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Hunting voters (to register) in “Pokemon Go”

Posted at 1:38 PM, Jul 14, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-14 13:38:34-04

NEW YORK (AP) — A political group in swing-state Ohio is using the game “Pokemon Go” for a purpose beyond catching cute Pikachu: registering voters.

NextGen Climate Ohio, a group drawing attention to climate change, says the rollout is just one of the creative ways it’s trying to engage millennial voters. It comes just days before the two political conventions get under way.

State director Joanne Pickrell is dropping rare “lures,” which draw the cartoon monsters hunted by “Pokemon Go” players, at game locations in parks and on campuses in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo. Its representatives will be on site at the locations to talk to players about the importance of voting and how to get registered.

Planned locations include the University of Toledo Friday and, on Saturday, parks in Cleveland and Columbus and at Mirror Lake on the Ohio State University campus.