Today, Explained - The Island of Explained: Election Day

Episode Date: July 31, 2020

It’s Election Day on the Island of Explained! Will the candidate with the most votes win, or will the island’s Electoral College determine a different leader? Go to vox.com/todayexplainedkids for a discussion guide and election activities, including how to craft the perfect persuasive speech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit connectsontario.ca. Okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop. That's not how it's supposed to go. Today! Explain! What? Today!

Oh. Explain! Okay. Today! I get it. Explain! Today! Today! Explain! Explain! Okay. Today! I get it. Explain! Today! Today!

Explain! Explain! Today! Today, explain! It's Today Explained. I'm Sean Ramos from It's Friday, It's Summer. We're going back to Today Explained summer camp for the kids today. This week, we're talking about the election.

Remember the election? We're still a couple of months away from it, fewer than 100 days, I believe. But believe it or not, the election for president on the island of Explained is happening today. Reporter, camp counselor Noam Hassenfeld is live on the scene. Hey, Sean, I'm here in Electricity, the capital of the Island of Explained. Really getting psyched for today's election. And what is it like out there in Electricity? What's the energy like? There are parades, there are marching bands out here, there are voters with signs, there's going to be speeches. I mean, it's really... Noam, is that you?

Bert Pinkerton. Nice to see you. I'm actually talking with Sean right now about the Island of Explained Election. Oh, so that's what's going on here. I was really confused. Do you mind if I listen in? Actually, Sean, would you mind if I just take Bird around the island? I can let you and the audience listen in, too. Sure, I'll go get some popcorn. Hey, Bird, let me take you over this way.

Let's head over to the city center. Oh, okay, so this was actually one of my questions. The signs in that parade over there are super intense. Like, now or never, later is greater. What is that all about? Oh, yeah. So the island of Explained has two big political parties. Oh, this does look like a party that explains the balloons and the confetti and the colorful fireworks in the middle of the day. Is there cake? No cake.

It's not really that kind of party. A political party is a bunch of people who come together because they sort of have the same political ideas. And they basically pick one person who's really good at talking about the ideas and they say, hey, you should be our pick to run for president. Oh, so like we have the Republicans and the Democrats in the U.S. Exactly. I still think the party with the cake would be better. Oh, there's one of the candidates right now.

Happy Now Year from the Now Party. And it looks like he's got a megaphone. You know what I hate? Waiting. The Later Party is always saying, you get things later, later, later. But I say, let's get them now. So what are you waiting for? Vote for me. Happy now year, right now. Now or never. Now or never.

Okay, so it sounds like there's the now party, and they're a little impatient. Yeah, true. And then there's the later party, and that's run by the later gator. You know what happens when you get everything now? You don't end up with anything later! Later is greater! Save your vote for later! And me, the Later Gator! Oh, it looks like the two parties' parades are all headed towards that giant stage over there?

Yeah, the candidates are about to give speeches, and that's sort of their best chance to explain their ideas. Then everyone gets a chance to vote. In the U.S., there's a whole bunch of speeches and events over the course of like a year or more, but here on the island, it all just takes a day. Can we go listen in? Yeah, of course. Now presenting the town hall for the president of this great island of Explained.

Wow. Mom, some of these voters definitely look under 18. Oh yeah, the island of Explained is kind of different from the U.S. They let kids vote here. And it looks like the first couple rows are filled with students. And now, without further ado,

our first candidate, representing the Now Party, Happy Now Year. When I was a kid, someone from the Later Party told me to save all my Halloween candy and eat it later. So I put my Halloween candy in a drawer. And you know what? When I went back to get some of that candy two days later, it was full of ants.

I had to throw it all out. And ever since then, I've known that whatever you have, you have to use it now. I promise to build bridges and houses now. And I will require everyone to eat all their candy immediately. Vote for now, right now. Now or never! Now or never! Next up, from the Later party, the later gator. My wise mother, Lady Later, used to tell kids to save their candy on Halloween.

And yes, some of them got ants in their candy, but I can't count the number of kids who wrote my mom letters, thanking her for all the candy they still had in December. Saving is hard, but it makes good things last a long time. I promise to save our money in case something bad happens, like a hurricane, and I will outlaw eating candy until three weeks after you get it. And to the NOW party, I say, don't stop me, NOW. Okay, we're ready for the question and answer section. Does anyone have any questions or comments? We'll start by passing microphones around to the students. Uh, you there. I think that now is moving a little too fast.

It should take a little more time because what are we going to do if we don't have any more money for the hurricanes? Mr. Nowyear, should we save all our money in case a hurricane comes? No! I think we need things now, and we'll worry about later if later ever comes. We need new houses. Hurricanes! That's a later problem. You said you needed new houses. That means you already have houses. Ms. Gator? Yeah, that's true. And we should wait till later to see if we need more houses. You know, hermit crabs switch out their shell houses all the time. Are you trying to say hermit crabs shouldn't be allowed to move?

Hermit crabs are not how we should be running our island. They're crabs. Correct. Thank you. Hermit crabs and humans are not the same. Thank you. We are not one inch tall. We grow up to seven feet. Yeah.

We are stronger than them. Yeah. I happen to be two inches tall. That's a lie. I think you guys should join together because now is to now and later is to later. You guys should join together and it'll be the perfect time. I agree because you shouldn't spend all the money but you shouldn't like to save it. Miss Gator, could you work together with Mr. Now here?

I'm scared that if I start working with those now people, the next thing you know everyone's gonna want everything now. And I feel like this is our moment to say, not now, later. It's almost like you're saying, right now is your moment? No, no, no. Well, yeah, now is our moment. Sounds like a now party phrase to me. Oh, snap. Exposed.

Things just got spicy. If we don't vote for now, there won't be a later. That is deep. I agree, because if you want something, you really need it. If you brought it down, there ain't going to be no later. So what's the point? All right, folks, please proceed to the voting platform to vote. Oh, and Bird, this is another difference from the U.S. In the U.S., you know, it's secret voting.

On the Island of Explained, they announced their votes. I'm voting for later because if there's a hurricane, we'll have enough money to rebuild houses and all the other stuff we need to rebuild are after. Later is never going to come. Now is always there. And one day you're're gonna regret that you didn't do it now. If I had to choose, I would vote for now. My vote is with now. If you really need something, how you gonna get across? Like you got nothing to get across the ocean besides a bridge. So that's why I vote with now.

If you're in a fire and then you're like, oh I'll do it later. It's not gonna end well for you. If we need a bridge, we need it now. If we need a new road, need it now. If we need a new road, we're going to kind of need that. I vote for later because I like to save up all my money. It would probably be now. I vote for later. For now. For later. For later. For now. For now. For now. Sounds like an interesting name. Okay, it's time to count every last vote.

I'm so jazzed, Noah. I can't wait to find out who won. Yeah, so these were just the votes in the capital, Electricity, here, but they still have to collect all the votes from all over the island, so we'll find out who won the election after the break. Support for Today Explained comes from Aura. Aura believes that sharing pictures is a great way to Thank you. to the frame. When you give an AuraFrame as a gift, you can personalize it, you can preload it with a thoughtful message, maybe your favorite photos. Our colleague Andrew tried an AuraFrame for himself. So setup was super simple. In my case, we were celebrating my grandmother's birthday

and she's very fortunate. She's got 10 grandkids. And so we wanted to surprise her with the AuraFrame and because she's a little bit older, it was just easier for us to source all the images together and have them uploaded to the frame itself. And because we're all connected over text message, it was just so easy to send a link to everybody. You can save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura's best-selling Carvermat frames with promo code EXPLAINED at checkout. That's A-U-R-A-Frames.com, promo code EXPLAINED. This deal is exclusive to listeners and available just in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions do apply. BetMGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with a sportsbook born in Vegas.

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Explain. All right, Bird. You ready to hear the election results? Heck yes, I am. And the results are in. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do- Now or never! As for total votes, Now got 348 votes across the entire island. The Later Party only got 300. So the Now Party won. Well, hold on just a second. Over to the Electoral College. Later got 10 states, and Now only got one. So because Later won the Electoral College 10-1, that means Lader has won the election.

What? But now got more votes. What's going on? So now did get more votes, but like you heard, Lader won in the Electoral College. College like university? Not exactly. This is a different kind of college. The electoral college is just a fancy name for the strange way that the island of explained counts votes in an election. Man, parties that aren't parties, colleges that aren't colleges.

This island is bananas. Give it a chance, actually. The Electoral College means that we count states instead of people. Electricity is one of these states, but there are actually a whole bunch of other states on the island. Why would you count states instead of people? Okay, it's kind of confusing, but it's actually a way to make sure that everyone's opinion is heard. It might actually help if we zoomed out a bit. Or, actually, let's zoom up a bit. I've got these little jetpacks here. I think we can get a better view.

All right, I'm always up for a jetpack. Grab your seatbelt. Strap is on, safety first. Holy goon! Non, you can see the whole island from up here! Yeah, there's Electra City down there, you can see. Wow! I didn't realize how many people there were! They look almost like ants from all the way up here!

Yeah, and then look around! There's the knock-on woods over there, the side aisles, and you can even see the 1-2-3 forest way back over there. Wow, those places look like they have barely any people. Yeah, exactly. These are really rural places. There's usually only a few people in each one and they're almost always big later party supporters.

Got it. And that's actually kind of why we count states instead of people, to give these later party people more of a voice. Let me actually just show you some of these later places. Here, we can just switch these jetpacks to hyperdrive. Heck yeah, hyperdrive! One of the states on the island that really loves the later party is the rabbit hole. Let's check it out. Wow, who knew that the history of the color beige could be so interesting. I'm so glad I have 7,000 more pages left in this book. Well, that sounds like a later project if I ever heard one. And if

you come over here to the 123 forest... How much of my berry harvest did I turn into jam for the winter? All of it? Hmm... They're also thinking long term! At the same time, all the way back in Electricity, they are all about the now. Ugh, get out of my way! Hey! I'm walking here! I'm walking here! Ugh, all right. Okey-doke.

Ugh, jetpacking is always so bad for my back. Stretch it out. Okay, I think I'm following so far. So, I was confused why we count states instead of people, but you just showed me that most of the island is rural. There aren't that many people who live out there, and most of them like the later party. And then meanwhile, in the city, people usually like the now party, and the city has a ton of people. So the electoral college counts states instead of people so thatity doesn't have too big a voice in the

election. Is that right? Exactly, yeah. But I'm still not totally clear on how it all works. It works like this. Each of the states on the island, Electricity, the Knock on Woods, Deep Dive Lake, all these states, they each count up their votes and decide who won the state. Okay, so when now won Electricity by like a lot, a lot, a lot, that just didn't matter? Well, it sort of mattered. Now did get the most votes in Electricity, but that's only one state. The later party won all the other states, all 10 of them. Wait a second. If each state counts the same, but there's way more people in Electricity than in the Knock on Woods, then one person's vote in the Knock on Woods is way more powerful than one of these voters here in Electricity.

Excuse me, all of you who just voted, how do you feel about that? This is corrupted. This is rigged. Now all the winners did. Fair but unfair. I don't even know. It's like a tie. I'm half and half on the situation because I do think it's fair that there's a literal

college and stuff, but I don't think it's fair how a lot of people voted for now and later on. So do you think it would be more fair if a lot of people voted for now and later on. So do you think it would be more fair if we just counted people instead? Yes, I think that's fair, because that's where most of the people live. That is so fair. Now deserves the W. Yeah, and a lot of people in the U.S. feel like this, too. Oh, that's right, because the U.S. has an electoral college system, too.

Yeah, the Island of Explained model is actually based on the model in the U.S. I've got a friend who works in a library here, actually. I wonder if we should go pay her a visit. I bet she could explain the way it works in the U.S. Uh, you know I love a library, Noah. Just remember, it's a lot quieter in there. Okay, I'll whisper. Bird, this is Lee, the librarian. Hey, Lee.

And I hope you don't mind. We also brought some student voters along. Hi, voters. We were just talking about the Electoral College here on the island, and it's pretty similar to the Electoral College in the U.S., right? Yeah, they're pretty similar. Things are a little more tricky in the U.S., right? Yeah, they're pretty similar. Things are a little more tricky in the U.S. On the island, every state counts the same. But in the U.S., the states with more people

count for a bit more. Got it. But at the end of the day, the island and the U.S. are pretty close because they both pick presidents based on the states, not just on how many people voted. Okay, interesting. So the island have explained based their system on the U.S., but how did the U.S. even come up with this model? There were a few reasons for it. The first is that the founders wanted to make sure that smaller states that had fewer people also had a voice. Oh, just like on the island. Exactly. Another one is that the founders thought that people might not have enough information to vote directly for president. It's kind of complicated, but the founders thought that the Electoral College would be a way around giving the people too much power. But we also need to talk about some of the country's ugly history here. When the Electoral College

was made in the U.S., slavery actually played a huge role. Back then, a lot of people in the southern states were enslaved, and enslaved people weren people couldn't vote. So southern states like Georgia didn't have a lot of voters. A state like New York, all the way up here, had way more people who could vote. The South pushed to use the electoral college so states there could have roughly about the same amount of say in who got to be president as states in the North. It wasn't just about slavery, but it was a lot about slavery. But we don't have slavery anymore, so why is the electoral college still around? For one, it's really hard to change.

And for another, the people who like it want to keep it around because they see it as continuing to give small states more power compared to larger states. I don't really like that we have this system that has so much to do with slavery. What about you guys? If we were still living like that, I would be a slave. I think we should get a new voting system. I would change the system no matter what. On top of its connections to slavery, the Electoral College is still a big obstacle to change in America, and many see it as an undemocratic system. Just like on the island of Explained, every person's vote doesn't count the same. So a couple of recent presidents have

actually gotten the most votes and still lost the election. Kind of like what happened to the Now Party. Okay, so voters, what do you think? Should we keep the Electoral College? I think we should change it. It's like electricity. Their vote really doesn't matter because if all the other places vote for leader, then what's the point of voting in the first place? So I feel like we should probably change it. I think we should change it because everybody matters. I think we should change it because it's not fair. I think you should count everyone the same. Let's say there's a lot of votes for a good president,

and there's very little votes for a very horrible president, and the horrible president gets chosen instead of the good president. We should change it. So, Leigh, should the U.S. get rid of the Electoral College? If we want to have a democracy where everyone's vote counts, we should really think about changing it. I mean, it's been around for a while. Is it even possible to change it?

It's definitely possible to do so. Some people who ran for president have even proposed plans to change it. And there are other ideas out there to change it, too. So even though it is really tough to change a system like this, just because it's difficult doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Well, thanks for explaining all of this to us, Leigh. Yeah, I'm glad I understand how this works now, even if it is kind of complicated. Thanks for coming to my library. Okay, Bird, I think it's about time we jetpack out of here.

I think we can just make it if we aim for that open archway down there. Ooh! See you in two weeks, island! Today explains summer camp counselors Noam Hassenfeld and Bird Pinkerton. Jillian Weinberger edited today's episode. Afim Shapiro engineered with the help of his son Harvey, his other son Louis, and his wife Steph. Vox's editorial director of podcasts, Liz Kelly Nelson, helped a bunch too.

And we had help from Amanda Northrup, Rachel Giannini, Salim Hugh Penny, Lauren Katz, Jamila Various, and Rachel Israel. Thanks to Lee Zoe, who played the island's librarian. And a special thank you to all the kids who came to the island with us. Kyra, Marco, Eric, Jacob, Micah, Mateo, Kelly, Anthony, Diana, Gio, Kalani, Angela, Damari, and Isaiah. You can spend more time on the island I've explained with a set of activities we've put together for you to do with your grown-ups and to do with your kids. Are you team now or team later?

What about your family? What about your friends? Go to Vox.com slash Today Explained Kids for a discussion guide and activities on phone banking, tallying election results, and creating the perfect persuasive speech. Again, that site is Vox.com slash Today Explained Kids. The rest of the Today today explained team includes bridget mccarthy halima shah muj zaydi and amina al-sadi we had extra help this week from paul mounsey

cecilia lay checks the facts the mysterious breakmaster cylinder is our booster and the show is part of the vox media podcast network all right this episode was brought to you by snailsman slime all you need is snailsman slime 10 seconds with my snailsman slime and your barrenness will be just fine