How a Rave with Bill Nye and Quavo Contributed to the City Hall Vote

One way to get Philadelphia’s more than 1.1 million registered voters to vote: pole dancers, Bill Nye and a rave with Quavo.

That was the theme of the dance party at LOVE Park on Tuesday morning, where the rapper joined Nye, Sixers Reggie Jackson and KJ Martin, the stilt walker, and a brass band to lead hundreds of people across the street to City Hall to vote before the election. November 5 general elections.

The unconventional rally was the last stop on a tour organized by Civil Liability Project and professional party company Dawn, who have staged nonpartisan raves in more than 32 cities across the United States since September to boost voter turnout in battleground states.

This is the latest extravagant event aimed at exploiting controversially influential celebrity power to attack Pennsylvania fragmented electorate. Across the state, civic engagement initiatives are joining high-profile rallies in support of Vice President Kamala Harris and the former president. Donald Trump inundate residents with one message: Vote like your favorite famous person.

The series was called The Purple Tour. flown in Philadelphia ahead of April primary elections. Since then, events have become more colorful and irreverent. In Reno Lil Jon forced the Nevada Secretary of State to launch into the party anthem “Shots Fired” ; At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, mother-loving rapper Yung Gravy told students to vote because “girls will like you.”

Some researchers argue that celebrity endorsements it’s unlikely to change anything with deeply engaged voters who have formed political views but can persuade new voters – especially among generation Z – participate in elections.

At Tuesday’s event, several voters said they wouldn’t have voted early (or at all) if not for Quavo or the antics of The Purple Tour. After the concert, the line outside the City Hall early voting site wrapped around the building.

“It’s important to find ways to make this process fun and interesting,” said Ashley Spillane, director of the Civic Responsibility Project. “We hear a lot from young people who say they wouldn’t have woken up on Sunday morning to vote, for example, if these events hadn’t happened.”

The day began with a yoga class, followed by an hour-long DJ set, which opened up a free dance circle where visitors hit Jersey Club TikTok dancing as a pole dancer (or poll dancer, get it?) twirled to EDM remixes of classic party hits like Deee-Lite’s “Groove is in the Heart.”

Nye then took the stage and quoted the Constitution—apparently from memory—to extol the importance of voting.

“When you vote early, you know your vote will be counted,” said Nye, who told The Inquirer he voted by mail in California last week.

Shortly after, Quavo took over with an uncensored 15-minute mash-up of rap group Migos’ greatest hits. Bubbles floated over the stage as concertgoers lowered it to “Stir Fry” and added newspaper-not-safe lyrics to “Fight Night” over the rapper’s ad-lib.

At 11 a.m., Quavo escorted those present to City Hall. There they were joined by students from 17 Philadelphia high schools who were eligible to vote in their first elections.

In Pennsylvania, residents allowed to vote early until Tuesday by requesting a mail-in ballot and filling it out on site at designated polling places.

“I would be sleeping in bed” if it weren’t for Quavo, said Zachary Vance, 24, of North Philadelphia, who planned to vote for Harris. “I was surprised they had strippers… it was a real hype.”

Does celebrity endorsement work? It depends.

Tuesday’s concert attracted voters because it used a celebrity as a prank and then made voting easy by literally escorting them to the polls, said Kathleen Hall Jamison, director University of PennsylvaniaAnnenberg Public Policy Center and political communications researcher.

While there are many out there, not all celebrity endorsements work. A study conducted by researchers at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, found that celebrity endorsements may negatively impact political candidates in the long termand others show that celebrities mainly reify support for already popular candidates. Just this month, Harris’ campaign held rallies in Philadelphia. with Bruce Springsteen and ran out Robert De Niro and Kerry Washington agitate while controversial tech entrepreneur Elon Musk stumped for Trump.

“There are celebrities who can attract large audiences that are of no use to candidates because their followers are already engaged and have already made up their minds,” Hall Jamison said.

Hall Jamison compared Quavo’s concert to a scaled-down version of other promotions where the celebrity “facilitates the action,” e.g. Taylor Swift driving nearly 500,000 visits to vote.gov after posting a link to her Instagram story next to her support for Harris or Bad Bunny Urges Followers to View Harris’ Platform in honor of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” to disperse the crowd at a Trump rally.

The latter convinced Maria Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican, to vote first.

Until this week, Rodriguez felt like voting for Trump or Harris was like “choosing between the lesser of two evils.” Her father, who Rodriguez said splits his time between New York and Puerto Rico, used the rapper’s support in part to convince her to vote for Harris. Rodriguez waved a full-size Puerto Rican flag during a dance party at LOVE Park.

“It makes me so angry that politicians are once again treating Puerto Ricans like we are less than them,” Rodriguez, 37, said. “I want to see our country move forward with inclusivity.”

David McCoy, 33 years old, GermantownMeanwhile, he said he would have “waited” for the November 5 vote if not for Quavo’s concert. He came to see Bad and Boujee live and stayed there once he realized they were heading to the polls afterward.

McCoy, a first-time elector who had avoided politics until this year, said he plans to vote for Harris.

“I’m about to have a lot of sisters and a daughter,” McCoy said. “I’m ecstatic right now, like I’m doing something right.”