Storming the Cayahoga County Board of Elections

DSC_0227, originally uploaded by Rock the Vote 2008.

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

Young voters registered yesterday – 28,046
Miles traveled today – 97 so far

10:38 pm – 2.5 million. Now let’s spell it for emphasis: two point five million. Now let’s put upside down exclamation marks around it because nobody does emphasis like the Spanish: ¡TWO MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND VOTES! That’s the mark Rock the Vote broke last night. We have registered two-and-a-half million voters online and in person. Amazing. The mail-in registration deadlines have mostly past by now.

But if you haven’t registered yet, check out the Rock the Vote Election Center (http://www.rockthevote.com/electioncenter/) to see if your state will let you register in person or at the polls.

Two-and-a-half million new registrations mean that a whole lot of young new voters will make it to the polls. And given the recent tradition of absurdly close elections, it could well mean young voters making the difference in this election.

There’s no better way to scream ‘Youth Power!’ than Bow Wow (http://www.bowwow87.com/) leading a swarm of young voters to the polls in Ohio, which, coincidentally, is what he did with us today. The officials at the Cayahoga county election center were remarkably polite and organized given the circumstances. From their perspective a swarm of screaming youth showed up led by a young hip hop giant and three preposterously huge bodyguards. (Bow Wow’s security detail weighs more than our bus.)

But honestly, truly, the single most-exciting event of the day came this afternoon. If you live in the Cleveland area, you may have heard reports of our concert outside the Rock and Roll hall of fame with Bow Wow, Jazmine, and White Tie Affair. You did? Fantastic. Then you probably heard the really really exciting news. Yes, that’s right. The really terribly exciting news. Ready for it? Someone asked who the Rock the Vote bus tour blogger was. And without prompting!

The conversation went like this:

Stranger: So you are the Rock the Vote blogger?

Me: I write the bus tour blogs, yeah.

Stranger: I read your thing yesterday. I thought I would talk to you so you have something to write about.

Me: Hey, you read my blog! (pointing) THIS GUY READ MY BLOG!

Stranger: Yeah… well anyway…

Me: I wrote other ones than the one yesterday. There are others, too. Did you read those?

Stranger: Um… now and then.

Me: NOW AND THEN! AMAZING!

Stranger: So… The show’s probably going to start soon. I really ought to…

Me: DID EVERYONE HERE THIS GUY READ MY BLOG!?

Stranger: I am going to leave.

(exit stranger)

It turns out he never actually mentioned liking the blog. He just mentioned reading it, which is like someone saying ‘hey, I saw you in the grocery store.’ It’s not an opinion, it’s just something that happened.

Still, I am claiming him as a fan. So take note news seekers and vote-rockers: I HAVE A FAN! A FAN!! NO NEWS COULD POSSIBLY BE BIGGER!

(And, yes, also: we registered our 2.5 millionth voter yesterday.)

–Nick Brown

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Rock the Vote Bio: Rock the Vote was founded in 1990 to organize artists and fight against censorship of musicians. Since then we've evolved to focus on empowering young people to get involved in the political process. We use pop culture, peer-to-peer organizing, and the latest technology to raise visibility of politics and demystify the process of registering to vote. @rockthevote Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com

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