Candidates mingled with potential voters and handed out campaign stickers and pamphlets. The Republican and Democratic parties also had tables set up, filled with brochures that people could grab as they walked by.
Musicians and the candidates traded turns on the portable stage, entertaining and informing their audience and potential constituents. A lighter crowd earlier in the afternoon grew larger as the event wore on.
Partway through the event, the registration goal was well on its way to being met, said volunteer Marilyn Miller, Leadership Montana alumna.
“It’s been consistently steady since we started at 2 o’clock,” she said. “We’ve had a number of people who have told us this is the first time they’ll be voting. Usually they’re younger, in their early 20s.”
Miller said a couple from North Carolina that just moved to the state also stopped by to register.
“They wanted to be sure to vote,” she said.
Tyson Reiter, 21, of Billings, stood not far from the bandstand, sipping a beer and enjoying the rock tunes. Already registered to vote, he admitted it was the entertainment that drew him Saturday.
But Reiter said he has every intention of voting in November. He has just started getting online to find voter information to help him decide how he will vote.
“It’s fun, the music,” he said Saturday. “You can have a good time and learn where candidates stand.”
Brad Anderson, chairman of the Yellowstone County Republican Party said a number of visitors had stopped by his party’s table to pick up campaign materials.
“I think it’s great,” he said of the event. “The more people we can have register to vote and get informed, the better.”
Linda McCulloch, Democratic candidate for secretary of state, said part of her platform has to do with visiting students on college and high school campuses and registering them to vote. She also has a bill she’d like to see introduced that would recruit high school students as election judges.
Drawing young people and new voters, such as happened at Saturday’s event, is critical for the future, said McCulloch, who is finishing her last months as the state’s superintendent of public instruction.
“That’s how to keep elections going in Montana and around the world,” she said.
Ron Waterman, candidate for chief justice, said that the nonpartisan races in the state tend to fly under the radar, “although they’re very critical,” he said.
The chief justice of the state supreme court heads up the third branch of government, Waterman, a Helena attorney, pointed out. Most people forget the critical work state courts do, in protecting people’s essential rights, he said.
Waterman has spent time on the road campaigning throughout the state, he said.
“I’ve been talking to as many people as I can,” he said.
Susan Anderson, Republican challenger in the race for House District 51, came to Rock to Vote to campaign in her own district, which encompasses the downtown area.
She said she’s running on a platform of “calmly considering all ideas and finding common ground.” Anderson sent out invitations to people in the district to come and chat with her Saturday afternoon.
Her opponent, Rep. Robyn Driscoll, got up on stage to encourage people to vote in the election. She told the audience that she had just been reminded that the election was exactly one month away.
“My response to that was ’thank God,’ ” she said. “Let’s get everybody out there to vote. See you at the polls.”
Leadership Montana hopes that candidates of both parties who are elected in November will put aside their differences and work together, once the campaigning is over.
“Leadership Montana is all about creating a network of people who can create civil discourse,” said Bruce Whittenberg, executive director of the statewide group said Saturday. “Whether Republican or Democrat, it’s important to learn to listen to each other to get things done.”
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