Ben Rector to headline at Turn Out to Vote Concert

Nashville-based performer Ben Rector will headline the “Turn Out to Vote Concert,” an event designed to promote civic engagement in Macon.

Ben Rector, who is known for his alternative contemporary pop music, made waves in the music industry with two of his albums, “The Walking In Between” and “Something Like This,” landing No. 16 and No. 41 spots, respectively, on Billboard 200.

The free event will held in Mercer Village on Sept. 19 starting at 8 p.m. Both college students and community members are invited to attend.

The College Hill Alliance, Mercer University’s Student Government Association and TurboVote have teamed up with Middle Georgia College’s Student Government Association, Wesleyan College’s Campus Activity Board, Mercer University’s Quadworks and Mercer’s Student Bar Association to organize the “Turn Out to Vote concert.”

“Turn Out to Vote” is targeted at higher education institutions to tackle the problem of low voter turnout among college students by allowing students to register to vote at the concert, according to a news release.

“We get the opportunity to register to vote and see Ben Rector?” said Katie Callaway, junior senator for SGA. “He’s such a big emerging artist and I know we are all excited to see him. This event is a win-win situation,” Callaway said.

The partners are using TurboVote, a nonprofit service with a mission to increase citizen participation by making voting easy through its user-friendly application.

“We are hoping to remove barriers to voting for our students and increase voter turnout.,” said Joey Wozniak, president of SGA, in a news release. “Many out-of-state students are unaware of Georgia’s voting laws, such as the voter ID law. With this partnership, we’re taking a fun, unique, multi-tiered approach to educate our students on these issues and ultimately create civically engaged students.”

Access  collegehill.turbovote.org   to sign up for the service