September 20, 2018 500 AM
MIDTERMS MATTER!
MARFA-Spearheaded by local grassroots organization Midterms Matter, this year’s Trans Pecos Festival will host a non-partisan platform for getting young people to vote, encouraging action through art and political awareness.
According to Midterms Matter “Millennials have the lowest voter turnout rate among age groups, with people age 65+ the highest. In the last presidential election, fewer than 25% of young people eligible to vote in Texas actually voted and the trend is proving similar in other states”.
Midterms Matter; a non-partisan group led by Austin artists, creative community and first time voters was created to increase voter turnout (particularly young people) and is grassroots in all its glory. In a relatively short amount of time, and learning as they go, Midterms Matter has collaborated with C3 at the ACL Festival for an art-driven voter turnout campaign.
“We want to make all voices heard, and we want to reduce the influence of money in politics. “We can do that if we all vote”
Volunteers from Midterms Matter will be wandering the grounds of El Cosmico encouraging voter turnout, while Deputy Voter Registrars from Headcount.com will on hand to register anyone in need. A group of 18-year-old first-time voters are running the Instagram feed @ midtermsmatter and since the group’s inception, they have been making and posting art and short films for the feed. They’ll be creating new content and posting from festival grounds as a precursor to a much larger campaign and slew of events hosted by Midterms Matter in collaboration with C3 and Austin City Limits.
Midterms Matter was founded by a group of local first-time voters and creators, including Alabel Chapin, Ruby Bowman, Elizabeth Chapin, Miguel Rangel, Rose Barnett, Mishka Westell, Nathaniel Chapin, Lisa Reile, Shanna Weisfeld, Rachel Lomas, Courtney Calhoun, Nak Armstrong, and Walter Marcantoni.
Their efforts at Trans Pecos and ACL Festival 2018 are made possible with the help of C3, HeadCount.com, local and visiting artists, a host of volunteers, and Downtown for Democracy, a NYC organization whose mission is to get out the vote through art.
Having trouble wrapping your head around how to register? HeadCount.org makes it easy for you to register to vote online or by text message. Have you moved? Want to change your party? Just turn 18? Log in to Headcount.org to register yourself to vote now so that you are ready for the upcoming midterm election on November 6th.
