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“My name is Chance the Rapper, and I’m here to make sure that everybody stays woke and votes,” the 23-year-old rapper and activist said in an immersive and musical Get Out The Vote campaign in Grant Park on Monday afternoon.

Just a day after the Chicago Board of Elections reported that the city had smashed 2008’s early voting record with a whopping 284,506 early votes cast through Sunday, Chance the Rapper added several hundred, if not over a thousand more, to that total through his #ParadeToThePolls concert and march to the voting booths.

Considering the concert and parade dealt with a last-minute location change from the less crowd-accommodating Virgin Hotels rooftop to Petrillo Music Shell, it’s tough to argue that #ParadeToThePolls was anything other than a rousing success. Hosted by Chance and his nonprofit SocialWorks, the afternoon-long event featured a fantastic locals-only musical lineup of Eryn Allen Kane, OddCouple, Twin Peaks, Taylor Bennett, Malcolm London and, of course, a four-song performance by Chance himself.

The music was incredible despite rushed sound checks and load-in (like I said, the event was not expected to happen at Petrillo until Monday morning) that caused the event to start a half hour late—the concert portion of the event ended around 5:40 p.m.

I could talk about Eryn Allen Kane’s rousing performance, complete with covers of Michael Jackson’s “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” and The Isley Brothers’ “Shout!” and more, or Twin Peaks tearing it up with a jam-packed and career spanning set.

I could even go on about promising and fantastic showings from Chicago’s next generation, OddCouple, Malcolm London and Taylor Bennett, or obviously Chance the Rapper’s Peter Cottontale-assisted run through of four “Coloring Book” jams (“Angels,” both “Blessings” and “No Problem”), but I won’t, because the songs and acts were second to the message.

That message was that young people should do their civic duty and be empowered to make change in this election. It’s a salient one, especially considering that according to the Pew Research Center, Millennials (aka people between the ages of 18-35) now make up roughly 31 percent of the overall electorate—the same percentage as Baby Boomers. As only 46 percent of Millennials, the lowest of any age group, voted in the 2012 election, according to Pew, raising that number however marginally was the goal of the day.

Twin Peaks co-frontman Cadien Lake James summed up that sentiment, telling RedEye, “While I don’t think it’s an artists’ responsibility to do anything, I take pride in being an artist and look up to others who use their voice to encourage discourse and spread knowledge for the greater good.” He continued, “In a time with so many things to lose and so much to gain and be proud of, I think it’s awesome if art can influence people to be involved in the greater good.”

Bandmate Colin Croom echoed James’ thoughts, even admitting that, after the show, he’d take a bus to his home state of Ohio to cast his ballot on Election Day. “I missed the absentee deadline while we were on tour, so I have to go back,” he said. “I live in a van, basically, so a couple hours in a bus won’t kill me. I wouldn’t be here doing this [show] if I wasn’t going to vote.”

“I just think it’s my duty to actually encourage younger people to do what I was encouraged to do when Obama was elected. Being that there’s a music community here where we can encourage people to go vote is really special,” said performer Eryn Allen Kane, who also mentioned she early voted. She laughs, adding, “It’s also cool because I saw Oprah here [in Grant Park] eight years ago at Obama’s victory speech.”

After the music, Chance kept his word and led the voting-age crowd to the polls at the Chicago Board of Elections’ “super site” at 15 W. Washington St. Helped by volunteers from the Black Youth Project, the crowd was divided into registered and unregistered voters. The line to vote was already out of the building before the crowd of several hundred if not over a thousand converged on the polling place. While it made for an initially hectic environment, especially as Chance cast his vote, the lines continued to move at a surprisingly brisk pace. Kids were voting, and the lines were draped around the block.

I interviewed four Chance the Rapper fans who were voting for the first time ever. New voter Allison Masciopinto, 18, had high hopes, saying, “I’m excited. It’s definitely a huge deal to cast your first vote—to be there for the first African-American president, to potentially be here for the first female president.”

Her companion, Ben Bailey, 18, was a little more apprehensive: “I’m nervous—just from everything I’ve learned about what’s going on, like the economy, police brutality, etc.”

Others, like Leondre Burgess, 18, were more excited to vote than about the actual election: “Both the candidates are so ugh! I’m voting because I don’t want Trump to win, but I really want to be presented better options.” His friend, Osirus Jones, also 18, agreed: “I hope no matter what happens the next four years can be decent.”

Chance’s dedication to the cause of social justice and young people being engaged is more than tangible: Take his Teens in the Park festival, his annual #SaveChicago anti-violence campaigns, his nonprofits, his charity endeavor to provide coats for the homeless and tireless efforts to rep his city and give back to his fans. In a turbulent election that has many, especially young people, fearful for their future, seeing the sheer numbers who came out to vote, many for the first time, led to something needed in the 24 hours before we find out who our next president is: Hope.

@joshhterry | jterry@redeyechicago.com