How Many Blacks Did The Freedom Summer Register To Vote

25 About Artistic Ways To Get People To Vote

From using a sandwich craze to concerts, the list is long.

National Voter Registration Twenty-four hour period is Sept. 24, 2019. Every year, on the 4th Tuesday in September, volunteers blanket their communities to encourage voter registration. During the 2018 event, more than 800,000 voters registered nationwide.

While National Voter Registration Twenty-four hour period has been successful since it started in 2012, companies, colleges, activities and individuals beyond the country are doing their part to get more than people to the polls. Read on to meet some of the nearly creative ways that have gotten people to vote.

Leveraging the Popeyes Craven Sandwich Craze

People went crazy trying to detect the elusive new Popeyes craven sandwich when it was released in August 2019. So an enterprising teenager in Charlotte, North Carolina, thought information technology was a perfect opportunity to promote voting.

David Ledbetter, 17, hung out at a local Popeyes, where people waited to score a tasty sandwich. There, he distributed voter registration cards and sample ballots and encouraged people to testify up at the polls.

Targeting Theatergoers at a Play About an Election

The Broadway show "The Swell Gild" covers President Lyndon B. Johnson'southward initial ballot and his painful decision not to run again. People attending performances in New York City starting on Sept. vi have been able to take function in a mock vote for the 2020 presidential nominees for the Republican and Democratic parties in "The Great Society Main." At select performances, volunteers were stationed in the lobby to help theatergoers annals to vote for existent.

Pictured: The Great Society bandage and creative team

Dazzling Would-Be Voters With a Wink Mob

Wink mobs can be ane way to get younger voters to the polls. In Memphis, Tennessee, 100 teenagers were trained in the fine fine art of breaking into dance routines in public in society to depict attending to a program called "#Plow Upward the Vote: 901 Wink Mob and Civic Engagement Training."

Once they hooked their audience, they moved to a pro-voting vocal and dance human action. In addition to encouraging voters, the program aimed to teach young people nigh civic date.

Pictured: Wink mob of dancers and singers

Inspiring Women Voters With 'Twelve Aroused Men' Performed past Women

Despite its title, the play "Twelve Aroused Men" is beingness used to inspire women voters with performances read by an all-female person bandage. Twelve Broadway actresses joined together in New York Urban center in September 2018 to perform readings of the play and encourage voter registration, which could be done correct at the theater.

In April 2019, women in dozens of communities across the U.S. staged readings of the play. The women involved shared information on how to increase local voter registration and how to encourage people to go out and vote.

Pictured: At the 12,000 Voices Kickoff on Sept. 16, 2018: eleven of the 12 jurors cast their initial "guilty" votes. From left to correct: Chilina Kennedy ("Beautiful" ), Ana Villafañe (" On Your Feet") , Dale Soules ("Orange is the New Black" ), Ariana DeBose (Steven Spielberg's " Westside Story" ), Jill Paice ("An American in Paris" ), Caitlin Kinnunen (" The Prom" ), Ann Harada (" Avenue Q" ), Amber Iman (" Hamilton" National Bout), Lynn Cohen (" The Hunger Games" ), Kathleen Chalfant (" Angels in America" ), Jenn Gambatese (" Schoolhouse of Rock") and Jenn Colella (" Come From Away" )

Registering Voters at Music Festivals and Concerts

The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival has been one outlet that encourages its audience to annals to vote. And information technology had its highest turnout however in 2019, with 1,390 voter registrations.

The endeavor was led by HeadCount, a nonprofit organization that works with musicians to promote voter registration. Information technology started in 2004 and has registered more than 600,000 voters at more than 5,000 music festivals and concerts. It's working to add at least 200,000 more registered voters for the 2020 presidential election.

Pop-Up Creative person Performances

One voter registration effect in Austin, Texas, offered gratis performances past local artists to encourage the creative community to work toward positive change. The event as well offered opportunities to piece of work on telephone banks, do block walks and send out mailings to aid voters get more involved in the political procedure. Potential voters could besides meet some of the candidates.

Pictured: Concert in Austin, Texas

Registering Voters at Pride Events

June is National Pride Month, and youth voter registration apostle NextGen America rode on the event's rainbow coattails to sign upwards more voters at Pride celebrations in 10 states. NextGen, which signed up 257,000 voters for the final midterm election, grew out of minor efforts, getting patrons in gay confined registered to vote. At present its campaign reaches the strategic states of Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Promoting the Vote on Ariana Grande'southward 'Sweetener' Tour

Ariana Grande kicked off her "Sweetener" World Tour in March 2019, and it'due south racking upwards more than than just impressive ticket sales. The singer partnered with HeadCount to help annals young voters, and the registrations started rolling in.

Grande makes information technology especially easy for her fans to annals. If they're unable to attend a concert to register, they tin simply text Ariana to 40649 to automate the process wherever they are.

Pictured: Ariana Grande performing at Billboard's 13th Annual Women in Music Show

Offering Competition to the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Along With Voter Registration

Nomad Deli in Richmond, Virginia, can't compete directly with the massive Popeyes craven sandwich entrada, just information technology all the same tossed downwardly the gauntlet with its Large Fried Chick sandwich.

The store invited locals to come in and attempt their fried chicken sandwich, garnished with onions, grilled peppers, jalapenos and provolone cheese, cradled between two slices of garlic toast. Patrons were also encouraged to take intendance of their voter registration right at the restaurant.

Pictured: Nomad Cafeteria Big Fried Chick sandwich

Letting Voters Register at Wine and Spirits Stores

Most of the voter registration sites in Delaware Canton, Pennsylvania, are run of the mill, similar the Delaware Canton Government Middle and the local libraries and municipal buildings. But you can besides buy your favorite alcoholic beverage and annals to vote at the land wine and spirit stores.

Peer Force per unit area

Peer pressure gets kids in problem, but when they reach voting age, it's useful to get them out to the polls. Social norms are a strong motivator. A 2012 written report published by Nature Research used an "I Voted" button on Facebook that enticed 340,000 people to vote. When potential voters saw the push on Facebook posts disclosing which of their friends had voted, they were more probable to follow suit.

Getting Would-Be Voters To Commit

If you lot can get someone to commit to voting, research shows that they're probable to follow through. This strategy was used in the 2012 presidential election when individuals were given cards that asked for their pledge to vote on Election Day. This tactic doesn't fifty-fifty crave a card to work. A report published in Psychological Science that was conducted during the 2008 presidential election revealed that only helping people makes plans to vote additional voter turnout by iv.i%.

Pictured: Citizens registering to vote in Miami, Florida

Exhibiting Political Cartoons

Political cartoons are a staple of social critique, and when they're focused on hot-push issues, they can also assistance become out the vote. Artist Steve Brodner has exhibited political cartoons at a New York gallery to bring awareness to President Donald Trump's policies and to social movements like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter. By showcasing the work of 53 artists, he hoped to show people why information technology's and then important to bring about modify through voting.

Pictured: Political cartoon of Donald Trump

Making a Political Argument With Handbags

Hot-push button bug help inspire people to vote, and artist Michele Pred creates fashionable handbags to bring sensation to feminist topics and the gun violence argue. The handbags are marked with political statements, and while they can exist carried at any time, she's used them to inspire voters by having them worn in protest marches held effectually ballot times.

Hooking Them While They're Young

Kids larn all kinds of skills in school that will assist them in adulthood, so why non add voting to the curriculum? The state of Kansas did just that, using the Kids Voting USA civics pedagogy model.

Not only did teaching youngsters how to vote make them more probable to follow through when they reached historic period 18, but it as well afflicted their parents. Voter participation was over 2% college among 18-year-olds who went through the program, as well as amongst their mothers and fathers.

Meeting Voters Where They Live

If you make voting as user-friendly as possible, information technology logically follows that more than people will vote. Colorado uses this strategy by allowing people to cast their votes without e'er leaving abode. This programme boosted overall voter participation by up to 5%. It worked especially well with younger voters, increasing their participation by 9%, according to the Middle for American Progress.

Letting Voters Register on Election Day

We live in an on-demand society where we increasingly expect immediate gratification. Allowing same-day voter registration taps into the demographic that'south used to streaming television shows on-need and ordering trade that's delivered within ii hours. In the many states now trying this approach, voter participation typically rises by an boilerplate of 5%, according to the Center for American Progress.

When someone'due south friends ask them, "Hey, did you vote today?" they tin can run out and exercise it rather than waiting for the next ballot and possibly forgetting to register in the meantime. This organization is specially effective for historically underrepresented groups. In the 2012 election, 41% of voters in North Carolina who took reward of same-twenty-four hours registration were African American.

Using Sex To 'Sell' the Vote

"Sex sells" is an old advertising maxim that applies to near everything, even voter registration. Although many voter registration strategies are aimed at younger voters, Equality Illinois Education Project addressed baby boomers with a seductive advertisement.

The entrada was a follow-up to a serial of ads known equally "Vote Naked Illinois" that seduced the state's voters a few years earlier. That natural language-in-cheek campaign emphasized that, with absentee ballots, you don't fifty-fifty demand to article of clothing pants to vote.

Pictured: Voters mark their paper ballots near a row of puddle tables at Pressure Billiards and Cafe in Chicago

Sending the Oval Office on College Tours

Obviously vii-11 is known for its brain freeze-inducing Slurpees, just the convenience store chain also has a unique way of motivating college-historic period adults to vote. It has a special tour bus that contains a replica of the Oval Role and visits college campuses. In the past, the chain also held its own informal ballot polls past printing candidates' faces on coffee cups and tracking client preference past sales of each cup blueprint.

Offering a Bounce House for Registered Voters Only

Who doesn't love a bounce house? They're a staple at children's parties, and the University of Minnesota gambled that their appeal could nevertheless hold sway over adults.

The school held a Voterpalooza event to encourage voter registration, offer an array of salty and sweetness treats like popcorn and cotton candy. The pièce de résistance: Only people who registered could enter the giant inflatable house, where they could also meet the Minneapolis mayor.

Belongings a Poster Contest

The American Found of Graphic Arts enlists graphic arts students to aid them encourage voter registration. The merchandise association sponsors a "Go Out the Vote" poster contest every four years. Students channel their creativity into nonpartisan pleas to vote using drawings and photography.

Pictured: Michelle Obama, Al Franken, and Mark Dayton nourish a "Get Out The Vote" rally

Making Voting Stylish

The State Academy of New York at Oswego holds events to encourage its students to register to vote. That includes open mic nights, film screenings and debates, but one of the near creative is a fashion show. The events continue through ballot dark, culminating in a major party as students look to see the winners.

Providing Costless Rides to the Polls

Thanks to ride-shares, Lyft and Uber helped ensure voters had a ride to the polls. In the past, Lyft partnered with voter activation groups to offer complimentary or discounted rides to the polls. Competitor Uber provided free ride codes to voter groups and let people find their nearest polling location correct within the app.

Giving Voters Complimentary Food

Diverse local and national restaurants and chains like Krispy Kreme and Chuck Due east. Cheese offer complimentary food to people who vote on Election Day. Technically it's illegal to ransom voters with freebies, even when you're not trying to influence their choice of candidate, but companies have found a loophole. While they might advertise that yous need an "I Voted" sticker, they stay in the clear by giving the free stuff to anyone who asks.

Partnering With Popular Brands

About the Writer