By james art The students raised their hands in the air and descended in front of the Nye Hall dormitory. Among the crowd were stilt walkers, pole dancers and standard bearers dressed in sparkly purple suits.
Organized by the DAYBREAKER organization, the Purple Tour stops in 50 communities to get a vote. In Reno, rapper, DJ and producer Lil Jon performed.
“If you’re not registered yet, you can register to vote today,” Lil Jon said before playing a song called “Shots” by LMFAO featuring Lil Jon.
Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar also showed off his dance moves. He joined the march across campus to a voting location in the Joe Crowley Student Union. Aguilar said the Purple Tour is a fitting theme for the swing state of Nevada.
“Anyone who’s willing to take the time to get people to vote, to get them excited, to motivate them, anyone who can make someone dance deserves to be liked,” Aguilar said when asked if he was a big Lil Jon fan.
A long line formed on Joe’s second floor. At the back was Reno resident Katie Catt, whose biggest issues are women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. She arrived too late to see the concert.
“That’s the most important thing. I love Lil Jon and we tried to make it on time but I was at work,” Kat said. “I think every vote counts, and the more people say it doesn’t matter, then there won’t be any votes.” I think if you just go ahead and take the initiative, then maybe someone will follow in your footsteps.”
Lil Jon made headlines in 2014 when he flew from LA to Georgia to votestating that officials never sent his absence report. In an exclusive interview with KUNR, he explained why voting is important to him.
“I remember watching my mother vote in the rain. My father went to vote in the rain. I took my son to vote when he turned 18,” Lil Jon said. “People died for these rights.”
One of the organizers, Ashley Spillane, director of the national nonprofit Project on Civic Responsibility, said voting shouldn’t be difficult.
“There’s a lot of hard things going on in the world and we know that voting is a very important, sacred thing and it’s also good to have fun while you’re doing it and just bring a little joy not only to the voters, but to the election workers as well Spillane said.
In-person early voting in Nevada runs through Nov. 1.