On October 27, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) turned early voting into an all-out street party.
LUCHA teamed up with two Phoenix-based running clubs, Rogue Run Club and the hilariously named Not Fast, Just Furious and Banda La Experta, for Run the Vote: a free, bilingual running party to the polls for voters of all backgrounds and runners of all levels.
Runners met at a downtown Phoenix brewery, Sana Sana Cervecería, with ballots and IDs in hand, then ran about a mile to the polling place at Arizona State University, as a banda played from a flatbed truck driving alongside them. Everyone ran back for free tacos, agua fresca, and a DJ set.
As MVP Arizona State Advisor Korina Iribe put it: "Vote early events in Arizona are about empowerment and joy." If you want to feel some of the joy through your screen, check out this Instagram reel from LUCHA, Not Fast, Just Furious, and local creator Your Phoenix Friend, which blew past 1,200 likes in just hours.
Run the Vote is not just a fun, feel-good example of making civic engagement a little less dry — research backs up the idea that making voting festive actually increases voter turnout. A randomized experiment in 38 precincts in 2005 and 2006 found that turnout rose significantly in precincts where community groups hosted Election Day festivals with music and free food — an estimated 6.5-percentage-point gain in a precinct with 50% baseline turnout.
