First-Time Voters Voice Off at Union Square

MyFirstVote.tv (MFV) is a non-profit, non-partisan group. Their goal in the coming week: to lure new voters out to the polls.

In a way, MFV is continuing the work of RockTheVote.com, a site that encourages young people to register to vote, according to Menna Olvera-Feder, one of MFV's producers.

“Rock The Vote did a good job in registering young people,” Olvera-Feder said. “We try to make sure they actually show up.”

Toward that end, they launched their Purple State Wake Up bus tour, which left North Carolina on Oct. 16. Purple States refer to the States that are not yet decidedly Democrat or Republican, and where new voters might have the final say as to who wins the Presidency.

The tour arrived in New York City, the final stop, this weekend. The crew stopped first at Art Gotham Gallery on Saturday, then at Union Square on Sunday to film impromptu interviews with newly-registered voters, who are mostly young adults. Monday will find them in Times Square gathering more interviews and accepting requests for voice mail reminders on Election Day.

That's the tour's main task—set up a table and banner in a public area, stop youngish passersby and ask them if they are registered to vote. If they happen to be new registrants, they are encouraged to talk about why this election is significant to him or her.

The interviews will be posted to the MFV website's peer-to-peer video platform. MFV uses the power of the peer instead of celebrity endorsements to motivate young people to become politically active.

Not all new voters are young, the crew found. One person they interviewed is a 50-year-old man from Pennsylvania who will vote for the first time after having been in and out of prison since 1975. As part of joining normal society, he has decided to take up the civil responsibility of voting. “I'm trying to do the things of society, ya dig?” Joe said in the video. “And my vote can decide an election.”

Interviewees expressed a range of views. There are those who are adamant supporters of either candidate, those who are disappointed with both; those who are insightful on the issues, and those who are simply excited to be able to vote. But the common thread is the importance of voting.

Founding Spirit

MFV began one weekend in March when filmmaker Jonathan Pillot had an epiphany—his daughter was to vote for the first time this fall, and she would be among 16,000,000 other young first-time voters in this historical election.

He went to work the following Monday at film studio EUE/Screen Gems, where he shared his realization with brothers Jeff and Chris Cooney, the co-principals of the company. EUE/Screen Gems specializes in producing films, television programs such as Rachael Ray's cooking show, and commercials.

MFV began as a public service announcement but soon the three found that it needed to become something more. The Cooneys grew up in a family that “prided itself in being politically active,” said Jeff Cooney. Their father, the CEO of EUE/ Screen Gems, is a Republican while his sons are Democrats. “He would try to get us to go to Republican fundraisers,” he said. “We would show up once or twice, but we did it for him. Our political differences made for some interesting dinner table conversation, but it was civil.”

Though MVF serves to encourage young people to head to the polls, it does not provide educational information for new voters.

“A lot of the universities rolled out solid infrastructure on how to vote,” said Olvera-Feder. “In North Carolina, they handed out sample ballots outside of the polling station, so that part didn't really fall on us.”

The website will operate year-round as a political forum, according to Cooney. “We plan to expand the channel for next year, involve some comedians and develop it along humorous lines,” he said, citing the success of Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, who host farce news shows on the cable TV channel Comedy Central. “Young people really respond to humor.”

Ultimately, the goal is to make the platform global to encourage youth in all democratic countries to partake in their political processes, according to Olvera-Feder.