Julia Louis-Dreyfus really, really wants you to vote

Julia Louis-Dreyfus joked “the apocalypse is great” during CNN’s CITIZEN event on Tuesday.

“It’s rough, it’s weird, it seems like it keeps getting worse,” she said in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I don’t know, nose to the grindstone, man. We just got to keep powering through and hopefully there will be an end in sight to all the insanity.”

Louis-Dreyfus spoke about the importance of voting and paid tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Praising her “hardworking spirit,” Louis-Dreyfus said she and her family were in tears watching a documentary about Ginsburg, who died last week at the age of 87 from complications of cancer.

“I’m mourning and grieving the loss of such a hero,” she said. “I think we can’t spend much time grieving here. I think we’ve got to carry on her legacy, which is to say, getting people to vote, getting people to vote, getting people to vote. I don’t know how else to say it.”

Louis-Dreyfus is part of a campaign designed to get people to volunteer as poll workers. Those participating would receive compensation, as well as personal protective equipment as a precaution against Covid-19.

She said having such poll workers is vital — particularly during the pandemic.

“If you do not have enough people working the polls, polls close down,” she said. “And of course a lot of people who work the polls are older people. They may be less inclined to sign up to work given the Covid outbreak. Understandably so, the idea was to keep polls open for everybody and to do that, we need workers.”

Louis-Dreyfus said her husband, actor/writer/director Brad Hall, has volunteered as a poll worker in the past.

“Every time he did it, he came home and he was all sort of teary about what an incredible experience it is to do something like that,” she said.

“I think it’s an understatement to say that democracy is a fragile thing,” she added. “And I think that’s something that’s very evident these days more than ever. I never thought I would see anything like what I’m seeing these days in my lifetime.”

Louis-Dreyfus served as host on the fourth night of the recent Democratic National Convention and is a vocal supporter of former Vice President Joe Biden. She said they’ve had a friendship for many years, which included Biden reaching out to her after her breast cancer diagnosis in 2017.

It’s part of why she felt compelled be involved in the convention, even though she said hosting is not her strong suit.

“I believe in what [Biden’s] doing and his message and his leadership,” she said. “I don’t believe what the other side is doing is democratic right now. So I thought, well, I have to sort of rise up. This is my patriotic duty to help out.”