DJs at the Polls looks to liven up the voting process by playing music at local polling sites on Election Day

Featured photo: DJs at the Polls NC organizer April Parker poses with DJ Ena Pop (courtesy photo)

When Scotty Brooks ran for Oxford City Commissioner last year, he realized how lonely the voting process could be. As a candidate, he campaigned at different polling stations, much of them quiet.

“I know it can be very boring,” said Brooks, who lost his election by one vote. “It would have been great to have some music.”

Now, Brooks is working for a national organization that is helping spread joy during the election season. DJs at the Polls, which started in 2008 in Philadelphia, is currently hiring DJs across the country to work at polling sites on Election Day. The goal? Just to make voting more fun.

“It’s cultural organizing at its best,” said April Parker, North Carolina’s project manager. “We see the DJs as cultural organizers, poll protectors.”

As a nonpartisan organization, the DJs don’t try to convince voters to cast their ballots for any particular candidate. Instead, it’s about engaging people and making the voting experience more enjoyable and to increase turnout overall.

“More votes is more democracy and that’s something to celebrate,” Parker said.

This Friday, the organization will set up at Dudley High School from 12:30 to 2 p.m., doing voter registration and teaching students DJ skills.

Ena Valiente, or DJ Ena Pop, will DJ for the organization for the first time this year. On Election Day, which falls on Nov. 5, Ena Pop will be set up at a polling place in Greensboro, spinning tunes for hours.

“Music always lightens the mood,” Valiente said. “Some people might be by themselves or bored. Music will just encourage the situation more.”

Valiente, who has been a DJ for almost 20 years, likes to play a little bit of everything in her sets. As a Cuban American, she grew up listening to funk and hip hop with her parents.

“I like to surprise people,” she said. 

For her, the inclusion of music in public spaces is something that calls back to her childhood days in Miami.

“When I was younger, in neighborhoods I used to live in, people would come set up speakers and play music,” she said. 

When she moved to Greensboro years ago, she did the same thing in her neighborhood near Douglas Park. She sees DJs at the Polls as an opportunity to bring back that same kind of block-party vibe, but attuned to an American tradition.

“I like to give back,” she said. “It keeps me attached to my roots.”

Brooks, who performs under the name DJ Scotty Rock, is working as a recruiter this year. That means he’s reaching out to DJs across the state to get them involved. So far, they’ve received more than 600 applications, he said. 

“It looks like we’ll probably have more than we need,” he said. 

This is Brooks’s second year working with the organization. Last year, he played music at a pilot program in Raleigh.

“I had 100 percent positive feedback,” he said. 

And that’s because the presence of music lightens the atmosphere and makes voting fun, Brooks said.

“If people are excited about something they’ll do it,” he said. “If it’s fun and they’re excited, they’ll continue to do it.”

Valiente said she hopes more DJs get involved with the organization. Despite the fact that they’re working on Election Day, she said it doesn’t necessarily have to be about politics.

“They don’t need to worry about a political party,” Valiente said. “It’s just about encouraging people to get involved.”

Brooks, who will also be set up at a polling station on Election Day, said that hopefully the sounds of the music will entice people to get curious about voting.

“Even if you’re just walking by, it will probably prompt you to stop and say, ‘Oh, I can vote here?’ Let me vote,’” he said.

Learn more about DJs at the Polls at djsatthepolls.org. The event at Dudley High School takes place on Friday, Oct. 4 from 12:30-2 p.m.