Keep Getting Your Booty to the Poll
Get Your Booty to the Poll (GYBTTP) was a 2020 campaign that used pole dance to encourage Black men in Atlanta who are part of the club culture to get out and vote in 2020.
At the time, the ad campaign went viral and is likely part of the increased voter turnout in Georgia in 2020.
While the GYBTTP campaign may be over, voting is still an important civic duty. 2025 has been a wild ride to stay the least, regardless of which side of the aisle you’re on.
Types of Elections
Nikki St. John in her webinar for the IPIA about the campaign talks about not just the presidential election, which in the US happens every four years, but other elections people should pay attention to.
There are all kinds of local elections that occur between presidential elections that really shape your community. These elections include things like federal judges, school board officials, district attorneys, sheriffs, county commissioners, and members of congress to name a few.
You may not think all these things affect you, but they do.
The one that sticks out to me the most is school board officials. I don’t have kids, I don’t like kids, so why does having a say in the school board affect me? Simple: I’m gonna be alive when those kids are adults. If those kinds get a lack-luster or heavily biased education now, who do you think is going to be running these streets in the next 13 years? Those kids. So we have to start them off with a solid education.
Voting for local government further shapes your locality. Mayors oversee public services like fire, police, emergency medical and utilities. Governors implement state level laws, approve budgets, and confirm judicial appointments.
Branches of Government
In the US we vote for members of the House and the Senate. If it’s also been a long time since you learned what each part of Congress does, here’s the breakdown:
Senators: There are two per state, they represent the whole state. Senators can propose legislation, draft, or amend bills; filibuster; have oversight of the federal budget; and approve or reject presidential appointees.
Representatives: The number of representatives varies by population of a state. Representatives are assigned districts within a state, rather than representing the state as a whole. Representatives initiate revenue bills, impeach federal officials, and the House Majority Leader elects a president in the case of an electoral college tie.
When someone says call your congressperson, they are referring both to your state’s senators, and your locality’s representative. You are considered a constituent of any town in which you live or work, so you may have access to the ear of multiple representatives.
Together, the House of Representatives and the Senate make up Congress. Congress is meant to balance the power of the president. However;,when one party leads all three parts of government, there isn’t much balancing done.
Back That Thang Up
Getting back to the point, the Get Your Booty to the Poll campaign was an ingenious campaign to reach people who haven’t voted before and/or felt like their vote didn’t matter.
Your vote matters. You need to show up (and keep showing up!) and let your voice be heard.
Keep yourself educated on local and national laws that have been proposed and read the language to look for potential consequences before you vote one way or another.
For example, FOSTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) and SESTA (Stop Enabling Sex traffickers Act) are two bills that were enacted as a single law with the goal of holding websites accountable for sex trafficking.
The reality of this law is it actually made things more challenging for swers to operate safely and in some cases made it more challenging to find work.
Pole dancing is inherently political.
It was created and popularized by marginalized groups and even if you are not part of one of those groups, we all need to be aware of politics if we want our industry to continue to grow and thrive.
- Keep Getting Your Booty to the Poll - May 30, 2025
- That’s $howbiz, Baby - April 18, 2025
- Are you Overtraining? - January 31, 2025
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