Actress Drew Barrymore

Actress, producer, and now director Drew Barrymore just finished her first documentary, The Best Place to Start. She hired a camera crew and spent the past year traveling across the country in order to learn about our voting system—and even more importantly why so many of us aren't voting.

"In order to become more responsible, I decided to pick up a camera, make a documentary and learn along the way. And that's sort of how I educate myself. I sort of pave this road for myself and go, 'Okay, these are the things I want to learn.' I build a college for myself. I wanted to speak to kids. I wanted to understand why voting was so important."
Actress Drew Barrymore

On her quest, Drew was determined to get answers about the state of voting in America.

"I saw what I've discovered to become a vicious cycle. The kids aren't appealed to. They don't understand what their issues are yet. But the candidates don't take the time to show them [young voters] what their issues are or appeal to those issues because they're [young voters] not voting.

To me, what became important about the voting was the vote itself. … What people went through…. The conclusion that I came to was that voting, for me, became about looking inside of myself and learning who I was and therefore trying to find candidates and politicians that believe in the things that I believe in and will go and represent that to the rest of the country."
Actress Cameron Diaz

She's a major movie star who is great friends with Drew Barrymore and is on the board of Declare Yourself (www.DeclareYourself.com), a campaign created to raise the awareness of voting. Cameron Diaz makes a passionate plea to the country—why it's important for each and every one of us to vote.

"I feel like apathy did not create this country, but it is definitely going to destroy it…. We can all say, 'Well, it doesn't matter to me, because, you know, it doesn't affect me. Nobody ever does anything for me.' … This country isn't about other people doing stuff for you. It's about you doing it for yourself. That's what this country was built on."
Actress Cameron Diaz

She's a major movie star who is great friends with Drew Barrymore and is on the board of Declare Yourself (www.DeclareYourself.com), a campaign created to raise the awareness of voting. Cameron Diaz makes a passionate plea to the country—why it's important for each and every one of us to vote.

"I feel like apathy did not create this country, but it is definitely going to destroy it…. We can all say, 'Well, it doesn't matter to me, because, you know, it doesn't affect me. Nobody ever does anything for me.' … This country isn't about other people doing stuff for you. It's about you doing it for yourself. That's what this country was built on."

During the show taping, Cameron is overwhelmed by emotion.

Oprah: Cameron is having a moment. What is this about?

Cameron: Well, I'm so proud of my friend [Drew Barrymore]. She took a whole year out of her busy schedule. She's a producer, she's an actor…she did this to take the time to educate people about it. And then I started listening to people saying, 'Oh, I don't vote because it just doesn't affect me. And I just got overwhelmed, because I think this is the best country in the world. And it just scares me that we're just going to squander it all away. That we're going to lay down and let people take it away from us.

Oprah: I am very, very afraid.

Cameron: I'm really scared. I don't know if you guys know this about our country…but people—we're all alone right now. And, where we used to be the strongest in the world, we're alone. So, that's the beginning of something terrible, and so it's very important to go out there.

Oprah: I know. You're afraid of what's going to happen if people do not vote.
Christina Aguilera registers a young voter.

On November 2nd, singing-superstar Christina Aguilera will do something she's never done before—vote! She is also working with Declare Yourself to encourage young Americans to get out and vote.

"I didn't think politics had anything to do with me," Christina says. "It's embarrassing and shameful to know that I haven't been voicing my opinion as a female. It's disrespectful to the women who worked so hard in getting us to this point where we have a say."
P.Diddy discusses voting

P. Diddy is anything but subtle…whatever he wants, he goes for and gets it. Now, P. Diddy wants you to get out and vote! He brought along t-shirts for the audience with a slogan he created, "Vote or Die!"

"For years, people have wondered why young people and minorities are not involved in the voting process," P. Diddy says. "They're disenfranchised. I wanted to come up with a slogan that will wake 'em up and let 'em know how it really is out here. People have died for us to have this right to vote and the rights we have today, and we must exercise that right. …I wanted to come up with a slogan that was really politically-incorrect, that was rock 'n' roll, that was hip-hop. That expressed what young people feel, and the urgency of the matter. When you vote a president into office, you're putting your life and the lives of your families in someone else's hands. You have to vote on November 2nd to have a say-so in your future."
P. Diddy on inspiration to educate youth on voting

P. Diddy says that his critically acclaimed role in Broadway's The Raisin in the Sun inspired him to get young people involved in the voting process.

"I was playing Walter E. Unger, who was growing up on the South Side of Chicago in 1959," he says. "My life and his are totally different. It had me face the reality that I was under-appreciating the freedoms I had. I wanted to do something positive with my power. I have a gift to communicate to young people, to get through to them and also my race. … It's time for us to get involved, educated, motivated—we can change the world. We can control the destiny of our future in this country, but we have to vote. I believe we're going to vote November 2nd. The revolution will be televised. Mark my words."
Oprah talks about women and power of voting

Oprah encouraged the audience to vote in droves—and that every vote can create change.

"If every woman with children voted, then candidates could no longer just pay lip service to the education of your children in this country, "Oprah says. "If every woman who has a child really cares about the welfare of her children, the health care for her children, and the education of her children, which is freedom in my mind, then [things] would all change."