A “Rock the Vote” youth registration rally Thursday at the Lawrence Public Library resulted in fewer than a dozen registrations, but the evening’s message struck a chord with at least one potential voter in 2009.

Sam Walter, 13, Lawrence, danced frenetically to music at the event and showed his enthusiasm for the political process by plastering himself with Democratic candidates’ stickers and “Rock The Vote” buttons.

“‘Rock the Vote’ is awesome,” said Sam, who must wait five years before he’s eligible to vote in local, state and federal elections.

Kim Patton, young adult specialist at the library, conceived of the event, the first of its kind hosted by the library. Barry Barnes and Robert Baker, of the band The Bopaphonics, lured potential voters into the library’s auditorium with their Beat-style poetry and songs, set to saxophone, congas and guitar.

Inside the auditorium, visitors could fill out paperwork to become a registered voter.

“We really pushed it at the high school level as a way to get kids who have just turned 18 to vote,” Patton said.

Patton said the library publicized the event in high schools for 18-year-old students, and also in middle and elementary schools so students might bring their unregistered parents.

The evening’s schedule originally included two teen bands, but football games and an injury prevented their performances.

Patton, with fellow librarians Mary Thompson and Amanda Rogers, took turns asking each patron as they entered the library, “Are you registered?”

Adorned in political garb, Lawrence 13-year-olds Sam Walter, left, and Dylan Gutherie enjoy the music during a Rock the Vote rally. The Lawrence Public Library played host to Thursday night's event.

One of the first takers was Kansas University senior Arrah Nielsen, 22, of Andover. She said she had come to the library to check out books but thought she might need to re-register after moving.

“Plus,” Nielsen said, “I used to be registered as a Libertarian, and now I’m a Republican.”

To those already registered, the librarians offered stickers and pins.

Patton joked after accosting a few people repeatedly during the course of two hours, “We may have only registered 10 people, but we’ve irritated many more.”

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