You got a lot of nerve falling me. Hayden, this episode is airing on November 3rd. Does November 3rd hold any significance to you, Hayden, Denal of New Zealand? Oh man, I feel like this has got to be a trick question. Oh wait, it's two days before my wedding anniversary, which is Guy Forks. But do you guys have Guy Forks? We celebrate the man that we tried to hang draw in court for trying to kill the king. We have July 4th, the 4th of July. That is our Guy Forks. Yeah, that's the fireworks. But we have Guy Forks, and Guy Forks tried to assassinate one of the monarchs back in England, and then we hung drew and courted many of his co-conspirators but he managed to jump off the gallows and kill himself in a much less painful way, but it's still quite bad way, and we've celebrated that ever since. Isn't it interesting how America and New Zealand have such different reasons of setting off a bunch of fireworks? Yeah, but for you guys, I mean, like, isn't it kind of celebrating your history of sort of genocidal takeover sort of thing, or no, I guess no, it's not, isn't it? July 4th, Thanksgiving is the one that does that, and that must be November 2. We're not talking Thanksgiving, we're not talking Thanksgiving, November 3rd, what could it be? November 3, January 6th is when you try to do the coup, so it's not that. And why did people get upset? Why did people get upset for January 6th? What were they upset about? The US presidential election that was stolen from President Trump. So Hayden, Hayden, what happens? What happens? An election happens over every four years. What happens between elections for a new president? And what happens halfway? What happens midway through a president's term? It's called the midterms, Dave. It's called the midterms. Yes, the midterms are happening today. November 3rd, it's midterms, it's a midterms elections. Ah, it's happening today. Is this Abdullah Sayed Day? Is this one of James Talleriko Day, or is this all happening? What's it going to be? I think they're all going to win. The Democrats are probably going to win. Imagine that future. Imagine that. Imagine everything will be perfect. I don't want to pour coal water on anything, but I think it will just new to President Trump a little bit and grind up the gears a little bit that your country will still be pretty fucked, guys. I'm David Farrier and New Zealander accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick. Now welcome to Tuesday, November 3rd, assuming of course you are listening to this on release day. Today is a big day in the United States, the midterms. Elections which may well change, not just the course of the United States, but the course of the entire planet. So we have convened this as an emergency addition of Flightless Bird to pay tribute to the midterms, a place where we can all convene and as many of you prepare to go on vote today. So good God, get to a voting booth today right now. Maybe while you listen to this episode, because this is the Midterms episode. Midterms Elections episode. This is topical. This is topical. It's funny we were looking at the schedule a while ago and we realized that this release falls on midterms day, where I think we had a very generic episode ready to go or just like a timeless episode that could run any time. More evergreen. Yeah. It would be the podcast term. Evacuate. Okay, producer. But your midterms seem important. I hear they're important here in this country. Yeah. Well, and I think the thing we were struggling with too is last election, the last election, main election, was so insane and putting a real time episode out about it and what could happen seemed impossible just because of what the world is right now. Yeah, it's an idea that I mean, it's interesting because we're recording this and she listened to this recording this about a week earlier and this is the idea that as you listen to this, when I was imagining putting it out, it's like the symbolings burning, things are being throwing, voting booths are being torn down. So for the record, we're recording this before the time you're listening to it, which is how podcasts work. We're not in your ears live right now. Correct. But also, and our interview subject in the doc, pushing this sort of reinforces this and that potentially today is like going to be the calmest day of the mall, where it's just happening, like the voting is happening, the chaos may come or may not come later. One of the main reasons we wanted to do this was to educate ourselves on how it's supposed to go down and what it means. And we've dealt with the last 12 years of someone selling doubts in our elections, which has clearly been a strategic maneuver. Yeah, if the people don't believe what the results are coming in, then it's kind of this great get out of jail free card. They don't believe the results when they lose, but they believe the results when they win, which is a fun part of it. And they also do this thing where they accuse the other side of doing the things that they typically tend to be guilty of. Yeah, the finger pointing is that thing where they're kind of pointing a finger back at themselves, right? Then is just maddening. The other weird thing about this day is that in New Zealand, November 7, we have our main elections in New Zealand, like our generals. So, while I think about this, the midterms, which I can't vote in, I'm casting my vote from overseas for the New Zealand elections, which are also really important. And I think New Zealand's interesting at the moment, because I think talking to Americans in general, I think everyone remembers Jacinda Duren, our female prime minister, who was just so incredible, and she was on Colbert. I think everyone just assumes she's still your leader. Completely. And she's not. We've got essentially three men generally running things in New Zealand, and it's regionally right leaning. Our politics are pretty annoying. And so this election for New Zealand also weirdly feels quite pivotal and important, because New Zealand has kind of been following America down just similar little ways of the talking points she hear in politics and the dog whistles. New Zealand is doing that should as well. Well, I mean, I feel like it's happening globally. Brazil just, we're recording this after the results have come in. They went against the right wing candidate, which is great, a good sign for. Great sign. Hopefully what we can see globally, but. Yeah, things in Germany, not going so great. Yeah. I also have very little confidence that current administration won't try to lie and cheat and steal. Would you give you that idea? Through, would you give you that idea? And just accept it. And I think, what, the main thing that's at stake is democracy, but that the Democrats take control of the House of the Senate and can hold the president accountable for some of the actions. So it's very dire, I think, to him that he clings on to control. Yeah. He, I'd love to be in Donald Trump's brain and around his eye. No, I don't want it. I'll be curious to be in there just to kind of feel the emotion in the panic. I don't really know if he feels emotions like the rest of us, but I'm, you know, and I know, you know, my impression of the current administration, certainly Trump and his family as they just want to remain in power so they can get richer and avoid justice in some way, like it's the best place to them to be. So I imagine there's a sense of encroaching panic, but maybe he's just wakes up every day and his brain's just blah, and off he goes. Yeah. Hard to say. There's more and more of the deck being stacked to where the guardrails that are in place are being controlled by people that he has control over. I'm curious what your history with voting has been, you know, like growing up with, you know, the history of voting in your family. Not in regards to who you vote for, but how important it was to you growing up. Because I guess again, I'm coming from New Zealand where there's a generally, there's a big apathy to voting and the number of people not even registered to vote when registration closed in New Zealand. You know, there's hundreds of thousands of people that I even signed up. And I'm just curious to what your relationship with voting in general has been like, because there'll be people listening to this for whatever reason. They're like, ah, I'm not going to vote. Well, my earliest memory of voting was my elementary school would shut down on voting day, because it was a voting center. Ah, so they were brilliant. Great day off, but it also kind of showed the importance of it. Yeah, it's like the whole school is shutting down to do this thing. Yeah, this is important. And the adults are all coming to vote and guess their votes. Politics seems so much more. They seem so different now than they did then. Sam and New Zealand for me crying out.
I growing up, my dad was always very vocal and civil rights were very important to him. Um, he kid, he gave a shit, yes, and my mom came from a family from the south, very republican roots. Uh huh. Yeah. Did your mom and dad sort of come together on things? Or was there a fact where your mom is hearing your dad is there? I think it was more my mom was apathetic for a while. Okay. Yeah. And, and then the Hillary and Trump election happened. And now, I mean, I had to sit my mom down and have a conversation with her, because I think it was just more voting political lines at that point. If you vote republican, you always vote republican. Very close to her dad. And he was a staunch Republican. We knew that she didn't hold the same values that she was potentially going to be voting along those party lines for. Yeah. Yeah. So we, we, we sat her down and talked to her about it. And we found this website. Um, I've probably told this story. Um, I side with, um, dot org or dot com. And it's a fairly objective view of you, you go through what's important to you, what's important to you, how important it is to you on all of the issues. And you can answer a ton of questions or a few. And you can say, I don't really care about this. I care about that. But I know, I mean, she grew up in the church. She, yeah, one of her best friends at the church, uh, the game music director. Yeah. And we had to have the conversation of the implications of what you're voting for. Yeah. And, and how did that, I mean, I love your mind a bit. She's great. Like, did that conversation go pretty smoothly? Was it, was it push break? Cause I think that's such a mature thing to do. To sort of sit down and just have a conversation about things and not be like, oh, fuck that party. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Um, no, yeah. I mean, to her credit, she was willing to do that. And she got like 96% Hillary Clinton. When she, when she shook, she was going on in my life right now. And I will say, since then, she has took such a radical turn in the other direction. She's two work where she, she watches so much political commentary now. She watches, she's super engaged. Yes. She's very engaged. And I think now that she's online, she, she has realized that which is, which is also great to see someone that seemingly was stuck in their ways. Yeah. Was able to take that in, especially later on in life as well. When you are kind of, I feel like you're kind of dug in by that point, you know, that's cool. I really like that. But yeah, voting for me, like since I was 18, I voted. We have there was a little, there's always a church or an elementary school. There was a little Korean church down the street from our house. And yeah, I remember voting that first time I, I remember going to Chicago when Obama won in 2008, which that was the first time presidential election that I was able to vote in. What a banger of a start, you know, for someone with your values, like what a banger. Yeah. And he's from Chicago and he's there speaking and there's a ton of people out in the city celebrating this. I mean, I'm envious of that. I mean, I was in watching it on the news back in New Zealand just going this seems incredible. Like a black president. This is what is happening right now. This is amazing. But then you have the like I have siblings that like my sister's pretty apathetic to voting. My other one has I think become more, she's more realized the importance of it. And then I my brother, your brother who is like the upside down of you. Yes. Yeah. And I feel like sitting down for a conversation with him would probably not go as smoothly as with your mum. No. I've I've tried to have those conversations with him. Hasn't swayed him. No. No. That's the yeah, I don't envy. I'm yeah, I don't definitely have different political beliefs in my family, but it's not extreme. And so it doesn't become this at loggerheads thing, which I know you have with your brother, which will do you think that'll come up over these elections like that conversation with him or is it kind of not in the the back and forth text now? I haven't texted I haven't we haven't talked in like two years, I mean two years. It's probably close to that. So I don't anticipate it will because because he's blocked. I don't plan to antagonize. He may try, but yeah, don't take the bait. Yes. The other question I had before we talked to an expert in midterms shortly, but something that I've gleaned from every high school set in America, film or TV show is that class elections are such a big deal in America. And New Zealand, look, when I went to school, wasn't a thing. Maybe it is now. Can I say I don't remember ever having a class election in any of my schools? This is a fucking myth from the TV. Yes, so it's not everywhere. Not in the Midwest or is not in the Chicago suburbs where I went to school. Actually, I mean, I'm going to drop out email address right now,
[email protected] because I am if you have any strong feelings about class elections, because in my mind, that was almost a way not just to create great drama for TV shows, but it just seems to kind of put American kids in the mindset that voting is important. And it's the thing you can do and you can campaign. Whereas in New Zealand, we didn't really have any of that. And it was just this thing that boring people did, like your parents and old people. And so why do I get excited? But I just always think of, oh, that's so funny. I mean, my school might have had it, but it was not. Yeah, it was not everyone has to go and vote and do this. And everyone's at a pep rally. We're there debating. You didn't do all that stuff. None of that. Yeah. I don't recall. I'm sure there was some sort of like student body that you just didn't give a shit. You were like busy buying sport and going to shows. Yeah. But I would have at least, I think I would have clocked like if they were forcing. But don't, don't you vote for Prom King and Queen? Is that another voting thing? I didn't go to Prom. Oh god, that's right. We have that in common. I never went to Al Prom either. It was too terrifying. Yeah. Because I know very little about the midterms. I wanted to talk to someone who does know more about the midterms. You hooked me up with this person, Aaron Geiger-Smith. She's a journalist and author. She's worked for Reuters and Business Insider covering legal news. She graduated from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, the University of Texas School of Law, and the University of Texas in Austin. I would argue too many universities. A lot of universities. She grew up in Texas, which I find interesting. That's kind of like where she grew up. Obviously, as a particular political set of beliefs around Texas currently lives in Manhattan, which is where I zoomed her from about one day ago. I wondered if you could just introduce yourself and kind of talk to why we should listen to you when it comes to talking about the midterms. So I am Aaron Geiger-Smith. I am a reporter, and I'm the author of a book called Thank You for Voting. It has a companion young Reuters edition. As I have a 12-year-old now, that once become even more exciting. Since about 2018, I've researched and written and interviewed a gazillion people about how our elections work and how they should work, as well as sort of the history of how different groups in America got their right to vote. So I've been spending all this time on it. I hope I've got some worthwhile information to force upon a listening public. Now, this is sort of a tricky interview in a way, because I am probably less knowledgeable than your 12-year-old. I know very little, and yet our audience who are, you know, there's a lot of Americans in our audience who will know a lot more than I do, and so I'm going to be asking you quite basic questions, but I'm wondering if in your expertise, if you can feel free to upgrade your answers to talk to people that are smarter than I am. I think a lot of, there are a lot of things about our elections that people don't know, and that frankly, you don't have to know, obviously showing up to votes the most important, being an educator voter is ideal. But there's plenty of things. When I started working in this, I went to law school, I was a lawyer, I'd been a reporter for a long time, and I thought I was pretty educated, but you know, there's always way more to learn, it turns out. So we're all at different levels of knowing how this all works. Matt, thank you for making me feel bitter about myself. I appreciate that. You should. Also, why should you know all about all of this? Well, this is also a funny little side, but you know, I often think about this, you know, I pay taxes here in the US now, but I can't vote, which I do find sort of amusing. Yeah, no, I think it's very frustrating. I would find that frustrating. I want to start with a very simple question, you know, we're recording this on October 25th, but this will be airing on November 3rd, which is a day of the midterm elections. So I guess my question is, what are the midterms? And you can answer that in any way you want. I mean, anywhere, I want how exciting. Now, so the midterms,
are what happens two years into a presidential term. That's why they're called the midterms. People think about them as elections for Congress, which they are. Every member of the House of Representatives, all 435 are up for a vote and about third of the Senate. But also, at the same time, there are state and local elections that happen. And there are elections for Supreme Court Justices, governors, attorney generals. So the maybe easiest way to think about it is it's exactly like a presidential election, minus that presidential office at the top. So it's really, people think of it as somehow less important or less impactful, but that's not true. They're pretty, pretty big deals. How is that reflected in the number of people that turn up to vote? Because I'm also thinking about this in a New Zealand context. We have our general election coming up on November 7. And as usual, there's a lot of people not even enrolled to vote. There's a lot of people that could really make a big difference in a country of 5 million-ish people. What's it like in America when it comes to the midterms? Are people engaged or are they painfully disengaged? You know, it is somewhere in the middle in that certainly turnout rates for midterm elections are lower than presidential elections, no doubt. Presidential elections recently have been about at 60% a little higher. That's actually really great for the United States turnout. That's historically impressive. In the last few midterms, Americans have been doing a lot better. So last time it was around 50% for our younger voters, they still need to get those numbers up for sure. But yes, the turnout rate for midterms is just lower than it is for the presidential. And those of us who work in voting would really like that. Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors. Support for Flightless Bird comes from Ethos. Now I hadn't thought about life insurance until my friend Dan started talking about it. He has recently had a son and so he sort of realized that his life was bigger than just him. And so life insurance became this really important thing that has helped to give him peace of mind. And now I'm thinking about it a lot as well. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy and it's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, you can apply in minutes and get same day coverage. Also, there's no medical exam. You just answer a few simple health questions and off you go. And you can get up to $3 million in coverage. Some policies are as low as $30 a month. And don't just listen to me rattling on about it. Ethos has a 4.9 out of five stars on trust pilot with over 5,500 reviews. So take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com/bird. That's eth.os.com/bird. Application times may vary, rates may vary. Trust pilot rating as of 8/1/20206. Support for flight this bird comes from Quince. Now the best pieces in your closet are the ones you can count on whether you're heading to work, going out or keeping things casual at home. And at this time of year, Quince makes finding something great for everyone else just as easy. So this holiday season, it's where I'm shopping for myself and pretty much everyone on my list. Quince focuses on high quality staples made with premium materials like 100% Mongolian cashmere. So timeless, they're versatile pieces that feel special to unwrap and become everyday favorites long after the holidays. And that cashmere sweaters started just $60, which is a pretty great gift to come Christmas. Also, everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen so you can give luxury quality pieces without the luxury price tag. And I'm a big fan of Quince's t-shirts. I hike a lot, I sweat a lot, and they are breathable and they are so simple and they look great and they just fit on your body really well. I am a big fan. And when it comes to gifting, Quince has a lot more than clothing. They've got fine jewelry, leather bags, hotel quality bedding, shift grade cookware, and five star luggage, which I know Rob is a big fan of. Basically, plenty of ways to find something special for everyone on your list. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks you where you heard about them, let them know it was Flightless Bird. It's the best way to support the show. (upbeat music) Obviously all sort of watching from the sidelines, it seems that all I can hear people talking about are swing states and the idea of things getting, as opposed to less Republican, more Democratic Republicans, panicking that they're gonna lose people going blue. How vital is it to the future of the presidency? What happens on November 3rd? Well, I mean, I think political commentators would say it's very vital if a president has, so right now, Trump is a Republican, the House's Republican majority, the Senate is Republican majority. If after this election, the House's Democratic majority and the Senate is a Democratic majority, that's kind of a bummer if you're a Republican president. It just means all of those things, you have to fight harder for what you want. The House and Senate are likely not gonna do what you want so it can have a giant effect. That's also true if, you know, in this election, polls now are saying that the Democrats are likely to win the House. It's gonna be a little harder for the Senate. Still, if you have one, split parties between the House and the Senate, that makes it tougher for the president, whichever party he's a member of. So, you know, it can have a giant, just a huge effect if you're a president and you, your party controls the House and the Senate, it's easier to make things happen. There's, so that's why it's a big deal. And also midterms, that's why they're sort of considered a referendum on how the president is doing. Whenever it is often two years in, the American public is like, you know, by the time the midterms come, start terms come for any president, that's usually two years, is enough time to fill a little skeptic and less excited. So, they're a big deal and can matter a whole lot for how the president's next two years go. - Now, I know you're not in the prediction, markets game, but do you have an indication of how much of a change this could be? - The polls are indicating that the House, Democrats are very likely to take the House. They have a good chance in the Senate, although that's really close. I mean, I am not in the prediction market for about a million reasons, but one of them is, you know, it feels like we should have all learned our lesson on election day now and that, as they say, the only poll that matters is Election Day. So, I don't think I'm just being, like, I am not trying to keep it close to this. I really, in my mind, and let's see how this turns out person. I look at the polls, but you also, you know, when you look at the polls, you also have to look, are they within the margin of error and all that sort of stuff? And though polls are certainly leaning the Democrats way, a lot of them are also still pretty close race to rate, you know, individual races are close. So, we shall see. It's gonna be exciting to watch on Tuesday night, for sure. - Yeah, exciting is one way to put it. - That's true, that's true. - You have reported on and looked into things like voter suppression, obviously voter turnout, a lot. I'm curious how you feel about that going into the midterms about how people can vote and also just about the perception of voting as well, 'cause, you know, again, looking from the sidelines, it seems like the current administration has been very good at throwing doubt on the results of elections and that kind of thing. So, I'm wondering how that is playing at the moment. - I think the good news is now that we're here in people are voting. It's playing out how elections are supposed to play out, which is people are showing up. They're generally able to vote. If they're not able to vote, they have, you know, notice be to their poll worker. There's hotlines you can call. Certainly it has been a really tough year, the Supreme Court, further hindered the Voting Rights Act. Money in these elections is just going bananas. There are certainly things that need to be fixed and addressed and we could do better protecting voters and voting rights, but despite all that has been thrown at voters and especially minority voters, they're showing up and voting. You know, sometimes one of the like counter things to voter suppression is sometimes when you try to make it harder for people to vote, those people try even harder to vote. - Yeah, they dig in, they're like fuck this. - Yeah, they dig in and it raises awareness. And, you know, communities who have, that people have tried for a little bit.
really long time as long as the country has existed to make it harder for Black Americans to vote and brown Americans to vote and unfortunately those communities have learned how much they have to organize and show up and help their younger people to vote drive their older people to the polls all of those things so it is going to actually be interesting to see this year once all the votes are counted and we have a better idea of turnout demographics whether all the things that were thrown at people kept them home or motivated them instead you know college students walking further to vote you know organized and and walking a couple miles to vote because their closest polling station had been closed down like stuff like that really makes a difference also heard a lot in the news about voting by mail right and does that play into the midterms very much mail in voting or is it turning up to a booth on the day in the last several cycles people have started using vote by mail a lot more some states like you're in California almost ever winning California votes by mail it's a kind of another one of those things where there was a whole lot of noise around it and the system is still working and people still can still vote by mail follow your rules in your state you know they're advising people to drop off the drop boxes you can instead of the mail especially if you waited too long but it's sort of like despite all the noise it's working as as it should and people fought back against limitations on it all of that said again after the election we'll see did more people decide hey I'm just going to go vote in person early instead of dealing with any confusion I might have I've provoked by mail so we'll see this is going to be a different sort of election in that way as we'll learn how all of this noise affected voter behavior and when you say noise what do you mean by that if you are just like a regular listener of the news and you hear Trump had executive orders trying to limit vote by mail well those were largely fought back against in the courts he doesn't really have any part in making vote by mail rules that's not what the presidency is or but if you just hear the first part and you don't follow all of the steps after you may be a little confused that's the situation I was in I think exactly that I heard that top line and then just to shoot maybe everything had been shut down or it had a massive change but that hasn't happened which is right and that's like that's why at this time when you're close to the election and if when this when this airs on election day people who work in voting are just want to tell people make your plan to vote check your polling place check your registration ahead of time like you do all your steps and it you know you should be able to vote without issue and that vote will be counted as it should be so it's more like we're in the like calm calm down phase how long will it take for the results to really be known and to be solid are we talking overnight is it a week is it a month as is of things go smoothly right if things go smoothly it's pretty quick some states are really fast you know like Texas usually comes back pretty fast it states where there is a lot of vote by mail California they take longer to count because they have more mail ballots I think this will be a normal ish year you'll know some races the night some may take a little longer but there's nothing happening this year that's going to make things take extra long or be any different it's just like more mail and mail and votes and when they start counting them which is different states to state but I think will as is true most election nights there will be able you know the the media will make projections as they usually the media has to have something to talk about these have graphs and hours and hours for hours and hours you know from from right now till forever I do have an admiration for journalists who have to keep talking all night it is there's a fine art to be able to babble for that long we can't do it I know I am not a I love doing these sorts of interviews but if I had to talk for eight hours straight I think they would be here 12 hours on Fox 18 hours I just I don't have it or having to like point at the little map that is no no no that is my nightmare second-degree screen involved no thank you yeah no that's what other states that are big in the conversation come midterm day today November 3rd when this is for the house there are compete the competitive districts all over the place if someone like wants a tip of house districts to look at I always look at cook political report which is a non partisan site that they have a list of house districts to watch and that's like the easiest cheat sheet for that because there's a lot of them and it's all over the country for the Senate Texas is going to be a huge race I mentioned that I'm a I'm from Texas so that's also I'm I've been in New York forever but it's still interesting watching Texas politics Georgia Maine where you have a long-term Republican incumbent and then Kansas Ohio Alaska and Alaska's one that'll take a little longer so those are the states really to keep an eye on also you mentioned swing states like seeing how house races and Senate races are going in those traditional swing states is also a thing to watch but like I said if you for those who want to like you know make themselves a house races list cook political report has about 17 that are the toss-up districts now and that's kind of wild to think that out of 435 there's only 17 that they don't consider leaning left or right right now that is why I was in it actually yeah it does I mean and that's for all that's for all sorts of reasons it's because of gerrymandering it's because you know people live near people that think like them all those sorts of things and then some states really are deep red and deep blue and thus most of their house districts are the fact that there's only 17 that are considered a toss-up now is pretty crazy it was in the early 20s last week so but still we're talking you know essentially 25 out of 435 tops is pretty wild I always think of you know when it didn't go Donald Trump's way back in the 2021 election was it 2020 when was the actual election that election is 2020 and we were still it was still debating the results come to anyone so yeah I guess I'm curious you know is they're feeling out there or any sort of sense of where Donald Trump's and their publicans heads are at as far as the things don't go their way I think people are fearful that something they could do something and like I'm putting they and something and in quotes things probably will run like they should and people will win and lose and people may be bummed and try things like you know after an example is in the 2024 election there was a state Supreme Court race in North Carolina the person who lost they did the recounts they did all the things that you do and he wasn't willing to accept said loss and so he bought lawsuits kind of trying to get to change the rules after the vote to say some overseas voters should have been able to vote like just essentially trying to change the rules after it happened and though it took work this way through the courts took longer than it should have it was almost six months before a federal court finally was like no the votes count you can't change the rules but even that is an outlier example of like six months is a very long time but it just it went through the court process it ended up how it should have and that I think is the way that people should think about any sort of shenanigans like trying to complain about certification will certification is just a list of things that election officials check off it's not some oh we shall meet and decide if election should be certified it's like no we've counted the votes we've checked the votes we've done everything it's a very boring practical list it's a very boring practical list and there are many rules around it and if so one tries to mess with those rules you know that that's what our laws and our courts are for I think there are a ton of people who spend a lot of time thinking through the things could that could go wrong and are prepared if they do from what you're saying to me now it feels like you do have trust in the system and how it works essentially I do I am I will be totally honest that I am not losing sleep over this in this election that feels good to hear this feels good to hear and I feel like a lot of people listening to this today this will be a nice thing to hear yes I well and you hear so much but another thing that like probably you wouldn't know and that a lot of people don't is you have to think about how decentralized our election system is so elections are run by states and they're run by counties
They're run by your friends and neighbors, truly. Like I'm from a really small town in Texas. So the people who ran my election were people that I do, you know, in the grocery store. Teachers like, it was, so I'm able to sort of think of it as like, that's how close it is. And in my small town of La Rie, Texas, people are going to vote. And it's gonna be those people there who count the votes and tabulate them. And that happens all over the country. So if you are trying to like mess with the election, well, which one are you gonna mess with? - You've got a lot of, we've got a lot of work to do. - You have a lot of work to do. It's like the decentralization of our system is like a feature, not a bug. - Yeah, I hadn't thought of it in that way. You're completely right. I really like that. It's not some central group of 10 people running things. It's just so, so spread out. - Yeah, you can't go pull some, plug somewhere. You know, people are prepared for all sorts of problems. Like, you know, it was, I think 2024, a massive, weather event, I believe was a hurricane in North Carolina, that they just had to scramble really quickly and figure out how to move polling places and get, it wasn't election day, but it was, you know, they had to work with their mail voting. They had to make sure people get their ballots. Like, people are prepared for all sorts of scenarios, not all of them nefarious, but it's a localized plan that said election officials really work together to understand, you know, they're planning for this for, since, you know, one election ends, they plan the other and they talk to each other, oh, we're seeing this crop up. We're seeing this sort of threat. How, how are you dealing with this? And so they, you know, it's, it's public servants who are trying to do their best and really believe in the system and want to make it work. - What are you going to be doing as this episode is an November third? What's your day going to be looking like? - I'm not doing, get off the vote stuff. I'm certainly not working with any campaigns. Watching to see if something is going wrong and how the courts are responding, that sort of thing. But sometimes for us, election day is-- - You can breathe. - Yeah, you can, I actually, I truly, I said to a colleague, I was like knock on wood, I'll do it again. But if, if election day is good as well, I was like, let's go get a burger and like have a lunch and make the, make the day go by a little faster. It's a long-- - What kind of burger, what's your default burger? - My favorite burger in New York is either the Emily burger or I have one called Eli's at my corner that's delicious but I'll probably be downtown, so whatever. - Final question, biggest misconception you think Americans have about November third. - The biggest misconception might be that fear that it's going to be different. I obviously can't promise that something crazy won't happen or people won't try to do things they shouldn't. But all of the things leading up to it have been to both prepare and make sure voters can just vote and I think that that's what's going to happen. So I think the misconception might be this is going to be a very different election day and I truly believe that it is not, that it's going to go as it should and people are going to be able to vote and people should vote, go out, vote with confidence. - Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird. (upbeat music) - I was Erin. - Yeah, she's great. It's nice to just be led through sort of the situation and also I mean, I don't know how you felt but I had a general kind of calming effect on me. - I agree. - I think she's right. - I feel like there's a lot of doom and gloom going into this election cycle but her confidence and trust was comforting to hear about. - And she's across stuff. - Yes. - There's also in the back of my mind, I still, I just watched the social reckoning which is a pretty terrible film. I didn't love it but the spoiler alert for the social reckoning and the informal sequ order, the social network film, it looks back it's got a reenactment of the siege of the Capitol and just remembering that shit. - Very unexpected and wild and so that's always just simmering about things. - Right, you know. - Don't go, the Republicans weigh what will their followers do, what will they be in scene device to do and what will they look like. So that's what's always like simmering away in my brain. - Right, there's not been a great track record but I did find it very comforting, I've never heard discussing how decentralized it is in that there are so many different pockets and places that are handling on their own. - Well, it made me think about how you were talking about your school being shut down. So your voters could come in and vote there. It is so localized. It's not some, it's not one website you jump onto to vote. It's such a community focused thing and that feels good. - Yes, the other thing I did look up of just the history of the political party of the president and what typically happens at midterms and historically the president's party does lose ground in the midterms, 20 of the past 22 midterms. The average midterm loss for the president's party has been 25 seats. - Oh, real interesting. It's not like they're surging every time. And like Aaron said, it depends on the popularity of the president and how severe the loss is and the Senate pattern is typically weaker. But yeah, I mean, I don't think his current popularity is too high, so. - No, I think yeah, between kicking off a war, sending gas prices zooming up everywhere, including New Zealand, we're feeling it there. Epstein stuff, gurgling away in the background. You've talked to that where just not a good vibe, bad vibes from the president. - And then just the talks of his competency and aging. - It is that thing where whether you're a right wing government or a left wing government, when it comes to halfway through your term, same in New Zealand, your popularity drops 'cause you come into an election with all these promises. Generally, a lot of those are full of shit or you're not gonna be able to achieve them and so people are just looking at you going, oh, you're not that great. We're gonna swing back the other way. I in a very uninformed way about sort of understanding politics on a grand scale feel so frustrated. I love we're voting and I love things can change, but it feels so frustrating to me how it feels like to fix the problems the world's facing right now. But the country and the world take such long term thinking and so having governments change every four years or how many years are in your country changing. It's just feels like, oh God, like you gotta get this new team together. They've gotta come out with a new strategy and just back to New Zealand's, the number of things that were unwound from the Jacinda years to now. It just started back and forth. - It's just how God. - So the main thing you're pushing for right now is that you can run for a dictatorship. - I'm accidentally pushing for a dictatorship. - Take a third term so that he can get more done. - Yeah, and yeah, but I want the dictator to be the person I want. - Okay, got it, got it, got it. - And then life will be good. And they can never leave power. - Yeah. - And things will therefore get done. - I mean, that is a very fair point though. The fact that the pendulum does swing so drastically up for years does make the long-term effectiveness of things harder. - I mean, even looking, I always think about bike lanes. Like every city, like every city, the cities I'm involved in have these eternal debates about whether to put in bike lanes and it's this debate between like the cyclists, the driver's, the stores, all this shit. And you know, you swap a government out or a local council out, and you're just like balancing back and forth forever. So you end up with these like half done shitty bike lanes that run through half the town, not the above. And you like have them or don't have them. So my bike lanes ran. - Please vote, I just want to say, if you can vote in America, please do. Whoever you are backing, just vote because that makes the system work. Like, so we have so, we have so little power. And I just am so of the belief that, you know, as frustrating as it is when it doesn't go your way or when, you know, we don't have the power, voting is a way where you can have a little bit of power. And it's like we have to. - Yeah, you were asking mail and vote or not. We get the bells mailed to us and then there's a drop off, a physical drop off location that we bring it to, a valid box. - Yeah, the library. - And interesting how she said that your California takes so long to come back, just 'cause everyone is doing mail and voting whereas Texas where people are mainly going to boots and also deeply passionate, I imagine. It comes back much quicker. - Well, I don't know. I think, yeah, I think it's a form of mail-in, but it somehow feels a little more hybrid. Like we're not going to an actual voting center in booth, but I think it is an official ballot box that is being collected and I don't think it's just a mail carrier that is picking it up. - Reminds me as a side dish of that Caribbean enthusiast in the episode where Larry, it's a huge part of the season and the latest season where he gets in trouble where I think delivering food to someone, waiting in line to vote. - Oh, yes. - And that's, see, it's an illegal thing. - You get my water bottle.
- Someone? - Yeah, water, give them water. - Again, if you have any stories from any election in your voting lines or any weirdness, please write in about this
[email protected] as someone that's never voted in America, I basically just wanna hear your juicy, weird stories. - There is one that I was reading recently that has been making the rounds. So Stella Parton, who is Dolly Parton's sister. - Okay, did not know about her sister, but okay. - She went to vote in Nashville for the midterms and the ballot kept switching to the Republican candidate. - So this is like an electronic? - Yeah, on the screen or whatever she's doing, she's picking the candidate she wants. And then it is switching. And she had to do it three times for it to get it correct. - Of course. - For a while submitting it. And then she had posted about that and then other people on social media started claiming the same thing had happened to them. - Texas, Florida, Ohio. - Which is interesting for a number of reasons 'cause it's that thing of it instantly puts, it makes everything feel potentially indistribute. Also, is it just a technical glitch and it just happened to fall on that side? And then also when people are piling on a social, is it valid or is it just people that are full of shit? Either way, not great. - Yeah, I was hesitant to even bring up that story, but it is, you know, it's the thing that happened. But it's also that thing of, when you hear a story like that, don't let that color and assume that every situation is like that. - And it just means make sure you're paying attention to what you're doing when you're voting. - Yeah, that's the main thing, right? Like catch it if it swaps. - But she did. I mean, I think she was able to get the vote that she wanted in. So it wasn't. - The result was what she wanted. - Yes, but it is then make sure when you're doing it, if it's a person that's not great with technology, trying to do it, not paying attention. - Yeah. - Make sure you're selecting your candidates properly. - How do you tension when you vote? Don't drift off. Land the right candidate when you vote. Or left. - The final thing that Aaron said that I thought was really interesting is that, and something I hadn't thought about psychologically, is that voter suppression has this sort of weird, slightly good side dish in that it fucks people off. And those that are suppressed put more effort into actually making sure they vote and get their way. So I guess this is like publicity about voter suppression, at least wakes people up. We great if there wasn't voter suppression in the first place. - Yes. - But it is, I hadn't thought of that psychologically making people wake up and go, oh fuck, I am gonna fucking vote today. - That's the stress hand effect. - Completely. And also just, I'm gonna say something that I'm a bit, here's what I'm gonna say, 'cause it makes me seem dumber, even dumber than people think I am. The term midterm, I didn't realize like midterm, like middle of a term of presidency. - Well, it's just midterm is just this word. - Yeah. - But it sees exactly what's on the dish. And it's like this indicator of how a president and a presidency and a party is doing. And I just hadn't clocked that. Okay, I'm saying, I'm just being honest. - Yeah, no, it's good for you too. - And I'm sure there's listeners out there that having the same revelation. - If you have any the same revelation, let me know, fly this bridge at a GMAT, or come if I get no emails about that, I'm gonna be very annoyed. You know what, this episode, we're not gonna do feedback, because the feedback is, - Yeah, instead of listening to 15 minutes of David rambling about emails, - Just go and vote. - Go find your local election. - In the 15 minutes, you could have been listening to that ramble, go and find a way to vote. And if you're in a country that's not America, make sure you're enrolled to vote. If you're in a democracy, it's one of the few great things about a democracy, even though I accidentally campaigned for a dictatorship earlier. - Yeah, you should get it. - And in New Zealand, your election is on November 7th. So if you're overseas like me, make sure you vote from overseas, and just vote, that's all simple. - Yeah, go vote. - We are
[email protected]. We're also on Patreon, Patreon.com/flightlessbird. Last week, we spoiled, you can see everything over there. - Yes, Rob and I, both fans of documentary and Nathan Fielder, we had an extended conversation about that film. So if you wanna hear our thoughts on that, patreon.com/flightlessbird. If you wanna watch video, this ads were on Spotify, we're also on youtube.com. And all the other places you listen to podcasts, wherever you're listening to this now. Keep listening. See you next week. (upbeat music) [MUSIC]
PodcastTranscript AI