All bars close at midnight, so my vote counts?

Factual Questions
1

I see these posters on my visits to UCLA that say “All bars close at midnight— Your vote counts”. And I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they’re in evidence at many colleges all over the country.

Obviously they’re encouraging people to vote. But why the reference to bars? Are they hearkening back to America’s Prohibition era, when, they seem to suggest, if more “wets” had turned out to vote, they might have been able to stop Prohibition in its tracks? And though I personally happen to be particularly interested in the history of American alcohol prohibition, why on earth would they be alluding to it in a campaign which is obviously aimed at the 18-25 y.o. cohort?

2

Perhaps they’re suggesting that if more college students vote, they might have a say in getting the law changed so that bars stay open later

3

I’m not sure what they are about exactly, I’ve not seen any here on Georgetown’s campus. It could be that students complained about bars being open all night and keeping people awake. A law was passed and it caused the bars to close at midnight so they students’ votes counted? Or it could be urging students to vote to keep the bars open longer.

4

Maybe they’re saying (to 18-20 year olds) “You can’t drink alcohol, but at least you can vote.”

5

Do the bars really close at midnight?

The signs I’ve seen say “Drinking age raised to 25 - (every vote counts)”.

The drinking age is still 21. The signs are just supposed to illustrate a hypothetical change to the law that would not have happened had “you” voted.

I’ll bet the bars really close at 1 or 2.

6

I’ve never seen those signs, but I think Recursion is right. It seems to be aimed at 18-20 year olds and seems to be along the lines of, “You don’t have the legal right to have a drink at a bar, but that’s OK because that’s fleeting anyway. A right you do have is the right to vote. Use it.”