David Byrne documents his electoral work in new essay

In his online journal, the Talking Heads frontman extols the virtues of personal interaction learned during his get-out-the-vote work in North Carolina

David Byrne has written of his experience encouraging people to vote in Charlotte, N.C. In the essay he talks of the value of casework – interacting with people in a personal manner over discussing demographics groups. He has previously spoken of the narrow linearity inherent in the ‘The Echo Chamber’ of algorithm-guided social media feeds, and the points made in this piece point to a way of circumventing this. On casework Byrne says: “This translates to one on one interactions instead of speeches and concerts. Nothing wrong with speeches and concerts—but I think for people to change their minds and commit to voting they often do it as individuals.”

The big focus is on the non-partisan nature of the work. Contrary to the often-preachy and ultimately unsuccessful attempts of so many celebrities to encourage people to vote Democrat, Byrne’s position was that “suggesting to folks who they should vote for, especially regarding local candidates, might be sort of obnoxious.” He makes the point that despite the problems with US democracy, the right to vote is exceptionally important and encouraging people to exercise it is imperative.

In an ultimately hopeful pice, the singer offered the following closing thought: “People have been disgusted by this election—but look, they are here, they are better than that. I sensed that when one deals with people as individuals and not as abstract groups or numbers our best instincts and common humanity comes through regardless of politics. It gave me hope.”

Here’s to that. Read the full essay here.