Electronic music blared from the Mario Savio Steps on Friday evening as students flocked to Upper Sproul Plaza for Votechella \u2014 a free concert put on by ASUC SUPERB to encourage students to research, register and vote in upcoming elections. After a lively performance from opener Kumo 99, Los Angeles music duo The Hellp took to the steps for an hourlong DJ set.<\/p>\n
The concert was put on in conjunction with the ASUC External Affairs Vice President\u2019s Office and the ASUC Vote Coalition, a department in the EAVP\u2019s Office dedicated to voter registration and turnout. Additionally, student-run delivery service Duffl sponsored the event, providing free snacks and drinks to concertgoers.<\/p>\n
Between Kumo 99 and The Hellp\u2019s set, ASUC External Affairs Vice President Selina Mendez and ASUC Vote Coalition Director Emma Ramos addressed the crowd on the importance of voting in upcoming elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cMidterm elections are crucial because we\u2019ve seen how our elected representatives, our educational institutions and the federal government have continued to target and attack the communities that we care about the most,\u201d Mendez said in her speech.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t the first time the ASUC has hosted Votechella. In 2024, it enlisted soloist The Dare and former UC Berkeley student and electronic music artist DJ Mandy for a show to encourage voter turnout.<\/p>\n
In November, voters will have the chance to make their voices heard on a wide range of elections and issues. Berkeley\u2019s District 7, which is 95% students, has a historically low voter turnout rate.<\/p>\n
In-person voting on campus will begin Oct. 31 in Eshleman Hall.<\/p>\n
\u201cEligible voters turn out at much lower rates for midterms than presidential elections,\u201d Ramos said in her speech. \u201cVoting can be difficult and time-consuming, which is why a lot of our efforts have been focused on removing barriers to accessible voting.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hellp mixed dance and pop hits with its own music throughout the DJ set. Students sang along to hits such as \u201cHere I Am\u201d and \u201cSsx,\u201d along with remixed classics such as Lady Gaga\u2019s \u201cJust Dance\u201d and Radiohead\u2019s \u201cEverything in Its Right Place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI came because I knew they were going to play Radiohead,\u201d said senior Jonah Lopez. \u201cWhen they did that, the drop was incredible and it was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a postconcert interview with The Daily Californian, The Hellp spoke on the importance of voting in November\u2019s midterms.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got to vote, you can\u2019t be nihilistic and apprehensive. It\u2019s your duty as a citizen to vote,\u201d said bandmate Noah Dillon. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what side, any side, but you gotta make sure your voice is heard. That\u2019s why we live in America, right?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Electronic music blared from the Mario Savio Steps on Friday evening as students flocked to Upper Sproul Plaza…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[26927,188786,87755,196393,196394,30103,196399,196396,196400,196398,196392,48,11401,196391,196401,11053,143,145,144,30384,118584,196397,23221,196390,149,121899,196395],"class_list":["post-509118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-asuc","tag-asuc-external-affairs-vice-president","tag-asuc-superb","tag-asuc-vote-coalition","tag-emma-ramos","tag-eshleman-hall","tag-everything-in-its-right-place","tag-here-i-am","tag-jonah-lopez","tag-just-dance","tag-kumo-99","tag-la","tag-lady-gaga","tag-mario-savio-steps","tag-noah-dillon","tag-november","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-radiohead","tag-selina-mendez","tag-ssx","tag-the-daily-californian","tag-the-hellp","tag-uc-berkeley","tag-upper-sproul-plaza","tag-votechella"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}