In every election your vote is important. The view that you should only bother to show up at the polls every four years to elect a president works about as well as claiming to be a practicing Catholic who only visits a church for Christmas or Easter Sunday mass.
With a number of 2010 races in a statistical dead heat the well-worn saying that “Every vote counts” has an even stronger meaning than in the past.
Numerous ballot issues this year (as reflected on www.ballotpedia.org ) range from legalizing marijuana in California and continuing to use lottery funds for natural resources in Oregon to the Campaign Finance Requirement Repeal in Florida, the pro-life leaning Fetal Personhood amendment in Colorado, the No Sales Tax for Alcohol Initiative in Massachusetts and the Schools Energy Efficiency Projects in Washington. All are vital matters that will affect the way American society and culture moves forward or backward in the future.
Together, it makes for a significant argument that demands you, as a member of a democratic republic, to take a few minutes of your time on Nov. 2 to find your voting precinct and make your mark in history.
Being taxpaying citizens who live in this country, the music community has as much interest in who represents them and what laws are enacted as anyone else should be.
“In this day and age there’s really no excuse,” said Neil Fallon of Clutch. “I’m voting and I’m on tour. Just download an absentee ballot, print it out, and send it in. So, you don’t really have that excuse. And in a day and age where privatization is starting to dictate how we live our lives, this is the one thing that we own, and that’s the U.S. government. And we’re all stockholders in it. That’s how we can influence it to our liking.
“I think that it’s a duty. Many people died so that we could enjoy and preserve, and that’s about as solid a reason that I can think of.”
Ryan Montbleau admitted that he hasn’t been closely following the election coverage. “You mean there are elections going on?” he said, mocking the nonstop influx of ads on TV and discussion in the media and referencing his busy schedule. “It can be hard to keep up, but democracy does require constant participation. It doesn’t just stop. Get out there and vote!”
On the other hand, the road warriors in Umphrey’s McGee released a band statement that gives an indication that despite the passing of miles on the road, the members remain attentive to the world around them.
“Governance is a full time occupation. Only voting every four years is like only changing your socks every other tour.”
With a desire to encourage the current generation of eligible voters to be active, otherwise such indifference enables the government to do whatever it wants, HeadCount has been registering and aiding voters since 2004. Its board members encompass musicians, promoters and managers. For the non-partisan organization, the idea that midterms matter is not just a catchphrase but a rallying cry.
At a media conference last week, HeadCount co-founder Andy Bernstein pointed out that while it’s best known for registering voters at concerts, the group has expanded to keep those registered connected, informed and returning to their polling stations.
“And in midterm elections, getting out the vote is as important as registering voters,” Bernstein said.
More than 22 million voters under the age of 30 years old participated in 2008. “That’s a lot of voters we want to see come back to the polls. We’re not telling anyone who to vote for or what should be important to them. Our goal is to keep young people engaged.”
As part of the 2010 get-out-the-vote campaign it asked those who encountered the HeadCount reps throughout the year to make a promise to cast a 2010 ballot. A select number will receive a reminder call from a musician that they chose when they signed the pledge. The list includes Bob Weir, Marc Brownstein (Disco Biscuits), Adam Gardner (Guster), Warren Haynes, Wayne Coyne, Willie Nelson and Questlove.
While some of the calls will be pre-recorded, others will be person-to-person. Just a matter of the luck of the draw. Brownstein plans to contact a number of people on Monday, November 1st at 8PM EST, which will be streamed live on Relix.com and the HeadCount blog.
“It’s just a way of adding some creative spark to get out the vote,” said Bernstein.
Addressing how the Grateful Dead inspired him as a musician and in life, Brownstein credited Weir’s idea of contacting potential voters directly as the idea for taking part in the live event.
“Hopefully, we’re going to be able to get on the phone with hundreds of our fans, all these musicians, and get a buzz going here about this very, very, very important and very integral election,” said Brownstein, a co-founder of HeadCount. “And hopefully we’re going to be able to inspire the youth that we’re engaged with to get out the vote. That’s what we’re doing here.”
Weir, who also took part in the conference, elaborated on his desire to make personal contact. “One of the reasons I want to make these calls is I want to hear these folks.”
Besides voting information, the HeadCount website has an ISSUES page that highlights specific initiatives and policies that will be decided by those who cast ballots.
Weir viewed that as a method of creating an informed electorate rather than the organization’s slant in one directino or another. “We’re just guessing what might get the wheels turning in people’s heads,” he said, “so that people start thinking about the implications of voting. ”
A HeadCount board member since its origins, Weir sees voting as part of the Big Picture that needs attention from everyone. As a father of two girls, ages nine and 13, his interest isn’t focused merely on his own existence but what the future holds for the next generation.
“I really think the importance of young people with all their considerations and their lives, in trying to set up their lives, take the future into consideration and think about it and participate in it rather than a bunch of crusty old folks who don’t have much future left and don’t have those considerations.
“It is obvious to me that there is a disparity between those two sets of interests and I would like to see young people vote their interest if nothing else, for the sake of my kids who are too young to vote…but it’s the same set of interests.”
Emphasizing the need to be an educated voter, he said, “Rather than get a recorded call from a politician that says, ‘Please vote for me,’ what we’re going to be dispensing is recorded and live calls from us saying, ‘Vote for you.’
Gardner revealed during the conference that HeadCount is working on get out the vote efforts during Guster’s current tour. He enthusiastically endorsed the approach. “I have witnessed, personally, such huge change and engagement and change in people’s hearts, minds and actions from just exactly this sort of campaign where you have artists directly talking to their fanbases.
“There’s such a special relationship between bands and their fans that are really unlike any other. It’s just a pleasure to be amongst other artists that feel the same way and understand the power to influence a great number of people to do things, like Bob said, in their best interest. In this case, simply getting out there and voting.”
Over the years Gardner has taken the need to be active to another level. He founded Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization. In 2007 he testified before a Congressional Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
“My primary drive is the number of environmental issues up for grabs right now in this election.”
While HeadCount does its best to stay out of the heated battles that erupt within the political world, like Gardner, other musicians find the need to vote based on a passion that’s derived from paying close attention to issues.
For more than two decades singer-songwriter James McMurty’s material unfolded like engrossing short stories. His track “We Can’t Make It Here,” off of 2005’s “Childish Things,” presented an eye-opening encounter with the class of America who were hurting financially and emotionally. Several years later the scenes portrayed in the number and the word ‘recession’ finally worked its way into the national discussion.
“Midterms are upon us and many of us have been asleep for the past two years expecting to wake up to a new day,” said McMurtry, “a day where we have healthcare and meaningful climate change legislation. We thought that if we elected Obama, change would just happen.
“As it turns out, we’ll have to work if we still want that change. Obama works in small increments. He seems willing to take anything he can and call it a win. I don’t wish to condemn him entirely. His healthcare bill could eventually insure another 30 million Americans, if we can keep it from being repealed before it fully goes into effect in 2014. Insurers want that bill repealed before anyone gets a taste of it because, if it works, we the people might demand a little more.
“Of course, it’s likely to be messy at first. We don’t have the 60 years of experience in administrating government healthcare that the rest of the free world has. But, if there were already a law in effect which denied insurance companies the right to deny coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions, does anyone think we would allow such a law to be repealed? Not likely. See you at the polls.”
Pepper Kennan of heavy metal act Down mimics the aggressiveness of his band’s music with his own feelings about moving the country forward.
“I believe it’s important to vote in the midterms because we can’t allow voter complacency in the majority party, in this case the demo-dont’s, which may lead to the opposing party, in this case the republi-cant’s, taking over in both the Senate and the House. If this happens, the president’s agenda, however one sees it good or bad, will be thwarted for the rest of his term and nothing will get done. No progress.
He added, “Not to mention, if you want a bunch of right wing, paranoid, religious freaks who sit on their fat, uneducated asses who, between the Bible and Fox news think they got it all figured out, controlling the direction of this country, then by all means, don’t vote. But then again, that’s just my opinion.”
Asked if there may come a day when registering potential voters and then following that up with a reminder to cast a ballot isn’t necessary, Weir responded. “People have busy lives. As people get older, they get more into routines and their lives oftentimes get a little less busy on that account. So, younger people are by the nature of their lives are a little more scattered. They have a lot of irons to the fire.
“Voting and constantly participating in the process is one more nagging interest in your life. But what we are trying to do, as Mark says, subtly, subtly, subtly bring them to the awareness that you’ve got to do it. It makes a difference. It’s going to make a difference for you, your future and your children’s future if you ever get there.
He continued, “Every election that comes around we need to remind people, and between elections when there are issues that come up, we need to remind young folk that these issues are up and you’ve got to make yourself heard if you want things to go your way.”
