DJs at the Polls brings Dayton funk to 18 polling places on Election Day

3 days ago

3 min read

The nonpartisan effort pays local DJs to make voting feel like a neighborhood gathering, starting with a funk set at Thurgood Marshall High School.

Smiling man in white hoodie and gold chain at an outdoor booth, with Dr’s at the Polls text on his shirt. — DJs at the Polls locations are listed at djsatthepolls.org

By RoShawn Winburn, Dayton Weekly News

DAYTON, Ohio - Voters at Thurgood Marshall High School on Tuesday, Nov. 3, may hear Zapp, Lakeside and the Ohio Players before they reach the sign-in table.

DJ Pretty Boy Troy will spin there from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. It's one of 18 Dayton sites planned for DJs at the Polls, a nonpartisan effort that organizers say will place about 2,000 DJs at 5,000 polling locations in 24 states this year.

"I'm gonna bring back funk," Troy said. "This is the funk capital of the US, and that's the one thing we missing at these polling locations."

It started on one Philadelphia corner

Anton Moore launched the idea in 2009 with two DJs at one polling place at 23rd and Snyder in South Philadelphia. He'd worked in radio at Power 99 since age 15 and later coordinated guests and DJs for BET's Rap City before getting into politics.

"Voting is cool, but we need to make it fun," Moore said.

People danced. The DJs posted about it, and other neighborhoods wanted in. Moore later organized DJs for events tied to Barack Obama's 2012 campaign. Today the organization operates as nonpartisan and counts about 15,000 DJs in its network, he said.

Moore links the idea to places Black voters have long relied on. Churches, barbershops and salons have served as spots to trade information and push one another to vote, and music runs through all of them.

"If you go into church, you look at the gospel music. If you go in a barbershop, they got some music playing," he said. "DJs are like your community couriers. They bring people together."

Why these neighborhoods

The Dayton list includes Dunbar High School, Louise Troy Elementary, St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church and Northwest Metro Library. Moore said the sites were chosen deliberately.

"We looked at where the highest POCs were at, and we put DJs there to increase the voter turnout there," he said.

The organization says randomized controlled trials found its events raised turnout among voters of color by as much as 3%. DWN has not independently reviewed that research, and Moore acknowledged it's hard to know how many people show up because of the music. The group also compares turnout before and after elections and reaches voters by text, social media and through the DJs themselves.

A Wilberforce DJ

Troy grew up in Cleveland and came to the area in 2009 to study mass media communications at Wilberforce University. In 2010, he saw a turntable for the first time.

"Fell in love with it, and I said, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life," he said.

He now DJs full time and spent four years teaching at St. Benedict the Moor Catholic School. He hasn't played Thurgood Marshall before, and he wants his set to point people toward the city's past.

"It's a lot of rich history here in Dayton that people don't really talk about," he said. "So it's time to bring it out with the music and also with your voice."

Paid, not volunteered

Unlike many get-out-the-vote efforts, DJs at the Polls pays its performers.

"We had to get out of the mode of asking people to do things for free," Moore said. "People have families, they have homes."

With roughly 2,000 DJs working nationwide, he calls it "a mini stimulus package."

No candidates, no parties

"We're not saying vote Democrat. We're not saying vote Republican. We're not saying vote independent," Moore said. "Allow your voice to be heard."

Performances must follow Ohio election law and poll workers' instructions, including rules against electioneering. Moore said occasional objections usually get resolved once organizers explain the setup.

The day after the election, he said, planning starts for the next one, with a focus on younger and first-time voters.