Kai Wright: Hey, everybody, this is Kai, and we've got a special ask for you this week. I've got a question for you. To help explain that question, I'm joined by our senior digital producer, Kousha Navidar.
Hey, Kousha.
Kousha Navidar: Hey, Kai.
Kai Wright: Kousha, you are working on a new episode, and tell the people a little bit about it.
Kousha Navidar: Yes, the midterm elections are coming up. In fact, we just had our primaries in New York City this past week.
Kai Wright: We did.
Kousha Navidar: Kai, as you know, midterm elections don't turn out as many voters as presidential elections.
Kai Wright: This is a truism of American politics. Midterm elections, congressional elections, but also many different kinds of local elections, the turnout is super depressingly low, and that's that.
Kousha Navidar: Which hurts my heart a little bit.
Kai Wright: Indeed.
Kousha Navidar: I want to know what's up with that, more specifically, what could we do to make voting better for us as individuals in this country. What could we be doing to get either people more motivated, or is being motivated not actually the substantial issue?
Kai Wright: Right. Back to the listener here. What question do you have for our listeners for this work you're doing?
Kousha Navidar: I wanted to find a way to get people into the conversation without requiring a degree in political science to do so.
Kai Wright: I suspect many of our listeners have degrees in political science.
Kousha Navidar: Which is awesome, and we welcome that as well, but for everyone that wants to engage, here's what I want to know. What was the election in your life that got you the most motivated to participate, and why? That's the key thing. Here's another important element. Here's the fun part. It doesn't have to be a political election. Sure, you could say it was a presidential election, but it could also be choosing your favorite contestant on American Idol, or electing someone to your local PTA, or choosing the captain of your varsity soccer team.
The point is, I'd love to know what the election was about, and why you cared so much about it.
Kai Wright: This, of course, begs the question, what is the answer for you?
Kousha Navidar: What was it for me? I've got two answers. The first election that comes to mind is, this is going to be lame, it's actually the 2016 presidential election. That's because I just left my job in the government. At the time, covering the election was my job, so I was spending a lot of time covering all of the issues and thinking about it.
If I think about the election outside of that in which I was most motivated, I go back to eighth grade.
Kai Wright: Oh, my god.
Kousha Navidar: Yes. God, I was running to be student body president. I really don't mean to be flippant here. I just remember how hard I was working, how much I cared. At the time, for a 13-year-old kid, it's a really formative experience. I remember caring so strongly, so deeply. Really, that experience has always stuck with me.
Kai Wright: There's absolutely nothing surprising about the fact that you ran for student body president at 13, or that you care deeply about it, Kousha Navadir, I have to tell you that. Did you win?
Kousha Navidar: [laughs] Eighth grade me was very honored to have won that race.
Kai Wright: Oh. [laughs]
Kousha Navidar: I'm trying to figure out how to answer that. All the candidates did a great job.
Kai Wright: Everyone listening, what is your version of this story? Which election in your life got you most motivated to vote? Remember, the point here is, one, it can be any kind of election, it does not have to be a presidential election. It doesn't have to be a political election. Anything where you were motivated to say, "Hey, I'm going to get in this." The more unique, the better.
What we really, really want to know is why. That's what's going to inform this experiment. What is it that made you really want to get out there?
Kousha Navidar: If we get enough responses, my hope at least is we could play them during the episode next month and see if there's any interesting takeaways or patterns that we could talk about with our guests.
Kai Wright: Record yourself talking about what the election was and why it mattered to you. You can do it on your phone and email it to us. The address is anxiety@wnyc.org. Again, anxiety@wnyc.org. Thank you. We will be looking forward to hearing from you soon, and this episode will be in your feeds shortly.
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