“Organized chaos” is the best way our Programs Manager, Andrew Goodwin, can describe his first Warped Tour experience.
That’s right. It’s summer festival season again and Rock the Vote is back at it, fighting through the heat and summer storms to register new voters (and maybe catch a show or two on the side). We’ve been working with Warped Tour for years now, and it’s still one of our favorites. Aside from bringing together some of the best rising talent in the punk rock and hip hop scene, the traveling music festival is the perfect place to talk to new voters because the average attendee is either in high school or college.
In Andrew’s case, hitting Warped Tour’s first three stops in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, TX was a little bit of a trial by fire. Not much of a Warped veteran, he had no idea what to expect.
The first challenge was working around some of the sticky voter registration laws in Texas. Texas is one of those states where, if you take the wrong step, registering someone to vote could get you thrown in jail. Yeah, not exactly a slice of peach pie. Luckily, some of our volunteers in Texas were deputized registrars of their counties, meaning they could register voters without the risk of jail time.
The second challenge was the early call time and long hours. Each day, Andrew and his team would set up their tent at 8 a.m. and get to work registering voters, getting them signed up for election reminders and learning about what causes were most important to them. He and his volunteers had the opportunity to chat with potential voters and hear about why they were excited to vote in the upcoming elections.
Aside from seeing everyone so excited about Rock the Vote’s mission, Andrew said the coolest part of his weekend adventure was meeting the artists on Warped Tour and fulfilling every teenager’s dream of hanging out with the bands on the tour bus.
Andrew is the first to admit his musical tastes aren’t that of a punk-rock-obsessed teenager, but he had an awesome time getting to know the artists on a personal level and talking about the purpose of Rock the Vote. After spending hours in the sun, meeting hundreds of new voters, and suffering through a tour bus breakdown, Andrew is pretty excited to be back with us in DC. Still, he can’t wait to experience Warped Tour again and show off his newfound appreciation for Mayday Parade.
Rock the Vote will be following the Warped Tour all summer. See if we’re coming to your city and sign up to volunteer.