The kids and teachers in Granville, NC have taken up running to promote voting. They say that democracy thrives upon participation, and a vote is such a simple way to engage in the political process. Yet almost one half of Americans (is that half full or half empty? Stephen Colbert seems to think that the last third is backwash, anyway) don’t bother to vote. The Run to Vote program is a nonpartisan voting drive that travels to all of the lower 48 states, registering voters. For every new voter or person who pledges to vote, someone on the team will run the equivalent of one lap.

Well, what about literally running to vote? I’m talking about going all out—squeezing into your sweetest neon athletic outfit, tying up your sneaks, and physically running to your poll location. 

In Berks County, PA, some folks posted a blog about walking/running/biking to vote. What a great way to promote healthy, clean transportation while engaging in politics! And since the nature of our transportation infrastructure is inherently linked to politics, the two activities seem to go hand in hand.

In Oregon, the organization Bike, Walk, Vote seeks to elect public officials that support alternative transportation in the state of Oregon. I betcha most of these cool cats biked or walked to the polls to cast their votes in favor of biking and walking.

So on Election Day, I challenge you to get outside, get some exercise, and run, walk, or bike to the polls. If you’re not yet old enough to vote, you can still get outside and run, walk, or bike to the polls in support the fabulous convergence of sports and political participation! Yay!

Over the past few weeks, we here at PlayCity have been spotlighting Run To Vote, a non-partisan voting drive led by students and teachers from Granville Central High School in Stem, North Carolina.

On August 31st James posted an article detailing the background of Run To Vote.

I think what John Williams and his students started a few years ago is amazing because it involves various communities in the voting process.

Not to be outdone of course, another organization, The Pro-Choice Public Education Project, sponsored a Reproductive Justice Bike Tour this past summer. The Wanderlust Bike Tour involved a group of twenty women traveling from New Orleans to New York City with the Wanderlust story collective and bicycle caravan. In solidarity with local activists, the overall belief is rooted in sharing stories and elevating awareness to create social change. Nora, a rider, documents her in the blogosphere experience below.

"It's Nora, writing from the Spirit House high on the hills of Marin, having traveled farther in the last two months than you would believe - than I would believe myself. . . . Surrounded by people I love, I spent two weeks hiking through the lush, malicious desert, where everything can kill you and everything has thorns. . . .

For the people who are migrating across the desert, it is at least a four day walk, mostly at night. If they get lost, or injured, or separated from their coyotes, it can be a many day walk - and some never reach their destinations. So far this summer, there 128 deaths have been confirmed, and probably many more have simply disappeared. . . .

It makes me so angry that our laws and our policies create a situation in which trade is legal but people are not - where the commodities that create a global marketplace are allowed to cross borders freely when it benefits the people in power, but the people who that marketplace relies on to function are criminalized, are dying because crossing the border seems like the best possible option."

You can read more personal stories from the journey on the Wanderlust blog site. For Nora, the issue on her journey that day was immigration. The women of Wanderlust listen to and document stories about organizations and people who are fighting for reproductive, sexual, and political autonomy.

Another, more recent, event that uses similar tactics for activism is Bike For Justice. Bike For Justice is an event aimed at raising money and awareness of social justice to benefit people of Zambia, South Africa. You can follow the Bike For Justice blog HERE.

Obviously, blogging is an important tool for these social activists to detail their journeys while spreading the word about their specific cause. Sounds familiar!

Many cools points to all those involved.

After writing the first spotlight on Run to Vote, I started digging in to find other examples of athletic-based election-time activism. It's a great and simple matchup-- sports are good for you, and so is participating in democratic processes. I ended up finding something that struck my interest a little more, not because it's a better idea, but because it raises interesting issues concerning both athleticism and activism as they transform to fit into the twenty-first century.

 

Microsoft is setting up a system that will allow users of their X-box live online video game service to register as voters in between games of Halo. The effort is being organized by the folks behind Rock the Vote, an organization that has been trying to mobilize young voters for over a decade. In a BBC News story on the project, Rock the Vote Executive Director Heather Smith said "To realise our goal of registering two million young Americans by this fall, we need to go where young Americans are. There's no doubt in our minds that many are on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live." Rock the Vote has a good track record-in 1992, they registered 35,000 new voters, most likely helping to create the 20% increase in young voter turnout for the presidential election that year. But aside from mobilizing voters, what effects will such a campaign have? In my eyes, it encourages users to live even more of their lives in front of television screens, limiting their own contact with the material, real-life world.

 

In his article about the rise of professional video gaming, Dan Treadway writes "Studies have shown that video games can help enhance players' analytical skills and make them more perceptive.", which I believe. The puzzle-solving and twitch-reaction elements of many games definitely provide some brain-exercise, but the brain is just one of the few hundred organs and muscles in your body that need regular exercise to ensure that they work properly. Playing some video games can be good for you. Voting is good for all of us. But Rock the Vote would do a great public service if they added a message to be displayed after users register to vote. It could say something to the effect of "Remember to stop playing video games and go outside once in while!"

Yesterday, James wrote an interesting post about Run to Vote, a really cool project that combines athletics with voter registration. A group of students and teachers from Stem, North Carolina spent the summer traveling through the 48 contiguous United States campaigning, not for any political party or candidate, but for simply voting. Every time Run to Vote got a citizen to register as a voter or pledge to vote in the next election, someone from the group would run a quarter-mile.

I love this idea. It's simple, it's effective and it shows that a small group of people can really be a force for change. If someone is willing to run a lap to get me to vote, I can certainly consider getting off my lazy butt to get to the polls.

I know there are still a lot of people in my age group who don't vote, but I have hope that this is changing. In the 2004 election, 47 percent of voters ages 18-24 voted, compared to 66 percent of voters ages 25 and up, an 11 percent increase from 2000. If this trend continues, twenty-something voters could wield a lot of political clout. We've got a few months until the November election-- there is still time to register to vote! Here are just a few reasons you should take a cue from the folks at Run to Vote:

1. It's our right to vote (not everyone in the world can say that).
It may sound cheesy, but we are lucky to live in a democracy where we're allowed to vote for our government officials. Everyone 18 and up, regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, is entitled to a vote, and it's insane not to take advantage of that right. 

2. You can't complain if you don't vote.
Well, technically you can, but I will taunt you mercilessly. It's one thing to whine about the president or the the Senate or even the city council if you voted. It's quite another to complain about the government if you couldn't even bother to throw in your two cents at the polls. It's a simple equation-- when you vote, you earn the right to gripe.

3. Young voters have to represent.
Honestly, I'm sick and tired of hearing that our generation is apathetic and too self-involved to care about politics. It's just not true, and we need to change that mentality. Fine, we spend too much time on Facebook, but it's all for the greater good.

4. We should choose who makes decisions for our country.
From No Child Left Behind to Roe v. Wade, the elected officials in our country have a big say in how we live our day-to-day lives. We all have issues that are near and dear to us, and it's important to elect people who will uphold our beliefs and values. I mean, I know the presidential candidate I'm pulling for in November.

5. It doesn't take that much effort to make a difference.
If you're not registered, do it now. It only takes a couple minutes, and you won't feel left out on November 4 when everyone else is wearing those little "I Voted" stickers.

Register to vote today.
Check out Run to Vote for inspiration.

    The presidential election is an American citizen’s big chance to participate in democracy.  Unfortunately, in our last presidential election, barely more than half of all registered voters actually made it to the polls.  There are a ton of causes near and dear to my heart, but the reality of life in America is that democratic process is supposed to be capable of judging the population’s opinion and guiding policies accordingly.  When nobody votes, it leaves our elected representative and officials without a public to answer to for their decisions.

 

A few years ago, John Williams ran across the nation.  In the process, he decided that he could make a positive impact as a teacher.  He got a job at Granville Central High School in Stem, North Carolina teaching Civics and coaching school the track team.  He and his mentor teacher, Ms. Hineline, realized that with their enthusiastic students, John’s experience running cross-country, they were equipped to do something amazing.

Run To Vote took place between June 14 and August 9 this summer, and it involved Mr. Williams and a group of 5 students traveling through the 48 continental states in a non-partisan voting drive, running a quarter mile for everyone they met who pledged to vote in November.  “People couldn’t really believe that we weren’t just working for one candidate”, said Stephanie, one of the student runners.  The goal wasn’t to sway people’s minds in one way or another, it was simply to encourage participation.

 

 

“Just because you’re not old enough to vote doesn’t mean that you still can’t have a say” Stephanie told me.  One of the other students created a poster listing the candidates’ positions on a number of issues.  Stephanie’s right—the idea of popular democracy is that when you get enough people together and inform them well, they will arrive at an intelligent decision.  As a kid, you might not be able to vote, but you can encourage your family and neighbors to get out on polling day.  The team of 5 students registered over 400 new voters during their trip, and received signatures from over 6000 registered voters pledging to exercise their voting rights.

Though they were sometimes met with disbelief, the group was warmly received by extended families, friends of friends, and people that Mr. Williams met on his first cross-country run, receiving meals and lodging.  They only had to pay for a hotel once.  Go check out the Run To Vote website and get inspired!  You don’t have to be 18 to make a difference.