Get Out The Why? Archives

Get Out The Why? was a Why Tuesday? initiative which ran from October 2006 to January 2007. To become a Why Tuesday? correspondent today, click here!

Saturday, September 15th, 2007

Behind the scenes at Curb Your Enthusiasm *

* Update: It was the episode! Here’s a short review of Boxer’s performance, and an article about the show. I thought she was pretty funny.

I’m pretty sure that tomorrow night U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer appears on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm in a cameo role. I’m not positive, but I’m fairly certain after seeing the teaser for the episode, called The Anonymous Donor, just now on HBO. Last October, after driving across the country talking with our elected officials about Tuesday voting, I went behind the scenes at the episode’s filming to talk with the Senator about election reform. Check out the video below, and watch Senator Boxer tomorrow night on HBO.

Interestingly, according to the New York Times, Larry David is no stranger to the cause of election reform. To see why, click below.

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Sunday, April 22nd, 2007

Jake Levine: Barack Obama and Barney Frank on “Why Tuesday?”

Well, we can add yet another name to the list of 2008 presidential candidates that we’ve asked why we vote on Tuesday. We just got an e-mail from Harvard University senior Jake Levine, who was on the case last week, snagging two big-time interviews in the Boston area with Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and Representative Barney Frank (D-MA). It turns out neither knows why we vote on Tuesday, but both like the idea of weekend voting.

Levine caught up with Obama as he was leaving a rally at the Boston University Agganis Arena. He e-mails that he had some camera phone technical difficulties during his Obama interview:

Unfortunately, the thing only takes 15 second videos at a time, and the sound is hard to pick up. This is what it missed: Obama thinks elections should be on a weekend. And he insists that they are traditionally held on Tuesdays because it is a state’s decision and each state has decided to be consistent with Tuesday.

Senator Obama raises an interesting question: what can individual states do to help increase voter turnout? Today 35 states allow people, without any explanation, to vote in-person or by mail over a wide variety of dates ranging from 15-31 days prior to the election. But the root of the problem, as you may know, is that we vote on Tuesday because of an 1845 federal law that was passed when 80% of Americans lived on farms. At the time it could often take a day or longer to get to the polls, and Congress did not want this travel to conflict with days of religious observance, which left Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday was market day. So: Tuesday.

In the second video, Congressman Frank says he has “no idea” why we vote on Tuesday, but his “intuitive answer [to the question] is let’s do it on the weekend.” Levine said this interview was a little easier to come by, and more intimate:

… there were none of the usual photographers, security, or nuisance that usually comes along with a high-profile speaker at the Kennedy School or other function. So it was easy in that sense to get ahold of the Congressman, and I think he was more than happy to talk.

Here at WT? we’re trying to start a national conversation about election reform. Voting is the right on which all others are based, and too few Americans are exercising that right. How can we do better? We think that moving Election Day from the middle of the week might be one answer. We’re trying to show that we ALL can and MUST bring our lawmakers and representatives - with whom these decisions ultimately rest - into the dialogue if we’re going to see a change. So join us and Get Out The Why!

Sunday, April 1st, 2007

WT? co-chair Bill Bradley: We’ve “struck a nerve”">WT? co-chair Bill Bradley: We’ve “struck a nerve”

Why Tuesday? road team Jacob Soboroff and Barnett Zitron were back at it March 31, visting with WT? co-chair Bill Bradley. The former Senator and presidential candidate was in Mendham, N.J. signing copies of his new book, The New American Story. At the event, the Senator was shooting a video blog for his site. Look for the appearance (and an interview with Jacob) to show up there (or on his Gather page) soon. Jacob asked Senator Bradley what he thought was stopping Congress from changing the way and day we vote — check out his answer:

The question “why do we vote on Tuesday?” spurs many more fundamental questions: Why is the vanishing voter epidemic sweeping America? Why does the United States lag behind nearly every democracy on Earth in voter turnout? Senator Bradley’s book tour is just getting started. Check his schedule to hear him speak about these and other issues. He’ll be stopping by The Daily Show, Tavis Smiley and Real Time with Bill Maher too, so tune in to hear our co-chair getting out the Why? on national TV.

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007

Sen. John Edwards: Making Election Day a Holiday “sounds like a good idea”

Senator John Edwards, now running hard for the Democratic presidential nomination, visited UCLA today for a rally in Bruin Plaza. The Road Team’s own Jacob Soboroff had a chance to catch up with him afterwards on the Kerckhoff (sic) Patio. Jacob shouldered his way to the front of the press pool in time to be the second-to-last question Edwards answered; the presidential hopeful didn’t have a chance to really dive into the topic beyond a general affirmation of making Election Day a holiday, but with a little luck this won’t be the last time we get the opportunity to put some questions to him.

Regarding the soundtrack to this particular clip: please refer all questions to Jacob. We try to control him, but it’s very difficult.

America is going to be looking hard at a handful of politicians over the next year or so (unless some calendar-happy state moves its primaries up even further). We’re going to do our best- beginning humbly with this clip- to make sure that election reform is a part of the conversation the nation has with these candidates. An Executive Branch with a real commitment to election reform could set the tone for change, and a major campaign that addresses this issue might remind people to pay attention to something we tend to talk about AFTER elections rather than before them.

Please join us. If a candidate is coming to your town or school- pop the question, and ask them their thoughts on election reform. We all might be surprised by some of the answers we get.

Friday, November 10th, 2006

Backstage with the Road Team Once More - ABC’s Los Angeles Studios

Because they are still crazy, Barnett and Jacob once again took in their own hardware for a TV appearance. Jacob uses the chance to give the viewer a little lesson in the tissue of beautiful illusion that TV studios drape over the everyday. Enjoy.

Barnett, your diligence is appreciated.

Wednesday, November 8th, 2006

Jake Schroeder: Rep. Todd R. Platts (R - PA 19th) says “Having not been around at that point to say what their exact thought process was…”

Well, the elections are over, but we’re still trucking. Jake Schroeder just sent us this clip of Congressman Todd Platts “answering students questions at York Suburban High School in his 19th Congressional District on November 3rd. Students were free to ask any question ranging from border security to social security. I was able to ask him why we vote on Tuesdays.”

In what might be the longest discussion of participation and its woes we’ve gotten so far, Congressman Platts makes several interesting points. He comes down hard in favor of absentee ballots: he thinks that they represent an important way to make sure that people who are unable to make it to the polls are allowed to exercise the franchise. He disagrees with the idea that weekend voting would help, using an argument often used against “convenience voting,” which is that certain ways of making voting more convenient denigrate the institution (”it’s an excuse”). And, lastly, he points out that a lof these questions can be solved at the State level- something we’re aware of as well, and which has got us thinking.

What are the states doing? For a breakdown of no-excuse absentee balloting and in-person absentee balloting (early voting), click here. It seems that, at the State level, reform is alive and well: 35 states allow people, without any explanation, to vote in-person or by mail over a wide variety of dates ranging from 15-31 days prior to the election; 36 if you count the fact that the majority of Washington votes by mail. How has this affected turnout? What does this mean for the remaining fifteen? To what extent do people in these states know about their options? Stay tuned for more…

Tuesday, November 7th, 2006

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California (R): “We have to make campaigns very positive…”

Props to the Road Team for blagging their way into what looks like a real press conference. As we fall off to sleep watching CNN/Fox/what have you, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stands with his family on a verdant lawn. The Gubernator doesn’t think Election Day is the issue- he thinks a lack of excitement about politics is. A smooth and easy clip to mark the passing of another Election Tuesday…

ps If you can’t hear it, the Governor’s bon mot upon hearing Barnett’s follow-up question is, “Yes, we are moving into the weekend; joy joy!”

Why Tuesday? is an effort to make America’s democracy stronger through increased voter participation. We work to make election reform an issue that our politicians cannot afford to avoid.

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Recent Comments

  • Marquett: I have never wanted to be involved in politics before. That is until this year. Watching Hillary Clinton...
  • Verena: I don’t think changing election day to Saturday is helpful- that just screws people who work weekends,...
  • Just got Citizenship: I still can’t believe that such an advance nation has so outdated ideas and laws....
  • Concerned Citizen: Although it is touted as such, our nation is not a pure democracy, but a federal republic. We...
  • Michael: Jacob: If one has the time to vote then one has the time to get a state-issued ID card. There is no reason...