February 8, 2020, Lake Bde Uma, Minneapolis
The second Step Right Up! Feed the Candidates iteration featured gape-mouthed candidates, to be ‘fed’ with ballots in a ranked choice vote. Votes were cast during the 2020 Art Shanty Project on beautiful frigid Lake Harriet in St. Paul Minnesota, with the tally tabluated at the end of the performance day.
This version featured just the Democratic field, as they had yet to narrow down a candidate. Voters had the opportunity to utilize a multi-vote method (participants received 5 balls, which they could use how they wished - all for one candidate, or spread around multiple candidates). We spend 10.5 hours on the ice, 104 voters, and 490 votes cast.
This was the first installation for (an intended) year-long initiative, bringing carnival-style voting booths to art festivals in an effort to facilitate conversations about our voting systems and encourage voter registration. COVID cancelled all but the first and last iterations.
