September 14, 2020 • 10 mins
If you want to change, preserve, or build a better America, there’s one easy way to make your voice heard: Vote. This year, iHeartRadio is teaming up with over 20 incredible celebrities (plus a handful of our most popular podcasters) to get the country excited to go vote, broadcasting the personal, emotional and heartfelt stories behind why showing up to the ballot box means so much-- not just as individuals, but for our entire nation.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Why I'm Voting, a production of I Heart Radio. Listen.
You already know this, but it's an election year. You
might already be tired of fearing about it. But here's
the thing. Democracy doesn't work without you. I'm Holly Frying,
and I'm sitting down with many of my fellow podcasters,
from Will Ferrell to Stephanie Rule, as well as other
(00:26):
luminaries to find out about their relationships with the ballot
box and ultimately just to find out why they vote.
I hope you're exercising your right to vote, and if
you're not, I hope that their stories inspire you today.
I am a very lucky person because I am joined
(00:48):
by Tom Collichio, who you know. He is a chef
and a TV personality. You have seen him on shows
like Top Chef, and he is also currently hosting a
podcast called Citizen Chef, which deals with food and where
it comes from the politics that shape that entire system.
So he is an absolutely perfect guest to join us
on Why I'm Voting. Tom, thank you so much for
(01:09):
being here. Sure, thank you. My first question out of
the gate is do you recall when, probably as a kid,
you realized that the job of government was something that
also included a responsibility for you as a citizen. Absolutely.
My father, UM was a union organizer. UM. He was
the president of his p B A. He was a
corrections officer in a county jail, and he was a
(01:31):
president of his p b A. UM. I remember him
campaigning for people who were running for Sheriff's department mayoral
races in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where I grew up, and
so he was very active in organizing around politics, and
so at a very young age, I sort of was
taught that that voting was important, and so, uh, my
(01:51):
first election was I remember my father watched a lot
of news, and I remember sitting there watching the news
and Reagan was on and I said, ask guy, sounds okay,
and my father just kind of snapped. My father never snapped.
He was like, don't you go for this. This is
your first election. We're Democrats. We don't you know, We're
not going to vote for this guy. And so that
(02:15):
was that was, Uh that that memory is seared into
my brain. UM. I think right now in our house
and I have two non voting children that are nine
and ten soon to be eleven, and a twenty seven
year old, and they're pretty clear where we stand. I
love it. Indoctrination from the beginning. You have to vote.
So does that mean that you were registered right away
(02:37):
as soon as you could be at eighteen? Yes, I
think I voted in that election, and I've been voting
ever since. I don't think I've missed an election now.
I may miss some primaries along the way, although I
don't miss them anymore. I may miss some, you know,
other local votes and stuff, but I don't anymore. In fact,
I actually changed my my registration address. I have a
(02:58):
I live in Brooklyn, but I also have a house
in Mattatuck, New York, and a small little town out
in Long Island, and so I actually changed my registrations
out here where my vote counts a little more than
in Brooklyn. I love it. You mentioned that you definitely
keep up with local elections, and particularly because of the
nature of the show that you're working on, I imagine
(03:19):
some of those offices are extremely impactful from your point
of view in terms of like the food supply. What
do you do to research those people and make sure
that the candidates that you want to vote for Our
upholding the ideals that you want to share and keep
going in the government. Well, I I asked the questions,
but even for even for those that I don't vote on,
(03:40):
for those that I support. I mean Antonio Delgado UM
was running UH in New York. I think it was
twenty one nothing, it wasn't twenty one nineteen maybe upstate
New York. And I was at a fundraiser for for him,
and I asked those questions. And I didn't know him
at the time, And you know, the one question I
asked him was was what committees would he like to
be on? And he actually mentioned AGG and said so
y ag he you know, gave me a great answer.
(04:03):
So it's it's not just researching the people that I
can vote for UM, but it's also researching people all
support either with just social media support, are with UM
financial support as well. So I think, yeah, you know,
for me, uh, it's it's it's important to know where
they stand. When there's an election coming up where maybe
people think that the outcome is a foregone conclusion, Why
(04:26):
would you say it's still important to vote in those Oh,
it's not a foregone conclusion. Nothing is. Listen, this race
is going to tighten up like most races do. I
think at this stage of the game, do Cacus was
up by like fourteen fifteen points. Uh so, Uh, it's
it's never over till it's over. Although the national polls
were dead on in the last presidential election, most people
(04:46):
don't seem to realize that the national polls were dead on. UM.
Some of those state by state polls can change pretty quickly. UM.
And we saw that, you know in some cases, uh,
forty votes made a difference. I think a total of
sevent thou votes made a diff friends. And so yeah,
vote votes are are important. And you know, staying home
and not voting is essentially the same thing as voting
(05:08):
for the other candidates. So you know, if you're a
Democrat and you just were Bernie Sanders supporter and you
decide that, well, you know, he didn't he didn't get in.
So I'm just gonna protest that you're voting for Trump.
There's there's no doubt about that. And so this election,
no one can stay home, and we need to get
people out. You know, right now, I would say, not
only do you need to register, you need to register
(05:29):
to vote, UM via mail right now. If you can now,
prior to this unique moment in time where we are
all theoretically staying home as much as possible, did you
tend to vote on election day? Were you an early voter?
Did you already do mail in? What was your usual
set up? I used to vote day of. Nowadays I'm
voting early. You know, up until this past mid term,
(05:50):
New York didn't have early voting, so I couldn't vote early.
When I first started voting, I voted in New Jersey, um,
where I grew up, but I would vote the day of.
But now last election, voted early, and I think some
of the local elections I actually voted by mail when
since you vote usually ahead of time, I'm wondering if
on election day you have any rituals as you watch
the poll numbers come in as you do you do
(06:12):
that with friends? Do you like to be alone? Do
you wear lucky socks? What is election day like for you?
I don't wear lucky socks, but um, you know, I
don't have a ritual, although I do watch it religiously.
A last presidential election, I actually spent at the Javit Center.
I was kind of in an inner circle. I was
a surrogate for the campaign. I know for both of
(06:34):
UM the elections presidential elections. Prior to that, I actually
watched them in my restaurant and had a group of
people and that was really exciting. But no, I I don't,
but I typically glue to MSNBC watching the election returns.
So you mentioned that you have two kids that are
not yet voting age. If they start to get up
towards eighteen, or even if they have passed that age
and they're a little bit cavalier or maybe lack of
(06:56):
days ago and not all that interested in using their
voice to vote, what would you tell them to make
sure they get their butts to the polls. It's a
hypothetical that I hope I don't have to deal with
because I believe that again, we are we have these
conversations about the importance of voting UM. My wife especially,
she believes in being very direct and having these conversations
at a very young age, and so our children know
(07:18):
where we stand. They know the importance of voting something
that we talk about. So I'm hoping when they're a
teen that they're gonna be, you know, chomping at the
bit to sign up UM. And if they don't, I
will drag him down there and they can sign up.
My eldest sons same thing. When he was eighteen, he
signed up. And he's very active and uh follows the
issues pretty closely. So and I think if you grow
(07:39):
up in a household that that cares about the process,
and we don't take a cynical approach that it's all
bs um. I actually, you know, happen to know a
lot of politicians and and most that I know are
there for the right reasons. And on both sides of
the aisle there, they are there for the right reasons.
They are there because they do care about the process,
They care about helping people. Most are are there because
(08:00):
they're there because they want to They want to do
some good in the world. If only we could get
you to drag everybody who doesn't want to use their
right to vote to the polls or to get their
their registration done. I hope that that makes very clear
to anyone listening who is maybe on the fence about
doing their civic duty, that it is that important toun
Collegio would drag them to the polls. It's it's great
(08:21):
to be patriotic on on you know, Labor Day and
fourth of July and and all that stuff and to
you know, put the flag out and to you know,
do whatever you do to celebrate that and feel good.
But but really the most patriotic thing that you can
do is vote. You know, it's really special. And when
you see elections, whether they're happening in places like Iran
and even in Iraq where people go and are really
(08:43):
you know, putting their their lives at risk, are actually
voting at times it's important when you look at with
the seffarate jets how to go through to actually get
the right for for women to vote, and then you're
just gonna kind of ignore that and go, eh, well
it's not that important or it really doesn't matter. You know.
I think that that you're you're you're not quite understanding
what it takes to you know, what it means to
(09:05):
be American, and that's what it means. And I would
go a step further. I would say, you know, before voting,
get out there and go to a rally, go to
a you know, if you get invited to a fundraiser,
you don't have to spend money, but you can go
and listen to someone. I want to hear what Canada
has to say. You know the process of watching someone run,
watching someone raise money, watching someone get out there and
(09:27):
put themselves out there is kind of, you know, really humbling.
Not only getting out and voting, I think is really important,
but really getting informed and right now with social media
is very easy. If there's someone that that you want
to follow, uh, you can amplify their voice by retweeting.
You can engage um with them as well if you
want being active in the process, not being active in politics,
(09:49):
but being active in the process is our duty and
and uh that's that's why I vote. I love it.
Thank you so much, fun for taking this time with
us today. If anybody wants to follow you, where should
they do that? Nike It follow me a Twitter, I
think at Tom clicki art clikio also on Instagram. And
you can also subscribe to Citizens Shop podcast on iHeart Radio.
(10:10):
I hope everyone does because it's a really good show. Tom.
Thank you again so much. Hey are you not registered
to vote yet but you think it's something you want
to do? You may still have time. Voter registration deadlines
vary by state, so to find out the scoop for
where you are, check out a nonpartisan registration voting site
(10:33):
like headcount dot org or fair vote dot org. Why
I'm Voting is an I Heart Radio production. For more
podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever it is you listen to your
favorite shows.
Welcome to Why I'm Voting, a production of I Heart Radio. Listen.
You already know this, but it's an election year. You
might already be tired of fearing about it. But here's
the thing. Democracy doesn't work without you. I'm Holly Frying,
and I'm sitting down with many of my fellow podcasters,
from Will Ferrell to Stephanie Rule, as well as other
(00:26):
luminaries to find out about their relationships with the ballot
box and ultimately just to find out why they vote.
I hope you're exercising your right to vote, and if
you're not, I hope that their stories inspire you today.
I am a very lucky person because I am joined
(00:48):
by Tom Collichio, who you know. He is a chef
and a TV personality. You have seen him on shows
like Top Chef, and he is also currently hosting a
podcast called Citizen Chef, which deals with food and where
it comes from the politics that shape that entire system.
So he is an absolutely perfect guest to join us
on Why I'm Voting. Tom, thank you so much for
(01:09):
being here. Sure, thank you. My first question out of
the gate is do you recall when, probably as a kid,
you realized that the job of government was something that
also included a responsibility for you as a citizen. Absolutely.
My father, UM was a union organizer. UM. He was
the president of his p B A. He was a
corrections officer in a county jail, and he was a
(01:31):
president of his p b A. UM. I remember him
campaigning for people who were running for Sheriff's department mayoral
races in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where I grew up, and
so he was very active in organizing around politics, and
so at a very young age, I sort of was
taught that that voting was important, and so, uh, my
(01:51):
first election was I remember my father watched a lot
of news, and I remember sitting there watching the news
and Reagan was on and I said, ask guy, sounds okay,
and my father just kind of snapped. My father never snapped.
He was like, don't you go for this. This is
your first election. We're Democrats. We don't you know, We're
not going to vote for this guy. And so that
(02:15):
was that was, Uh that that memory is seared into
my brain. UM. I think right now in our house
and I have two non voting children that are nine
and ten soon to be eleven, and a twenty seven
year old, and they're pretty clear where we stand. I
love it. Indoctrination from the beginning. You have to vote.
So does that mean that you were registered right away
(02:37):
as soon as you could be at eighteen? Yes, I
think I voted in that election, and I've been voting
ever since. I don't think I've missed an election now.
I may miss some primaries along the way, although I
don't miss them anymore. I may miss some, you know,
other local votes and stuff, but I don't anymore. In fact,
I actually changed my my registration address. I have a
(02:58):
I live in Brooklyn, but I also have a house
in Mattatuck, New York, and a small little town out
in Long Island, and so I actually changed my registrations
out here where my vote counts a little more than
in Brooklyn. I love it. You mentioned that you definitely
keep up with local elections, and particularly because of the
nature of the show that you're working on, I imagine
(03:19):
some of those offices are extremely impactful from your point
of view in terms of like the food supply. What
do you do to research those people and make sure
that the candidates that you want to vote for Our
upholding the ideals that you want to share and keep
going in the government. Well, I I asked the questions,
but even for even for those that I don't vote on,
(03:40):
for those that I support. I mean Antonio Delgado UM
was running UH in New York. I think it was
twenty one nothing, it wasn't twenty one nineteen maybe upstate
New York. And I was at a fundraiser for for him,
and I asked those questions. And I didn't know him
at the time, And you know, the one question I
asked him was was what committees would he like to
be on? And he actually mentioned AGG and said so
y ag he you know, gave me a great answer.
(04:03):
So it's it's not just researching the people that I
can vote for UM, but it's also researching people all
support either with just social media support, are with UM
financial support as well. So I think, yeah, you know,
for me, uh, it's it's it's important to know where
they stand. When there's an election coming up where maybe
people think that the outcome is a foregone conclusion, Why
(04:26):
would you say it's still important to vote in those Oh,
it's not a foregone conclusion. Nothing is. Listen, this race
is going to tighten up like most races do. I
think at this stage of the game, do Cacus was
up by like fourteen fifteen points. Uh so, Uh, it's
it's never over till it's over. Although the national polls
were dead on in the last presidential election, most people
(04:46):
don't seem to realize that the national polls were dead on. UM.
Some of those state by state polls can change pretty quickly. UM.
And we saw that, you know in some cases, uh,
forty votes made a difference. I think a total of
sevent thou votes made a diff friends. And so yeah,
vote votes are are important. And you know, staying home
and not voting is essentially the same thing as voting
(05:08):
for the other candidates. So you know, if you're a
Democrat and you just were Bernie Sanders supporter and you
decide that, well, you know, he didn't he didn't get in.
So I'm just gonna protest that you're voting for Trump.
There's there's no doubt about that. And so this election,
no one can stay home, and we need to get
people out. You know, right now, I would say, not
only do you need to register, you need to register
(05:29):
to vote, UM via mail right now. If you can now,
prior to this unique moment in time where we are
all theoretically staying home as much as possible, did you
tend to vote on election day? Were you an early voter?
Did you already do mail in? What was your usual
set up? I used to vote day of. Nowadays I'm
voting early. You know, up until this past mid term,
(05:50):
New York didn't have early voting, so I couldn't vote early.
When I first started voting, I voted in New Jersey, um,
where I grew up, but I would vote the day of.
But now last election, voted early, and I think some
of the local elections I actually voted by mail when
since you vote usually ahead of time, I'm wondering if
on election day you have any rituals as you watch
the poll numbers come in as you do you do
(06:12):
that with friends? Do you like to be alone? Do
you wear lucky socks? What is election day like for you?
I don't wear lucky socks, but um, you know, I
don't have a ritual, although I do watch it religiously.
A last presidential election, I actually spent at the Javit Center.
I was kind of in an inner circle. I was
a surrogate for the campaign. I know for both of
(06:34):
UM the elections presidential elections. Prior to that, I actually
watched them in my restaurant and had a group of
people and that was really exciting. But no, I I don't,
but I typically glue to MSNBC watching the election returns.
So you mentioned that you have two kids that are
not yet voting age. If they start to get up
towards eighteen, or even if they have passed that age
and they're a little bit cavalier or maybe lack of
(06:56):
days ago and not all that interested in using their
voice to vote, what would you tell them to make
sure they get their butts to the polls. It's a
hypothetical that I hope I don't have to deal with
because I believe that again, we are we have these
conversations about the importance of voting UM. My wife especially,
she believes in being very direct and having these conversations
at a very young age, and so our children know
(07:18):
where we stand. They know the importance of voting something
that we talk about. So I'm hoping when they're a
teen that they're gonna be, you know, chomping at the
bit to sign up UM. And if they don't, I
will drag him down there and they can sign up.
My eldest sons same thing. When he was eighteen, he
signed up. And he's very active and uh follows the
issues pretty closely. So and I think if you grow
(07:39):
up in a household that that cares about the process,
and we don't take a cynical approach that it's all
bs um. I actually, you know, happen to know a
lot of politicians and and most that I know are
there for the right reasons. And on both sides of
the aisle there, they are there for the right reasons.
They are there because they do care about the process,
They care about helping people. Most are are there because
(08:00):
they're there because they want to They want to do
some good in the world. If only we could get
you to drag everybody who doesn't want to use their
right to vote to the polls or to get their
their registration done. I hope that that makes very clear
to anyone listening who is maybe on the fence about
doing their civic duty, that it is that important toun
Collegio would drag them to the polls. It's it's great
(08:21):
to be patriotic on on you know, Labor Day and
fourth of July and and all that stuff and to
you know, put the flag out and to you know,
do whatever you do to celebrate that and feel good.
But but really the most patriotic thing that you can
do is vote. You know, it's really special. And when
you see elections, whether they're happening in places like Iran
and even in Iraq where people go and are really
(08:43):
you know, putting their their lives at risk, are actually
voting at times it's important when you look at with
the seffarate jets how to go through to actually get
the right for for women to vote, and then you're
just gonna kind of ignore that and go, eh, well
it's not that important or it really doesn't matter. You know.
I think that that you're you're you're not quite understanding
what it takes to you know, what it means to
(09:05):
be American, and that's what it means. And I would
go a step further. I would say, you know, before voting,
get out there and go to a rally, go to
a you know, if you get invited to a fundraiser,
you don't have to spend money, but you can go
and listen to someone. I want to hear what Canada
has to say. You know the process of watching someone run,
watching someone raise money, watching someone get out there and
(09:27):
put themselves out there is kind of, you know, really humbling.
Not only getting out and voting, I think is really important,
but really getting informed and right now with social media
is very easy. If there's someone that that you want
to follow, uh, you can amplify their voice by retweeting.
You can engage um with them as well if you
want being active in the process, not being active in politics,
(09:49):
but being active in the process is our duty and
and uh that's that's why I vote. I love it.
Thank you so much, fun for taking this time with
us today. If anybody wants to follow you, where should
they do that? Nike It follow me a Twitter, I
think at Tom clicki art clikio also on Instagram. And
you can also subscribe to Citizens Shop podcast on iHeart Radio.
(10:10):
I hope everyone does because it's a really good show. Tom.
Thank you again so much. Hey are you not registered
to vote yet but you think it's something you want
to do? You may still have time. Voter registration deadlines
vary by state, so to find out the scoop for
where you are, check out a nonpartisan registration voting site
(10:33):
like headcount dot org or fair vote dot org. Why
I'm Voting is an I Heart Radio production. For more
podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever it is you listen to your
favorite shows.
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