Peach Jam, an evening of voter registration, art, canvassing and local music, came to Emory University’s first-year Quadrangle on Sept. 19. The brainchild of Young Democrats of Emory Vice President Noelle Barile (25C), the event served as an opportunity to combine the worlds of politics and art while encouraging students to register to vote in the upcoming presidential election before the Oct. 7 deadline.
“I wanted to find a way for people at Emory to engage in politics in a way that felt approachable and fun,” Barile said.
Musicians played from a stage near the Eagle Row steps as attendees wandered through pop-up thrift stalls and voter registration booths. Alongside Young Democrats Major Events Coordinator Leo Reale (25B) and President Amanda Wendler (25C), Barile coordinated local bands, vendors and organizations — including Sublime Donuts, local band Pinto Sunshine and non-profit Georgia for Harris — to table on the first-year Quad.
Various Emory clubs, including student-run radio station WMRE and Emory Musician’s Network, were also in attendance.
“We tried to get a spread of various perspectives on campus,” Reale said. “We wanted to represent the Emory community in a space where politics don’t seem so divisive.”
At the event, members of Young Democrats led students through the process of voter registration, which entailed filling out a form, scanning their identification cards and sending an email to the DeKalb County voter registration office.
“This is a great way to get people out to register to vote because people get super excited about art and music,” Wendler said.
A first-year and first-time voter, Tejvir Samra (28C), noted that Georgia being a swing state motivated him to vote.
“It was pretty easy,” he said about the process of registering to vote. He encouraged other voters to “do your job” and register to vote.
Organizations that are not affiliated with Emory were also in attendance, including the Georgia Democrats Voter Protection program. According to Young Democrats Activism Director Royce Mann (25C), who connected students with voter protection resources during the event, the organization aims to ensure that the results of the election are accepted, no matter the outcome.
“When Kamala Harris and Tim Walz win Georgia and when, as we expect, Donald Trump tries to not accept that result, they’re going to be the one fighting to ensure that every Georgians’ vote is counted fairly and accurately,” Mann said.
The organization recruits and trains volunteers to observe in-person voting at polling locations and watch as election workers open and process ballots. Volunteers handed out sheets with QR codes at Peach Jam, encouraging attendees to participate in voter protection.
Joseph Dorvil, a volunteer for Georgia for Harris and a self-proclaimed “concerned citizen,” tabled alongside Students for Harris at the event. He said that this is the first time he’s volunteered in voter registration, explaining that he chose to do so partially because of the “absurdity that Donald Trump is running for a third time” and also because of the inclusivity Harris as president would represent.
“I have nieces and nephews and I want them to grow up in a world that they have the same opportunity as anybody else,” Dorvil said. “Now I’ll tell my fiancé how if Kamala wins and we have a daughter, we can actually be like, ‘Hey, you actually can be anything now.’”
