--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Support for this show comes from ServiceNow. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into, don't you know? That's why it's no surprise that more than 85% of the Fortune 500 use the ServiceNow AI platform. Didn't know that. While other platforms duct tape tools together, ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data, workflows, and AI, connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters most. I've never met an AI agent. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at servicenow.com.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Not all journalism is the same. Take The Guardian. Our coverage has something unique. Fierce independence. Nobody owns us or tells us what we can and can't say. So we're free to report the whole picture. We connect what's happening in Washington to the rest of the globe. Expose corruption wherever we find it. And give fresh perspective on everything. From wellness and soccer to culture, the climate and more. Read, watch, and listen to The Guardian for free at theguardian.com
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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! Explain! Explain! Today, today, explained. 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.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: But believe it or not, the election for president on the island of Explained is happening today. 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 Hassenfeld: 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...
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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. Would you mind if I listen in? Actually, Sean, would you mind if I just take Bird around the island? I can let you in the audience listen in, too. Sure, I'll go get some popcorn.
--:-- Noam Hassenfeld: 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?
--:-- Bert Pinkerton: 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.
--:-- Noam Hassenfeld: 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.
--:-- Bert Pinkerton: 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.
--:-- Noam Hassenfeld: 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.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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. Later is greater. Later is greater.
--:-- Noam Hassenfeld: 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.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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! Now or never!
--:-- Bert Pinkerton: 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.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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?
--:-- Happy Now Year: Mr. Now Year, 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.
--:-- Bert Pinkerton: You said you needed new houses. That means you already have houses. Miss 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're stronger than them. Yeah. I happen to be two inches tall. That's a lie.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: I think you guys should join together because now is two now and later is two 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, just save it. Miss Gator, could you work together with Mr. Now Year? I'm scared that if I start working with those now people, the next thing you know, everyone's going to 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. Expose. Please, this got spicy.
--:-- Happy Now Year: 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're bad, there ain't gonna 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 announce 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 going to regret that you didn't do it now.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: If I had to choose, I would vote for now. My vote is for now. If you really need something, how are you going to get across? Like, you got nothing to get across the ocean besides the 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 going to end well for you. If we need a bridge, we 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. Sounds like an interesting name.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Okay, it's time to count every last vote. I'm so jazzed, Noam. 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.
--:-- [Break music plays]
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Welcome back to Today Explained. We're still on the island of Explained, and we're waiting to find out who won the election. Bird, you ready to hear the election results? Heck yes, I am. And the results are in. The Now Party got 230 votes in Electricity. And the Later Party only got 125. So Now has won Electricity. Now or never! Now or never.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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 to 1, that means Later has won the election. What? But now got more votes. What's going on? So now did get more votes, but like you heard, later 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.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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.
--:-- [Jetpacks sound effects]
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: All right, I'm always up for a jetpack. Grab your seatbelt. Strap this on. Safety first. Holy goons! Non, you can see the whole island from up here. Yeah, there's electricity 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 one, two, three 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.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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!
--:-- [Hyperdrive sound effects]
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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 should 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, alright. Okie doke. Ugh, jetpacking is always so bad for my back. Stretch it out. Okay, I think I'm falling so far.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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 that electricity 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.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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 Electric City 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 Electric City. Excuse me.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: All of you who just voted, how do you feel about that? This is corrupted. This is rigged. Now are the winners. It's 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 electoral college and stuff. But I don't think it's fair how a lot of people voted for now and later one. 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 Explain model is actually based on the model in the U.S.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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. You know I love a library, Noam. Just remember, it's a lot quieter in there. Okay, I'll whisper. Bird, this is Lee, the librarian. Hi, 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 pretty similar Things are a little more tricky in the U On the island every state counts the same But in the U the states with more people count for a bit more Got it But at the end of the day the island and the U are pretty close because they both pick presidents based on the states, not just on how many people voted.
--:-- Lee: Okay, interesting. So the island of 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.
--:-- Lee: 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't allowed to vote. Actually, let me grab a map. Take Georgia over here. Enslaved 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.
--:-- Lee: 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 have 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.
--:-- Lee: 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 but for later, then what's the point of voting in the first place? So I feel like we should probably change it. I think we need to change it because everybody matters. I think we should change it because it's not fair. I think you should count everyone in the same. Let's say there's a lot of votes for a good president and there's like very little votes for a very horrible president, and the horrible president gets chosen instead of the good president. We should change it.
--:-- Lee: So, Lee, 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 to. 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.
--:-- Lee: 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. Woo! Be in two weeks, silence.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: 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 Janini, 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, Matteo, Kelly, Anthony, Diana, Gio, Kalani, Angela, Damari, and Isaiah. You can spend more time on the Island of 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 todayexplainedkids 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 todayexplainedkids.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The rest of the Today Explained team includes Bridget McCarthy, Halima Shah, Muj Zaidy, 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 Slime, slime, snailsman slime All you need is snailsman slime Ten seconds with my snailsman slime And your Barry Ments will be just fine Slime
