Published: July 10, 2008 12:02 pm      

Voter registration event is tonight in Camanche

CAMANCHE — Seven students from Vermont's leading colleges and universities will bicycle through Camanche to help register voters tonight.

Max MacDonald of St. Michael's College, Matt Healy of St. Michael's College, Teddy Ryan of St. Michael's College, Ali Tesoriero Saslafsky of The University of Vermont, Megan Newhouse of The University of Vermont, Nathan Williams of Middlebury College and Hayden Coon of Johnson State College are participating in the Voter Trek.

The event is a 47-day and a 1,800-mile trek. The event began June 16 with a send-off from Burlington, Vt. and will end Aug. 1, in Laramie, Wyo.

The program focuses on registering to vote. According to Voter Trek, the U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that 197 million citizens were eligible to vote in the last presidential election, yet only 142 million were registered.

The riders will be stopping in six key cities: Buffalo, N.Y.; Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago; Cedar Rapids; Omaha; and Laramie.

They will also be visiting dozens of local diners along the way in order to highlight the importance of voting. The cyclists will be entering Iowa today at Camanche.

The group will stop at the Imperial Lanes, 1823 S. Washington Blvd., around 6 p.m. and meet with City Administrator Tom Roth. They will hold a voter registration at the Imperial Lanes from 7 to 9 p.m.