By: Robyn Gee
When’s the last time you remember young people tripping over themselves to vote?
Adam Shankman, a judge on the hit reality TV show “So You Think You Can Dance,” sees this all the time. "Rabid” fans of the show vote via text every week for their favorite dancers. Shankman’s latest challenge? Getting those young people to vote in real life.
Shankman is the producer and co-director of the latest Rock the Vote campaign. He recently directed their latest PSA called “We Will,” that features music, dancing and celebrities like Tony Hawk, Miley Cyrus and Neil Patrick Harris.
The video, on the front of the Rock the Vote webpage, has a direct link to their voter registration site. Within the first 24 hours of posting the PSA video, 18,000 people had registered to vote using this link, according to Shankman.
"Besides voting, the only other thing I really know how to do is put on a show. And that’s what I did -- I basically called a bunch of friends, contacted Rock the Vote and said, ‘Let me shoot your spots,’” Shankman told Youth Radio. “I wanted it to feel like a celebration of our rights. I wanted it to feel like something you do in groups,” he said.
Shankman got involved with Rock the Vote because he was particularly aggravated about the negative campaign atmosphere in the current presidential election and the voter ID laws that have been enacted in several states, calling it an “ugly moment” for voters.
He has directed two more PSAs awaiting release.
Originally published on Youthradio.org, the premier source for youth generated news throughout the globe.
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