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    ‘philadelphia’


    By: Aubrey Vaughan

    Nikki Jean Shows Democracy Some Brotherly Love

    Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

    Philadelphia: Home of cheesesteaks and brotherly love. More importantly, the birthplace of American democracy.

    Nikki Jean: Toured alongside Kanye West, Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco, and NERD for the Glow in the Dark Tour. More importantly, now a Democracy Class teacher.

    Nikki Jean’s been making music for almost as long as Rock the Vote has been around. More precisely, according to her website, since she was this big:

    Fast forward to 2005 when she moved to Philadelphia to join its vibrant music scene, where she quickly became involved with the indie hip-hop band Nouveau Riche, skyrocketed to fame with her popular YouTube videos, and joined Lupe on his 2007 sophomore album ‘The Cool.” On top of all that, she’s currently working on rolling out her own solo album.

    Clearly, Nikki Jean’s a little busy, but when it comes to engaging young people in our democracy, Nikki’s committed to Rocking the Vote. She joined us at Philly’s Constitution High School last Thursday to host a Democracy Class and a lunch time voter registration rally. By the end of the day, students had registered to vote, signed up to volunteer, or be alerted with a text reminder to register on their eighteenth birthdays.

    And just for the record, that whole brotherly love thing? Totally not a rumor. Last fall, our Philly-based field team saw midterm turnout rates significantly higher than the national average. At U Penn alone, turnout went up by 46 percent, according to Rock the Vote’s Election Day tallies. Keep on rocking, Philadelphia. We love you too.

      Aubrey Vaughan
      Bio: Aubrey is a field intern at Rock the Vote.
      @aubreyvaughan
      Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com

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      Posted in Democracy Class, Democracy Day, Uncategorized | Comments Off


      By: Tom Yarnell

      Updates from the field

      Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

      As early polling numbers start trickling in this afternoon, our Rock the Vote field teams report that young people around the country are excited to raise their voices today in the midterm elections.

      In Philadelphia on the University of Pennsylvania campus this morning, 19-year-old Jill told RTV Field Director Eric Zoberman that this election is critical in the wake of 2008’s historic experience.

      “It was great to see so many young people involved in 2008, but without that level of enthusiasm, it is even more my responsibility to stay engaged and vote,” she said.

      It’s still early in the day, but we are optimistic that many of the 300,000 people who downloaded our registration forms this year will hit the polls. In the last midterm election in 2006, we registered 50,000 people, so we’re excited to see the outcome of that increase in participation as the results are announced.

      Some cool things are already in motion this Election Day. If you’re like us at RTV Headquarters, we’re all enjoying watching our friends announce that they’ve voted and contribute to the massive tally on Facebook, which is increasing by the minute (It’s at more than 4 million voters as of 2pm EDT!). Some of us are also checking in on Foursquare, unlocking the “I Voted” badge RTV collaborated with other groups to create for today.

      On the ground, young people are experiencing some early victories. RTV North Carolina State Coordinator Tracy Leatherberry reports that in many precincts, we’ve already surpassed our 2006 midterm turnout. In Gainesville, FLA, Deputy Field Director Annie Lorenzana has a large crowd of young people gathered at her University of Florida polling place casting ballots. State Coordinator Rob Abraham is on the Ohio State University campus where enthusiastic students are gathered at The Union to vote.

      If you’ve already voted, encourage your friends to vote too! Send them a link to our “Vote Fearlessly” video with Nick Cannon, Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix, Kate Walsh and other stars.

      Stay tuned this afternoon for more updates. We’ll be back with the latest news from our people on the ground, as well as analysis of the results as they are available.

        Tom Yarnell
        Bio: Tom is a former Rock the Vote communications team member who now works for an intellectual property law firm in DC. He loves sports and coming back to blog for RTV!
        @thomasyarnell
        Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com

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        Posted in rock the vote, young voters | 2 Comments »


        By: Tom Yarnell

        Volunteers Spook Out the Vote

        Monday, November 1st, 2010

        Maybe that Batman costume from when you were five years-old is a little snug now, but you’re never too old to Trick or Vote.

        This Halloween weekend, hundreds of volunteers hit the streets for Rock the Vote’s Trick or Vote events, part of the nationwide, costumed canvas event to get out the vote before Election Day tomorrow.

        Dressed in their best Halloween costumes, volunteers knocked on doors around the country in Philadelphia, Columbus, Chapel Hill, and Gainesville. They made thousands of face to face contacts, which research shows is the best way to get people to the polls. Instead of asking for candy, volunteers offered a treat of their own – polling location information and voter guides with a list of candidates and big ballot issues.

        Spreading democracy was some scary good fun, and so was meeting all of the great people who came out to join the celebration.We had volunteers from all over America, and then some foreign friends as well. Those from outside the country were not only excited about helping to increase young voter turnout for the midterm elections, but for some it was also their first Halloween!

        Our volunteers rocked, and in some places, they were joined by some serious rockers. In Columbus, volunteers did some Trick or Vote training and worked the streets with the band OK Go. At the end of the day, Chapel Hill volunteers got to see Passion Pit’s concert for free and Columbus volunteers got to do the same for OK Go.

        In Gainesville, volunteers kept the Halloween theme going all night when they caught a showing of Dracula, a new take on the old tale from Gainesville’s Hippodrome State Theater. Philadelphia trick or voters gathered together for some great food and prizes at Philly hotspot Marathon Grill.

        We want to thank everyone who came out for some Halloween fun and helped us remind thousands of young people that there is an election tomorrow that will affect their future.

          Tom Yarnell
          Bio: Tom is a former Rock the Vote communications team member who now works for an intellectual property law firm in DC. He loves sports and coming back to blog for RTV!
          @thomasyarnell
          Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com

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          Posted in rock the vote, young voters | 1 Comment »


          By: Michael Kelly

          Waiting in Cleveland – remembering Temple

          Monday, October 18th, 2010

          We have a day off today.  I’m chillin’ in Cleveland and visiting the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Today is the first day without a voter pledge event and I have to tell you – I’m already missing the energy of the students and young voters who  are pledging to vote and volunteering for Trick or Vote. We’re on our way to Michigan State in a few hours and I can’t wait to get started again. I know that MSU is ready to vote fearlessly – it’s going to be fantastic.

          So, what happened at Temple? 255 voter pledges is what happened! More than 3,000 students came out to dance to Passion Pit and the two amazing openers – K. Flay and Black Joe Lewis (Seriously – check both of them out). When they weren’t jumping through the Liacouras Center they were stopping at the Rock the Vote/Trick or Vote table to pledge and sign up for the Philly Trick or Vote.

          It was spectacular – the bands put on the best show of the tour so far and the pledges from Temple students put us at just above 1,000 voter pledges in three days!

          It would be great to see you out at the other shows – after MSU we’re on our way to Indiana, Vanderbilt, Northern Illinois, Tufts, UNC Chapel Hill and more. Check us out here and come to the show!

            Michael Kelly
            Bio:

            Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com

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            Posted in Pledge to Vote | Comments Off


            By: Michael Kelly

            Passion Pit: Pledging to Vote and Scooping Ice Cream at Temple

            Saturday, October 16th, 2010

            It’s cold today in Philly.  But that didn’t stop Temple from enjoying free ice cream scooped by Passion Pit.  It also didn’t stop tons of young voters from pledging to vote.

            It’s Homecoming Day here and as students waited for the buses to take them to the game at the Linc, Passion Pit scooped ice cream and asked students to pledge to vote.  It was brisk, forty degrees, and windy – but the sun was shining and young voters were letting the world know that November 2 is a day on, a day to vote fearlessly.  That and a cheese-steak from Pat’s was a nice kickoff to a day of Owls pledging to vote.

            More on Temple later – time to get inside to get our pledge on.

            -Mike

              Michael Kelly
              Bio:

              Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com

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              Posted in Pledge to Vote | Comments Off

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