Art Campaign Encourages Early Voting In Times Square, Around NYC

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Days before early voting is set to begin, a new art campaign has sprung up around the city encouraging New Yorkers to fulfill their civic duty.

Posters by nine emerging artists were installed this month in Times Square and in various neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, pushing for voter turnout. Each poster has a QR code linking to vote.org, where people can find information about their polling place or how to drop off an absentee ballot.

The nonpartisan initiative, called "Vote Your Future," was organized by Times Square Arts and the nonprofit design firm Amplifier. The posters include text in English, Spanish and Mandarin.

Organizers based the campaign in Times Square because of its historic status as a hub of activism, and because it still receives tens of thousands of visitors per day, even during the pandemic.

"Times Square persists as a central space of activism in the city, a megaphone for creative expression and calls to action, and in that same spirit we hope that this campaign empowers the hundreds of thousands of people passing through the district daily to cast their vote this November, and uplift others to do the same - as in this moment the very core of our democracy is at the ballot," Jean Cooney, director of Times Square Arts, said in a statement.

For those who want to head to the polls, click here to find your poll site. Early voting is available in New York from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1. The General Election is Nov. 3.