Laurie Hernandez turned 18 in 2018, and although she's already voted in a local election, she's ready to use her voice in the upcoming Presidential election on November 3. The Olympic gymnast was recently a guest on iHeartRadio's "Why I'm Voting" Podcast during which she opened up about getting to vote for the first time, and how she got her fans to register.
Hernandez explained of her first voting experience, "The local [election] was actually really helpful because it helped me understand an idea of what I was walking into, even though I'm sure they won't be too similar, but they they'll have their ties. I remember going to the local polling place and you sit in this little divider table thingamajig, and I remember going through the boxes and Googling like every other word because I had no [idea]. And it was terrifying to me cause I was like, 'Okay, how can I understand this in my own language while Googling everything. So it was very important for me to actually understand what I was checking off in the boxes. And I hope that whoever's listening, I encourage you, if you don't know something, take the time to look at it. Don't just fill it out because you want to be done with filling it out. Actually understand what you're voting for."
Laurie has been encouraging her fans to vote and make sure they're registered. As she explained, "So I will not confirm or deny that on my private story on Instagram and Snapchat, I put like, 'If you registered to vote, I'll I will literally buy you coffee.' And I got a bunch of people swiping and sending me screenshots of their voter registration for this year. And I was like, 'Well I guess you get free coffee now.'"
Listen to the full episode of "Why I'm Voting" with Laurie Hernandez on iHeartRadio.
"Why I'm Voting" features some the biggest stars, cultural influencers and athletes, sharing what matters to them most as the upcoming election approaches, and why it’s so important to show up to the ballot box. The podcast will run weekly through Election Day in November, and listeners will have the chance to talk about why they are voting, and can record and submit their own 20 second or less audio or video message at iHeartRadio.com/vote.
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