FORT WORTH, Texas — Scattered across Fort Worth’s Near Southside neighborhood like little sticky note reminder are new murals with one simple message: Vote.
"It’s a much more engaging way to capture the attention," Mike Brennan, the president of Near Southside Inc. said. "It shows that we’re all in this together and that’s our civic duty."
He’s excited the murals are here, but they’re also a badge of shame.
Fort Worth is one of 10 cities picked for the nationwide mural project because of consistently low voter turnout. The mayors of both Fort Worth and Dallas were elected by less than 10% of registered voters.
Tiff Massey is the artist behind one of the five murals, which she says is all about unity. They’re also in her hometown of Detroit.
"A lot of the younger generation and even some of the older generation, they feel like a lot of it is pointless," Massey said. "We should have our voice and it does matter and it does count."
Every mural has a description and QR code located next to it. If someone holds their phone’s camera up to them, a link pops up directing people to either Facebook or Instagram sites that have information on how to register and actually vote.
"It’s just really an important project in general, for everybody," Massey said.
"We know they’re reaching people because we see folks sharing photographs of the murals," Brennan said.
Several businesses in the area that saw the murals have commissioned similar works to help push the message.
Tens of thousands in DFW have registered this year according to county voter rolls. Monday was the deadline and early voting starts in a week.
"Regardless of who we’re voting for, we just need to go out and vote," Massey said.