election cycle, so I knew as we moved 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:50.080 into the legislative session that we would have the votes 0:24:50.200 --> 0:24:52.960 that we needed. And then we knew that this was 0:24:53.040 --> 0:24:55.959 a first in the country system. We knew that there 0:24:56.000 --> 0:24:59.080 were other states likely to follow our lead, so the 0:24:59.200 --> 0:25:02.919 implementation and was really a challenge. We created a blueprint. 0:25:03.280 --> 0:25:05.920 We wanted to be make sure that if this was 0:25:06.040 --> 0:25:09.080 a success, that other states could follow and I think 0:25:09.119 --> 0:25:12.000 we've had seventeen or eighteen other states follow our lead. 0:25:12.320 --> 0:25:15.359 I was gonna say, you have had now at least 0:25:15.480 --> 0:25:18.320 eighteen states who have followed your lead. That must be 0:25:19.200 --> 0:25:22.639 a pretty good feeling. It feels really really good. But 0:25:22.840 --> 0:25:25.800 what I think is most important is that we work 0:25:26.119 --> 0:25:30.440 throughout the entire country, frankly, to make voting as convenient 0:25:30.560 --> 0:25:33.800 and accessible to our voters, that we make sure that 0:25:34.000 --> 0:25:38.000 it's safe. I know in two thousand, nineteen thirty eight 0:25:38.119 --> 0:25:41.600 collected registration and turnout numbers in eight states that have 0:25:41.720 --> 0:25:46.160 automatic voter registration and found that overall turnout was still 0:25:46.359 --> 0:25:50.639 significantly higher for those who registered themselves. What do you 0:25:50.720 --> 0:25:54.040 make of that, Well, I think it's really important that 0:25:54.320 --> 0:25:59.240 we get people registered, and that automatic systems mean that 0:25:59.440 --> 0:26:03.360 more people will participate. We know that UM in our 0:26:03.440 --> 0:26:08.000 first election with automatic voter registration, we saw roughly forty 0:26:09.640 --> 0:26:14.960 of these newly registered voters participate. I think it's important 0:26:15.600 --> 0:26:19.840 that more voices participate and that we make it easier 0:26:20.320 --> 0:26:23.520 rather than harder, for people to have their voice be heard. 0:26:23.560 --> 0:26:26.879 I think it's as simple as that. In fact, ultimately 0:26:27.000 --> 0:26:31.040 five eight found that automatic voter registration contributed to a 0:26:31.160 --> 0:26:36.400 boost an overall civic engagement. I think that's absolutely right, 0:26:36.760 --> 0:26:39.160 and I think that's a good thing for our country, 0:26:39.560 --> 0:26:42.119 and I think particularly right now with what we're seeing 0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:45.520