Citizen Dan: Voting from Abroad and Heading to Philly

Summary

In this episode of Over Here Over There, BBC Radio Gloucester's Nicky Price highlights the upcoming US General Election and how local Americans (Dan Harris, Debra Drew, and Jenn Singer) in Cheltenham encouraged their fellow citizens to register to vote. BBC Radio Gloucester's David Smith discusses with them the importance of registering overseas Americans to vote, particularly in the upcoming U.S. election, and emphasizes the significance of swing states in determining the election outcome. The conversation builds anticipation for 'Over Here, Over There' podcast coverage from Philadelphia by Claudia Koestler and Dan Harris, where they will report on the election atmosphere and its implications for democracy. 

Takeaways

• The podcast aims to help overseas Americans register to vote.
• Swing states play a crucial role in U.S. elections.
• Civic engagement is essential for democracy.
• The OHOT (Claudia Koestler and Dan Harris) team is excited to cover the election from Philadelphia.
• Every vote counts, especially in swing states.
• OHOT will be joined in Philadelphia by David Smith (BBC Radio) and Debra Drew (Democrats Abroad UK), and hosted by Drexel University Professor Emeritus Mark Brack
• The importance of educating Americans about their voting rights.
• While in Philadelphia, Claudia will cover the election for a German newspaper.
• The atmosphere in Cheltenham reflects a strong American community.
• The upcoming election is seen as a pivotal moment for democracy.

Keywords

Voting, Overseas Americans, Swing States, US Election, Civic Duty, Cheltenham, Podcast, Democracy, Political Engagement, Election Coverage

Sound Bites

• "We just want people to exercise their right."
• "Your vote weighs a lot here."
• "It's going to be the most important state."

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro Music and Greeting
• 0:17 Intro
• 0:57 BBC Radio Gloucestershire's Nicky Price
• 1:17 BBC Radio Glouceshire's David Smith
• 1:30 Introduction to Voting from Abroad
• 2:54 The Importance of Swing States
• 6:18 Anticipation for the Upcoming Election
• 7:40 Outro and Music

Transcript

Dan Harris (00:02.114)

You're in the right place. Hello, I'm Dan Harris. Hi, and I'm Claudia Koestler. You're over here, over there.

Dan Harris (00:17.816)

Hello there and welcome to Over Here Over There, your international podcast that covers issues across borders and divides. Today we're in Cheltenham in the heart of the picturesque Cotswolds where we set up a vote from abroad table to help Americans in the UK register to vote. As a precursor to an episode Claudia and I will be doing shortly, we want to play a clip featuring BBC radio glossers, Nicky Price and David Smith who asked us about getting overseas Americans of all political persuasions registered to vote. My podcast colleague Claudia Koestler was in London and missed the fun, but she was with us in spirit. In the meantime, have a quick listen. 

Nicky Price

But first of all, while our general election seems a distant memory - it was in July - there's a rather big election coming up in America in less than a month now, and on Saturday one corner of our county was alive with expats learning how they can cast their votes as BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s David Smith was finding out. 

David Smith

Well welcome to the prom in Cheltenham on a Saturday afternoon, a Saturday lunchtime. And this little corner of Cheltenham you'd be forgiven for thinking is actually Washington DC because there are American flags absolutely everywhere and a lot of people buzzing around. Dan Harris is with me. Dan's an old friend of BBC Radio Gloucestershire, originally from upstate New York, lives in Cheltenham, so he's a dual citizen, a British and American. What are you doing out here? 

Dan Harris

We are representing Vote From Abroad, which is a table that registers Americans, both Republican, Democrat, and Independent. There are only a few weeks left to vote and the general election coming up on the 5th of November. And so we're just trying to get those last Americans to sign up and exercise their civic duty.

David Smith

What makes you think a table in the middle of little Cheltenham is going to make a difference? 

Dan Harris

Well, we've had probably a stream of Americans and British coming through here. Those that can vote or those who know other Americans who can vote. So the multiplier effect, I like to think we had about an impact of about 100 people here today, which, and where the margins are so slim in certain swing states as we know, David, is very important. 

Debra Drew

Introduce me to who's staffing your table today. 

Dan Harris

This is Debra Drew, who is an old friend of mine. And she and I have had this table now for, well, couple of general elections. 

Debra Drew

That's right, yes. It's our second one. You're local to us now, aren't you, Debra? 

David Smith

You're from Gloucestershire these days. 

Debra Drew 

I am, yes. I've lived in Gloucestershire since actually 1999. So for a long time. 

David Smith

Right. OK. What's the day been like today? 

Debra Drew

Today has been so exciting. Honestly, we cannot tell you. We have talked to maybe, I would say, at least 15, 18 different Americans who didn't realize they could vote, were unsure of the process, questioning have they left it too late, thinking about my gosh my parents could vote, my kids could vote, I've got a friend that I want to tell this to. 

Dan Harris

That's the multiplier. 

Debra Drew

It has been, yeah it's a great way putting it, it's a multiplier. It's been so exciting in so many states, Alaska, California. Idaho, Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania. You ought to explain for those who don't know, North Carolina, Pennsylvania. That really matters. Every single vote there is going to count. 

Debra Drew

You're absolutely right. When the woman walked up and said she was from Pennsylvania and she needed to register to vote, honestly, we all stopped in our tracks. Time stopped. 

David Smith

We should say this is completely nonpartisan. This is down the middle. You just want Americans to register to vote. It's not a Harris thing or a Trump thing. It's down the middle.

Debra Drew

That's right, we just want people to exercise their right and to understand that it's a real privilege to be an American and to be able to always vote. 

David Smith

Dan, Deborah and... 

Jenn Singer

Jen. 

David Smith

Jen, whereabouts are you from originally, Jen? 

Jenn Singer

Originally Texas. From Texas, okay. Yes, I lived in New York for a long time before I moved here to Gloucestershire. Been here a while since officially 2019. Okay, all right. So it's been a good day today then? It's been great. It's so exciting to have people come up and say Americans! And did I miss the deadline? I didn't know I could still register. And so this is very good to get the word out and encourage people to look into the deadlines for their states. And interesting actually also for British people to come and ask you guys questions about the whole process and what's going on. Yes, we've had a lot of young British people get excited about seeing us here. What are you guys up to? And then one young person came up and said my dad's American. I didn't know he could vote in America. And so she said she was going to go encourage her dad to vote and make sure he's registered. So it's really exciting. Fantastic. So Texas, Florida, and New York are well represented here in the middle of Cheltenham on the prom on an autumn day. 

Dan Harris

Can't you tell by our Cheltenham accents? 

David Smith

Well listen, I've come to your territory here and you're standing in my home country. I've got to go to yours, haven't I, really, in a few weeks' time. 

Dan Harris

Yeah, aren't we going to do that? We're going to do that. 

David Smith

We ought to explain what we're Well, we're going...

Dan Harris

 It's going to be a parade, just about. We're all going over... Actually, we're going to hire The QE2. And we're going over and we're going to make a difference. 

David Smith

But us three, Deborah, Dan and me, we're all going to Philly, aren't we? 

Dan Harris

We are. We're going to Philly. We're going to go right in the heart of the action. There are seven swing states, but the key state and it's called, the name of Pennsylvania, nicknamed the Keystone State, is probably going to be the most important. 

David Smith

And when we say swing state for the layman, it could go either way. It's like a marginal parliamentary seat in this country like Stroud has been or Cheltenham has been. It could go any which way and it could decide the whole thing. 

Dan Harris

And it's kind of unique in a way for the the US system is kind of unique with Electoral College. But it makes Pennsylvania the most important state at the moment, along with Wisconsin, Michigan, you know, North Carolina, those. But Pennsylvania is a key. Democrats have to win that state to have a nice, smooth path into the White House. 

David Smith

And on the flip side, if Trump wins it all the doors open for him. 

Dan Harris

Momentum definitely goes his way and that means that there are still paths for Kamala Harris to win. If she wins North Carolina, Nevada and Georgia she can still do it. But it just makes it harder. 

David Smith

Which is why, when you get a Pennsylvanian and come say, I'm from Pennsylvania, you'll go, wow, your vote weighs a lot here. Yes, that's absolutely right. 

Debra Drew

And it's where we're going. You we're really excited to go somewhere where hopefully we can make a difference. I'm just thinking, election, was, the difference was 40,000 votes in the swing states. 

David Smith

40,000 votes between Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona. That's half of Cheltenham, effectively, deciding the election for 350 million people. 

Dan Harris

That's exactly right. I'm putting arms around the shoulders of these two people here. We're going and also my podcast partner Claudia Koestler, if I could do a shameless plug, there's going to be uur podcast over here over there. We're going to be there right in Philly. So, we're going to be broadcasting from there and picking up a lot of great content. So we can't wait. Can't wait.

David Smith

I'll see you for a cheesesteak in three weeks’ time.

Nick Price

Exciting stuff, yes. Not long to go till that election, less than a month now. And that was David Smith with a group of Gloucestershire Americans passing on advice to their fellow countrymen and women about how to vote from our county in the US election. And as you heard there, it was mentioned David will be joining them in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a couple of weeks time. So we'll get all the atmosphere surrounding that election very soon. But yeah, not long to go. It's kind of crept up. I hadn't quite clocked. It was that close, but it is the beginning of November, isn't it? So yeah, got a sense of the atmosphere there in the centre of Cheltenham this weekend. 

Dan Harris

That was BBC Gloucestershire's Nicky Price ending that clip. Claudia and I will follow that up with another episode highlighting the views from the streets of Cheltenham. So stay tuned for that. As you heard, Over Here, Over There is going to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a few weeks to cover the U.S. general election. Both Claudia and I will be doing the podcast from there. Claudia will also be doing her day job and covering it for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany's leading daily newspaper so she'll be a busy lady. And as you just heard, Deborah Drew will also join us along with David Smith, who will be covering the election for BBC Radio. And a shout out to one of my oldest and dearest friends, Professor Emeritus at Drexel University, Mark Brack, who will host all this mayhem on our behalf. What a guy. 

We're counting down the days to not only one of the most significant elections but truly the most momentous election of our lifetime. Will Kamala Harris win and save democracy? Or will Donald Trump pull off another improbable win and keep himself out of jail? I must admit, President Harris has a kind of nice ring to it, but that's beside the point. So much is riding on this. It'll be scary, nerve-wracking, gripping, and we'll be in the heart of it. So, check out our website at overhereoverthere.org for updates. And don't forget to subscribe and like the podcast. We'd very much appreciate it.

Until next time, thank you for listening to Over Here, Over There.