Rock the vote? Maybe not

Fri, 23 Apr 2004 21:02:00 +0000

Outside Manhattan's Irving Plaza rock club on a recent spring evening, a young, excited crowd wrapped around the block, waiting to get into a sold-out show by emo poster boys Ben Kweller and Death Cab for Cutie. Megan Brown, 18, made her way down the line, asking "Are you registered?" and carrying a clipboard full of voter registration forms with a "Rock the Vote" sticker on the back. Petite, with a thick, curly ponytail, Brown rocks the vote at "street team" events like these at least twice a month.

"This is the first activity I haven't put on college applications," says the high school senior. "I'm concerned about what's happening to the country. I really feel like it's something I'm doing for me." Rock the Vote loves volunteers like Brown: Not only is she a young hipster in an Urban Outfitters T-shirt, she's cheerful, approachable and undaunted by giggly rejections ("I'm only 12!" one Death Cab fan protests). She only registers four or five of the 200-odd people on the sidewalk, including a 39-year-old ticket scalper, but the personal contact, she says, makes her feel like she's making a difference.

Salon.com > Anya Kamenetz

Rock the vote? Maybe not