#iVoted Celebrates Voting With Concert Tickets

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Drive-By Truckers, Jim James, Dawes, Good Charlotte, Jessie Reyez, The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Underoath, and Playboi Carti are just a few of the artists participating in the #iVoted voter turnout initiative to reward voters who take selfies outside their polling place.

Seventy-nine venues in 32 states have announced shows where voters can get in for free after polls have closed Nov. 7. Different venues use different methods for distributing tickets. 

Some fans can get access to an allotment of tickets by posting a photo to Instagram, tagging the venue and @iVotedConcerts. #iVoted co-founder Emily White said for some-sold out shows this is the only way to get tickets.

Other participating shows will admit the first 200, 100 or 50 who walk up with a photo of themselves outside their polling place. Some shows will also provide free non-alcoholic drinks to those who show the selfies.

#iVoted ran a beta testing event Aug. 2 at Mercy Lounge in Nashville with Tristen, Robyn Hitchcock, Joe Pisapia, Pat Sansone and New Man. This is the first election that #iVoted is taking on, having been founded after the 2016 election.

“I thought of #iVoted because the presidential election in home state of Wisconsin was decided by approximately 22,000 votes. And in Milwaukee voter turnout was really low among young people,” White told Pollstar. “I was like: ‘22,000 votes is an arena. Why don’t we throw a sick concert at [The Fiserv Forum] to encourage voters? Then we realized if we took the concept national it would have that much more impact.”

Some of the participating venues this year include Brooklyn Bowl and Irving Plaza in New York; Thalia Hall and City Winery in Chicago; Echoplex and The Echo in Los Angeles; First Avenue in Minneapolis; Stubb’s Bar-B-Q in Austin; City Winery in Nashville; and the Star Theater in Portland, Ore. New venues and artists continue to be added in the days leading up to the election, and White emphasized that all industry people can lend valuable support to their peers by spreading the word.

“If everyone in the industry could tell one person, it spreads even further,” White said. “Almost everyone in my network has done that and everything has chained together. We’re at 79 shows in 32 states, and that’s been [set up] by myself and an intern.” 

For a full list of participating venues, click here.

The #iVoted initiative was founded by Emily White of Collective Entertainment (formerly known as Whitesmith Entertainment), Mike Luba of Madison House, and Pat Sansone of Wilco / The Autumn Defense.